#Adrian understood perhaps better

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"This place looks pretty normal. I was half expecting blood pouring down from the skies based on Theo's description."

Abe looked cautiously around him, still unsure if his son's dire words had been hyperbole or if they were safe. It certainly didn't look like anything special. From the extensive magic used to open the portal for him and Roman, Abe had been expecting somewhere even more built up and powerful than Pleasantview.

"It is strange. I only care about our son, though. Where have they been keeping him? Is he okay?" Roman declared. His eyes searched wildly around the area, looking for even a glimpse of Theo.

Today was finally the day that he and Abe would be entered into a demonic marriage. While the sovereign had tried to marry them before as an experiment of Theo's powers, this time it was something that the two men both actually wanted. The fact that they needed to physically see their son to perform the ceremony was just a bonus. They had been separated from Theo since he'd been whisked away to Shadowvale. The rare time they got to video call him wasn't enough by any measure.

Abe smiled and rubbed Roman's shoulder affectionately.

"Ro, take it easy on him. Don't embarrass him just because we've been going crazy without him. You remember being his age."

Roman paused to picture his fourteen year old self in this situation. Neither of his parents had cared enough to want to visit him anywhere and his grandparents only wanted to see him if he was as calm and calculating as they were. Roman was nothing like Omar had been. Omar was embarrassing; Roman thought about nothing but his children. Besides, he was throwing a giant party to celebrate his, Abe's and Adrian's thirtieth birthday in a month or so. He was still cool and could rock a suit anytime he wanted...as long as the kids didn't smear peanut butter on it with their sticky hands. His wardrobe had been more focused on practicality recently, but he was still Roman Fucking Bellamy. Sweatpants and a few stray gray hairs had never looked better on anyone else.

"Dads! You're here! You made it."

A tall, gangly teen with a mess of black hair and lengthy horns bounded towards them, smiling widely.

"Theo! You-" Abe's words died on his lips when he saw the golden beams enveloping his son's eyes. A long buried part of him recoiled at the sight, wanting to rush to him and change him into the son he remembered. But Theo was likely only like that so that he could perform the wedding. The very supernatural wedding where Abe would share Roman's thoughts and feelings for the rest of their lives.

Abe cleared his throat and tried again to greet the son he'd been going crazy pining for. Now wasn't the time for cold feet. He'd talked extensively with Roman about their shared desire to welcome the supernatural into their marriage and to honour Roman's demonic heritage. It was just nerves bothering him. That and Theo's prolonged absence from their lives.

The Bellamys had finally been given an abriviated record of just what Theo's powers had done to Adam Darktide and they were horrified. They had protested Theo's change in schools a lot less after seeing some of the pictures in that file.

Don't scream "my baby!" Don't scream "my baby!"

Roman chanted this mantra silently to himself, praying to keep his composure. He had been raised to be better than the feelings that were warring within him. His grandfather would be ashamed of him to show such weakness in the middle of a dangerous world. Omar would have been disgusted to have to deal with Roman's raw emotion about things Omar could never understand.

Perhaps Kamalani would have understood her son, in her own twisted way. Despite her obvious flaws, Roman did get the sense that his mother had at least cared deeply for his little half-sister at some point. Maybe she would also have to hold herself back from rushing to Keiki's side. The thought was less comforting than Roman assumed it might be.

This was a special occasion though. Surely, after months apart from his son, Roman was entitled to throw himself at Theo and never let him go.

"Dad! I missed you so much!"

Roman was saved from his dilemma when Theo rushed into his father's waiting arms on his own, squeezing him as tight as he could. Roman smiled, squeezing Theo right back. When they finally parted, Theo rushed into Abe's arms, greeting him just as enthusiastically.

"Look at you," Roman gushed, taking in every little detail about his son so that he could see what had changed since their last meeting. "You look so strong. I couldn't ask for a better wedding officiant. Right, Abe?"

Abe nodded and pulled his son into another hug. This was the supernatural world that his son thrived in, and Abe wasn't about to push his son away just because he was having some cold feet.

"Abe, Roman, welcome," an all too familiar voice called. "I'm glad you made it."

Both men waved reluctantly at the sovereign of all demons. Her presence wasn't a surprise given the circumstances, but it wasn't exactly like she had been invited either.

"Did Lucy also come?" Abe asked, looking hopefully for his sister. Lucy could presumably reign in her wife should the sovereign get ideas about skimming demonic energy again. His and Roman's demonic marriage had once been a part of Saren's scheme for power, and to see her here uninvited wasn't making his cold feet any warmer.

"No, regrettably, Lucy couldn't attend today. She sends her well wishes, of course. This ceremony is rather private when compared to a human wedding, so I didn't want to add more people than necessary."

"You certainly added yourself without a problem," Roman grumbled, focusing on his son to keep from shouting at his sister in law. The sovereign then insinuated herself into that plan too.

"My brightest protégé, just look at you! All ready to join two people in demonic matrimony."

She embraced Theo, a sight none of the Arkhelians had been prepared for. Roman looked at Abe with confusion, only to see him look equally confused. Roman mouthed "Lucy?" silently to which Abe shrugged. It was plausible that Lucy had had a warming effect on her wife. Slightly. More than likely, this sudden appearance and affection was part of some devious plan.

"Go on and get ready for the ceremony," Saren instructed, releasing Theo from her off-putting embrace. "This will take some serious energy and concentration, so get prepared. Don't worry, you could have done this six years ago and you'll crush this now."

Theo nodded and waved to his parents.

"I'll see you guys soon. I won't screw this up, I promise."

With those reassuring words, Theo bounded off towards a large building, leaving his parents alone with their surprise guest.

"So, uh, do you and Lucy plan on making this commitment?" Abe asked nervously. "She's never really mentioned any plans for a demonic marriage to me before. Is that something you two might be interested in?"

The sovereign laughed at this, telling Abe all that he needed to know.

"Are you kidding? It's not a thousand years ago," she laughed as genuinely as Abe or Roman had ever seen her. "Sharing thoughts, emotions and all that? No, thank you. And to be bonded to a mortal woman who will one day die and leave me with a heart involuntarily torn in half? It's not a ceremony that I have any interest in."

"And because Lucy is probably already planning her next terrible relationship," Abe muttered, hoping that only Roman could hear his words.

A large swell of clouds suddenly appeared in the air, drawing attention away from their conversation.

"Who could that be?" Roman asked, craning his head to identify the new arrival. "Maybe Lucy really did decide to come today. After all the hoops we had to jump through to be here, who could possibly be showing up? Did we need to provide this government with even more proof of our intentions?"

The clouds parted, revealing their mystery guest. The instant Roman recognized their visitor, his anxiety went from near zero to through the roof.

"Lukas? What the hell are you doing here? We're not doing anything wrong," Roman insisted, staring at the being who apparently wanted to crash their wedding. To have the sovereign show such an interest in their matrimonial plans was one thing, but a deity? Especially one so fond of chaos? This was quickly becoming a circus spiraling out of the grooms' control. Why was marrying Abe in a way that honoured Roman's demonic heritage seemingly impossible to pull off without cosmic forces trying to ruin it?

"I never said that anything was wrong, thanks for projecting your own childish fears onto me," they replied, barely paying attention to Roman. Instead, their gaze remained wholly focused on Saren. "What can I say, I love weddings."

"What the mortal was implying was that you weren't invited to this celebration," the sovereign sneered. "It's family only."

"This is quite the destination wedding," Lukas commented, ignoring the demon entirely. "It's pretty hard to find for their families. Even your wife couldn't find her way here to support her brother."

"Lucy sends her regards. I'm sure the mortals would prefer that you leave now that you've blessed the couple with your unrequested visit."

"I'm sure they don't mind a deity supervising this ceremony. Demons are just corrupted servants of Life after all. I would hate for something to go wrong with the joining when I could have helped."

"Demons are far more than what you assume them to be. Have you already forgotten who was responsible for your centuries long little nap? And I hear that now you can't go running back to daddies for help when a mean demon decides to play with you. If I were you, I would stick to hiding behind your husband and staying out of business that doesn't concern you."

"Poor Saren, if only you had someone to hide behind for yourself. Grandpa and Mommy drowned in the Ocean, didn't they? All that's left of your family is you and your little half-breed babies who no proper demon respects. You'd better run home to sit on your useless throne before a real demon comes and claims it."

Roman gave Abe a confused look as the two supernatural beings squabbled in front of them.

"Does any of this make sense to you?" he asked.

Abe shook his head. At least they hadn't been sucked into the escalating argument before them. They could probably leave and not have either Lukas or Saren even notice that they'd left.

"Well, it's better to have Life here instead of Death," he said. "It can't hurt to have them here in case something happens. Truthfully, the sovereign showing up without Lucy makes me nervous too. Let's just go get changed for the ceremony and see if the place is in ruins by the time the ceremony is supposed to start."

Theo took a deep breath and tried to focus his mind. Everything was set for the ceremony. He'd helped draw the magic lines himself to make sure they were done right. Nothing was going to go wrong. Nothing.

Except....Theo had tried to downplay his magical issues when he wrote Adam, but he couldn't ignore them now. He had been making progress in his studies until recently. The curse within him was uncontrollable, no matter how hard his teachers tried to reign it in. It appeared without warning under circumstances that didn't even make sense and attempting to reintegrate it with the rest of Theo was proving to be harder than his teachers expected.

What happened if his magical abilities backfired when joining his parents? Would they get hurt as badly as Adam had? Should Theo even be trying this in his current state?

He took another deep breath and released it slowly. No, this was just nerves. He could do this. He would do this.

[altrbody]

The Hole (Notes): William Pope.L's Hole Theory

by Thom Donovan

In William Pope.L’s book, Hole Theory, the artist writes:

What I mean by having Something is the fantasy That having is possessing [and]* That possessing is knowing

Therefore this sort of theorizing/[deodorizing] Could only come from someone Who believes in having things As a political condition

Conversely, this theory Could only come from someone Who lacks something As a political condition

Hole Theory engages lack Across economic and cultural And political boundaries [Lack is where it’s AT]

1. Between having

and not having things as a fantasy of possession, Pope.L cleaves lack as a cultural, political, and economic condition (of possibility). Theory (seeing, knowing) becomes founded on lack; theorization risks “deodorization”–desensitization and senselessness.

2. For Pope.L,

how could one work otherwise as an African-American artist working out of the multiculturalism of the 80s? Via abjection (for instance, uses of waste materials, perishables, excrement in some cases) and ironic performance (crawling Manhattan sidewalks in a Superman costume, ‘wearing’ a 5 ft. long PVC pipe from his groin while strolling around Harlem) Pope.L attacks any easy affirmation of (African-American) identity.

3. One could

say that he “deconstructs“ it; perhaps it is better to say that he is drawing on negative characterization in ways that draw-out both white-centric mis/understandings and fears of Blackness, as well as Black fears of being understood (for fear of re/possession?).

4. Pope.L also

draws upon the association of African-American Blackness with homelessness, drug addiction, and insanity (the fate of many of the artist’s family members).

5. Perhaps, a

la Fred Moten’s brilliant book In the Break, it could be said of Pope.L that he is drawing upon a radical Black aesthetic of “combativeness,” where to antagonize (or in Adrian Piper’s term “cataylze”) engages lack, negativity, and antimony as the starting point for theorization.

6. Central to

the production of Blackness (as Moten also points out), is that which is irreducible to African-American history alone, though particularized by African diasporic cultures (is Blackness not then the condition of all struggle, insurrection, contestation in lieu of domination, persecution, genocide? The singular case substituting for the universal?).

7. That aesthetic

expression makes visible contradiction—being opposed, being against—lacking belonging, lacking home or a being ‘at home’ from which overcoming or transcendence might be accomplished.

8.

Hole Theory affirms what Tyrone Williams in his poem “I Am Not Proud to be Black” calls “sublime despair,” and what Theodor Adorno idealizes as a “methexis of the tenebrous” (the catastrophe of thought/theorization that potentializes art for the utopian—abandoned futures, futures not imagined or unimaginable).

9. When Adorno

writes in his table of contents to Aesthetic Theory the heading “Black as Ideal,” I want to take Black both as hue and in terms of a social condition which embraces shadiness to produce the catastrophe of thinking which art should affirm in order for it to overturn the order of the current world/to affirm other worlds.

10. The idealization

of Black affirms one’s participation in the shady, the opaque, absurd, incomprehensible. Through it this world flickers with an other/other ones.

11. Cross-outs of

language under erasure—holding in suspension both language’s necessity and inadequacy—become more like venetian blinds, or the aperture of a camera rapidly opening and closing, albeit soundlessly (senseless in the best possible sense).

*The above quotation

is taken from a facsimile of Pope.L’s book, Hole Theory, reproduced in William Pope. L: the Friendliest Black Artist in America (MIT Press, 2002). Brackets indicate language that has been hand-written into and at times over the type-set text.

[7r0773r]

Brenner by Hermann Burger, translated by Adrian Nathan West

. . . the stalwart maxim nomen ist omen. . . . (p. 4)

***

And Proust says of novel-reading that it is magical like a deep dream . . . (p. 10)

***

There are ur-phenomena of tone, color, and scent often predestined, so to speak, irrespective of their contingent nature, to tune an existence like a stringed instrument; and the adult, when he attends a concert, an exhibition, a theater opening, searches, as though after a vanished picture book, for the traces of these earliest magical impressions. I remember very clearly one afternoon at the Waldau, my grandparents' restaurant, I must have been three at the time, when I was ordered to take my obligatory nap, which was always a torment to me, for just as in the corner in my parents' bedroom in the manufacturer's villa on the Sandstrasse in Menzenmang — fabrikants, the noblest genitive — there, too, in the so-called Jews' Salon on the landing overlooking the salon, I was tied down with rubber cords, the door was left open, I could hear the rush of the Wyna coursing through the valley, the hammering of the riveters in the die works or the rolling mill, the shunting of the Rollbock boxcars at the aluminum factory, the piping of a locomotive, perhaps, like a faraway shriek, schoolchildren on the playground, apart from all that just tedium, counting dead flies, the scuff of chair legs in the parlor, the click and clack of billiard balls muffled at times by felt, my parents often helped my father's sisters during service, if a special occasion was afoot, they'd shwoop in, they may have been setting the table for the Frohsinn men's choir, because the swinging door to the office flapped repeatedly open and closed, and a diffuse activity reigned in the garde-manger. The child, bound and sleepless on a very bright day in bed — paradox of paradoxes — tries to orient himself, and all of a sudden hears a scattering of piano chords curtly struck, gliding up so softly they bring tears to my eyes, a breath of Sylvester's Day magic in the midst of a summer workday; I was still a little cheroot, I understood nothing of music, but years later, when I had my harmony lessons where my father's cousin lived, at the Pfendsack house on the Ölbergstrasse, I managed finally to grasp what it was that had taken hold of me, to analyze this series of tones that seemed to drift like flakes of gold in bottles of Danziger Goldwasser, a descending melody from major and minor sixths, the series, intended for C major, must have opened with the G-E interval and ended with F-D, that is, descending from the tonic with the 6/4 chord without C from dominant to subdominant — which corresponds to the melancholy of blues — but instead of stopping at A-F, it fell two steps further to D minor.

As we know, the young Mozart could drive his father to the verge of madness with an unresolved seventh, but far more galling was this insistence on F-D, an interval which, with its suppressed A minor, demands the G seventh and a release through the tonic, and I had to endure this tension not only through two hours of nap time in the Jews' Salon, but through the entirety of puberty until my harmony lessons began; and considering it might just have been the servant girl, Irmeli, in a transport of sportiveness or sorrow, who struck the nicotine-yellow keys of the ordure-brown Burger & Jacobi piano, the indulgent reader may gather from these tobacco sheets the ways fortuity reigns in the childhoods of creators, artistes, better said, but even more so, how immense is the power of music — here nothing less than magic — over as yet uncultivated natures. Still, I couldn't help but cry, because the descending cadence G-E, F-D, E-C, D-B, C-A, B-G, A-F, G-E, F-D recalled to me the painting of corn fields in the salon, a restrained landscape study in tender lilac, muted gold, and dusty green, showing the stretch of land beneath the Stierenberg, not far from the Waldau, where the Erlkönigstrasse skirts the Wachtal meadow next to de drüeich, the three oaks, before wending its way to Rickenbach. All the little oil in its white stucco frame showed was a softly curving path lost in the stalks of a swaying grain field with hints of red poppies under the taut, desolate balloon silk of a summer sky with scant ribbons of storm clouds. Just like the major sixth, with its polka-like opening, the breach in the cornrows ended in a no man's land that presented a riddle to the child stewing in his boredom, yearning all the while for his mother: what happens to the path after it curves, is it even still there in the depths of the picture? Decades later, gravely ill, in autogenic training, as I recited over and over the mantra "My breath is calm and effortless, my forehead is cool," I would hallucinate this mauve-gold cornfield; in the deckchair beneath the Canadian silver poplars on the gravel terrace in Menzenmang, I felt the ache for this painting of cornstalks; on Doctor Rohnstein's couch in Buchs, this image from the Waldau materialized; everywhere, always, this single landscape. (pp. 21-24)

***

. . . Nonsense alone makes bearable a world where everything strives for a higher sense. (p. 73)

***

Though it is only late in life, via a gratifying digression on cigars, that I have finally put ink to paper, let the apprehensive rest assured, l'appétit viendra en mangeant, my debut in this dubious métier will likewise be my farewell, but there is one thing I know, to second Bert May: our backbreaking labor is an archeology of the soul, there is no remembrance without fiction, no recollection without invention, true poets, from whose ranks this thwarted tobacco salesman is naturally excluded, are those who live by lying, who lie like print, as the German adage has it, and as we note here a certain consonance among the words lie, lure, and louche, we cast doubt on how things really were and cajole the indulgent reader to follow us into the regions where the subjunctive reigns, how things might have been; we use metaphor — from the Greek metapherein, to carry across, according to Bert May — to grant coherence to that which simply cannot have occurred, for life is a dice game, through a long night of play you may wait in vain for the six to come up, out rolls one after exasperating one; or else a wheat-blonde fairy announces six lotto numbers on the TV screen — a stroke of luck that never comes for millions but lands twice for a select few — hence the high art of creation may be thought superior to life, because the scribbler does not leave the order of the balls to chance, literature is the award of that once-in-a-lifetime jackpot. Here my friend Adam Nautilus Rauch will vigorously object, that still and all, the world has its laws, physical, botanical, chemical, astronomical, and it would be a deep affront to his earnestness in the enjoyment of life — a credo for which I would declare my utmost respect, were the duration of my existence not curtailed by a terminal diagnosis — to see literature and art confounded with magic and games of chance: what do craft and trickeration have to do with the linguistic organism, the swindler relies on the marvels of a moment, the epic poet is an artist of perpetuity, the sorcerer's appearances deceive, the creator's, however much he lies, do not. And the critic — my two boys' local Sigismund Markus — has urged me, after a cursory inspection of these pages, to stick to the relevant facts of my life as a cigarier, ye hef te know how te dishtinguish relevant en irrelevant. (pp. 129-30)

***

The method of the captioned sketch, as opposed to the snapshot taken with the camera, I owe to my first-semester drawing lessons with Professor Hans Ess, it allows us a horizontal projection with four planes, same as the ones I executed as a child absorbed in simultaneous perspective; in contrast to the photograph, it puts not everything to paper, but only what corresponds to the inner architecture of our intentions, we may magnify details, scale becomes flexible, and, let me add, the drawing takes us an hour, whereas controlling for lighting, fiddling with the bells and whistles, pressing click takes no more than a few minutes. In this hour's work we see more, and more precisely, than during that post-mortem pasting of our memories into an album; we are not like tourists reminiscing about having been "there," even if, admittedly, these tobacco leaves attempt to share with the reader how, for the span of a brief, heady happiness, we were allowed to be citizens of the earth. (pp. 165-66)

***

You see, Herr Brenner, what we have here is a marriage of poetry and tobacco, in the fifties of the preceding century the custom in the workshops of Don Jaime Partagas was to read Victor Hugo aloud while binder, wrapper, and filler were rolled, and in the days before the war for Cuban independence, the galleys were hotbeds of agitation. They banned reading or commenting on the news of the day, and this led to popular uprisings. In his memoirs, Zino affirms that the Cuban independence movement, which finally proved victorious in 1901, had its birthplace in the historic cigar factories. Radio first made inroads at Cabañas y Carbajol, a top brand that is sadly no longer around; nowadays, Castro's teachings and pop music have pushed poor Hugo aside. Imagine if, instead of the oldies, they recited Gabriel Garcia Márquez, whom admittedly I myself have never read? And so on and so forth with our disputation . . . (p. 204)

***

Will neither of the esteemed versifiers take a bit more trout? No, Frau Irlande has had enough, Bert has already lit one of his black cigarettes, betraying his boorishness par excellence, but Hermann Arbogast Brenner, as per previous, will not stage a war of religion over the sore point of dry drunkenness, he gathers the fish scraps as his cemetery-grandmother used to do, and while poetess and poet amble off into the garden, perhaps to recite in tandem Hesse's "Lanterns on a Summer Night" in the niche or next to the gurgling fountain, I take the plates to the hunter's room and try to persuade Hombre, still sleeping off his stupor from the cider, to partake of a cold fillet of trout. He is lying there beneath his woolen blanket; his smooth skull, dotted with warts, moles, and pimples, is tucked into the crook of his arm; he has not even removed his coattails, and I think to myself, no one incapable of describing such a soul's inner life deserves the title of poet, for on the brackish surface of its waters, where the fires of eau-de-vie burn, skim the wrecks of svelte ships that poetesses have sent forth sailing into night, it may be, I think heretically, staring at the serpent in the spirit jar, that the eminent Georges and Rilkes and their like thrive in a soil of profound inhumanity; men like Hombre are the base matter their hearts transform into sublimity, the fate of the nameless is the price paid for the crystalline phrases printed in cursive in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the elf-queens suck their blood, inhuman, because their verses tread on corpses. The precious essence of O-so-noble compassion is only to be had at the cost of someone else's going to the dogs. And this is the basis of the thoroughgoing mendacity of the artist's calling, because what the public sees is the twinkling diamond and never the fathomless shafts where the kaffir breaks off the precious stones, it's a fact, the lyricist's trade is Apartheid. (pp. 304-05)

***

When my beloved wife and two sons, whom I coddled like seedlings in the soil of Vuelta Abajo, fled Brunsleben like rats abandoning a sinking ship after years of attrition from my illness, one and all among my circle agreed that I couldn't hold it against them. My friend Fernanda Blanca of Blankenberg shot me a stare hot with indignation: Don't you understand, no one could take all that. Her feminist-tinged protest suffers from a single logical failing. There is one person who must take it, and that is the depressive himself. And here is where the glaring injustice lies: he is forced to cling to the war hero's code, the kamikaze mentality of fight to the last man. O numberless dilettantes of mercy! A rule-abiding Exitus exitus with the help of one hundred tabs of Vesparax could still be portrayed as euthanasia. Do you not see that Hermann Arbogast Brenner could more calmly make his peace with the world if a higher court would lend him a thoughtful hand in view of his life's unbearableness? Do you not see his salesman's pride prevents him from taking the blame for this faillisement? But no: all others have the right no longer to stand him, he alone is condemned to endure his own sinister company. And he will never forgive you this grave offense: that in your schadenfreude, you left him to smolder in his hell. Let us temper that a bit: he would never have forgiven you had he not discovered in the Stechlinesque spirit of Brunsleben a medium that unmasks your diabolical self-righteousness — in tobacco, a potion against the danger of earthquakes in mind and spirit. (pp. 350-51)

***

A miser is not just someone who pinches pennies, who doesn't like to splurge or give, it is a person who never treats himself. He labors under the delusion that a little ledger exists in Heaven with an annotation in the profits column stating that he made it to a hundred by shopping at the organic market. All the world's misery originates with underachievers. Hitler had to kill millions for failing to achieve his dream. Had he known, like Churchill, how to savor a Havana, there would never have been a Second World War. (pp. 352-53)

***

At this point, at the latest, Hermann Arbogast Brenner must bring this analogy to an end, for a lover never is and never will be a luxury good to be savored, but a person with her own contradictions. A cigar can be procured when the craving strikes, a woman who shares not just our bed, but our miseries, cannot. To meet one is a gift, a bit of mercy, even. Love is not an exchange of hormones, but the highest, happiest hours this crippled planet holds in store for us. You can be happy alone with a cigar, but not in love. The blue haze gets lost in the ether, our wish to be understood by someone will never go away. If it did, we would be lost forever. The rose may bloom without ifs and buts, and unfold its splendor in a graveyard. But it can only be called happy when it is found and plucked. (p. 354)

***

One formal reminiscence after another rose to the surface. If I registered every detail of the artist's treatment of the satchel as it floated off in the tragedy of Johnny-Head-in-the-Air, if I saw there was no need to redraw the river in every scene, that the narrowly hatched waterway already suggested distance, this was the discovery of an important aesthetic principle: the representation of the general through the particular. I turned my entire attention to these details now. Here were the three fish. They jumped from the cool water as Johnny stepped over the wall of the quay, they swam off in haste as he tumbled inside, bunched together they observed as he was pulled out with a long pole, with a laugh they looked up at the sopping wet dimwit. This was the foundation for my success as a draftsman in all the contests held by clothing brands, department stores, and automobile factories that I sent my sketches to. I must thank Amden for this, in part. For it was pain that made me see. (pp. 379-80)

***

Unto ashes shalt thou return, for nowhere is it written man has a right to a modicum of bliss. (p. 399)

[holidaysbalkan]

Adrian understood maybe higher

“They should be punished, as quickly as I’m able to direct the marketing campaign,” Constantine stated. “First the torment in my soul saved me idle. Then, simply once I was starting to hope I might rid myself of that, my physique determined to punish me too.”

The shrewd Greek service provider didn’t miss the importance of the phrase “punish,” although Constantine himself appeared to not take heed to it. After years of shut affiliation, Adrian understood maybe higher even than Constantine himself what had been taking place to the Emperor’s soul these previous ten years. And although not a doctor, he had his doubts that the illness may very well be cured.

“The Persians have dared to push northward so far as the shores of the Pontus Euxinus at Trapezus,” he added.

“Have they denied the port to us?”

“Not but, Dominus.”

“Then a swift strike by way of southern Armenia may nonetheless lower them off and go away them to be destroyed by the Armenians?”

“It may very well be performed, with you main the troops.”

Constantine abruptly grimaced and put his hand to his chest, urgent there to alleviate the warning stab of ache introduced on by his pleasure. “Not in my current situation,” he confessed. “As soon as I dreamed of pushing the boundaries of the Empire so far as India. Now I can’t even maintain the enemy from seizing territory that has been mine for thirty years.”

“I carry some cheering information,” Adrian advised him.

“Then give it to me. God is aware of I’ve had little sufficient to carry me pleasure these previous years.”

“We’re having fun with extra commerce yearly by way of Antioch.” “What of the brand new church there? The one in-built an eightsided determine?”

Most stunning constructions

“The work goes on steadily. You possibly can make sure that when it’s completed in one other yr, will probably be one of the crucial stunning constructions on the planet.”

“And in addition the primary of its variety,” Constantine stated. “Till now, a lot of the church buildings have been constructed within the type of the basilica, however I feel this new fashion will give us extra stunning constructions.”

“By the best way, Dominus,” Adrian stated, “the brand new church at Jerusalem is lastly completed. I noticed Bishop Eusebius at Caesarea and he requested about its dedication. your mom deliberate to do this herself.”

[bookingoneway]

Adrian understood maybe higher

“They must be punished, as quickly as I’m able to direct the marketing campaign,” Constantine mentioned. “First the torment in my soul saved me idle. Then, simply after I was starting to hope I may rid myself of that, my physique determined to punish me too.”

The shrewd Greek service provider didn’t miss the importance of the phrase “punish,” although Constantine himself appeared to not take heed to it. After years of shut affiliation, Adrian understood maybe higher even than Constantine himself what had been occurring to the Emperor’s soul these previous ten years. And although not a doctor, he had his doubts that the illness could possibly be cured.

“The Persians have dared to push northward so far as the shores of the Pontus Euxinus at Trapezus,” he added.

“Have they denied the port to us?”

“Not but, Dominus.”

“Then a swift strike via southern Armenia would possibly nonetheless minimize them off and depart them to be destroyed by the Armenians?”

“It could possibly be executed, with you main the troops.”

Constantine out of the blue grimaced and put his hand to his chest, urgent there to alleviate the warning stab of ache introduced on by his pleasure. “Not in my current situation,” he confessed. “As soon as I dreamed of pushing the boundaries of the Empire so far as India. Now I can not even preserve the enemy from seizing territory that has been mine for thirty years.”

“I carry some cheering information,” Adrian instructed him.

“Then give it to me. God is aware of I’ve had little sufficient to carry me pleasure these previous years.”

“We’re having fun with extra commerce yearly via Antioch.” “What of the brand new church there? The one inbuilt an eightsided determine?”

Most lovely constructions

“The work goes on steadily. You may ensure that when it’s completed in one other yr, will probably be one of the crucial lovely constructions on this planet.”

“And in addition the primary of its form,” Constantine mentioned. “Till now, a lot of the church buildings have been constructed within the type of the basilica, however I believe this new fashion will give us extra lovely constructions.”

“By the way in which, Dominus,” Adrian mentioned, “the brand new church at Jerusalem is lastly completed. I noticed Bishop Eusebius at Caesarea and he requested about its dedication. You understand your mom deliberate to do this herself.”

[bookingtripsbg]

Adrian understood maybe higher

“They must be punished, as quickly as I’m able to direct the marketing campaign,” Constantine mentioned. “First the torment in my soul saved me idle. Then, simply after I was starting to hope I may rid myself of that, my physique determined to punish me too.”

The shrewd Greek service provider didn’t miss the importance of the phrase “punish,” although Constantine himself appeared to not take heed to it. After years of shut affiliation, Adrian understood maybe higher even than Constantine himself what had been occurring to the Emperor’s soul these previous ten years. And although not a doctor, he had his doubts that the illness could possibly be cured.

“The Persians have dared to push northward so far as the shores of the Pontus Euxinus at Trapezus,” he added.

“Have they denied the port to us?”

“Not but, Dominus.”

“Then a swift strike via southern Armenia would possibly nonetheless minimize them off and depart them to be destroyed by the Armenians?”

“It could possibly be executed, with you main the troops.”

Constantine out of the blue grimaced and put his hand to his chest, urgent there to alleviate the warning stab of ache introduced on by his pleasure. “Not in my current situation,” he confessed. “As soon as I dreamed of pushing the boundaries of the Empire so far as India. Now I can not even preserve the enemy from seizing territory that has been mine for thirty years.”

“I carry some cheering information,” Adrian instructed him.

“Then give it to me. God is aware of I’ve had little sufficient to carry me pleasure these previous years.”

“We’re having fun with extra commerce yearly via Antioch.” “What of the brand new church there? The one inbuilt an eightsided determine?”

Most lovely constructions

“The work goes on steadily. You may ensure that when it’s completed in one other yr, will probably be one of the crucial lovely constructions on this planet.”

“And in addition the primary of its form,” Constantine mentioned. “Till now, a lot of the church buildings have been constructed within the type of the basilica, however I believe this new fashion will give us extra lovely constructions.”

“By the way in which, Dominus,” Adrian mentioned, “the brand new church at Jerusalem is lastly completed. I noticed Bishop Eusebius at Caesarea and he requested about its dedication. You understand your mom deliberate to do this herself.”

[trvltr]

Adrian understood perhaps better

“They must be punished, as quickly as I’m able to direct the marketing campaign,” Constantine stated. “First the torment in my soul saved me idle. Then, simply once I was starting to hope I might rid myself of that, my physique determined to punish me too.”

The shrewd Greek service provider didn’t miss the importance of the phrase “punish,” although Constantine himself appeared to not take heed to it. After years of shut affiliation, Adrian understood maybe higher even than Constantine himself what had been occurring to the Emperor’s soul these previous ten years. And although not a doctor, he had his doubts that the illness may very well be cured.

“The Persians have dared to push northward so far as the shores of the Pontus Euxinus at Trapezus,” he added.

“Have they denied the port to us?”

“Not but, Dominus.”

“Then a swift strike by means of southern Armenia may nonetheless reduce them off and depart them to be destroyed by the Armenians?”

“It may very well be carried out, with you main the troops.”

Constantine out of the blue grimaced and put his hand to his chest, urgent there to alleviate the warning stab of ache introduced on by his pleasure. “Not in my current situation,” he confessed. “As soon as I dreamed of pushing the boundaries of the Empire so far as India. Now I can’t even maintain the enemy from seizing territory that has been mine for thirty years.”

“I carry some cheering information,” Adrian instructed him.

“Then give it to me. God is aware of I’ve had little sufficient to carry me pleasure these previous years.”

“We’re having fun with extra commerce yearly by means of Antioch.” “What of the brand new church there? The one in-built an eightsided determine?”

Most stunning constructions

“The work goes on steadily. You’ll be able to make sure that when it’s completed in one other 12 months, will probably be one of the vital stunning constructions on the earth.”

“And likewise the primary of its sort,” Constantine stated. “Till now, a lot of the church buildings have been constructed within the type of the basilica, however I believe this new model will give us extra stunning constructions.”

“By the best way, Dominus,” Adrian stated, “the brand new church at Jerusalem is lastly completed. I noticed Bishop Eusebius at Caesarea and he requested about its dedication. You understand your mom deliberate to try this herself.”

[xtours]

Adrian understood perhaps better

“They must be punished, as quickly as I’m able to direct the marketing campaign,” Constantine stated. “First the torment in my soul saved me idle. Then, simply once I was starting to hope I might rid myself of that, my physique determined to punish me too.”

The shrewd Greek service provider didn’t miss the importance of the phrase “punish,” although Constantine himself appeared to not take heed to it. After years of shut affiliation, Adrian understood maybe higher even than Constantine himself what had been occurring to the Emperor’s soul these previous ten years. And although not a doctor, he had his doubts that the illness may very well be cured.

“The Persians have dared to push northward so far as the shores of the Pontus Euxinus at Trapezus,” he added.

“Have they denied the port to us?”

“Not but, Dominus.”

“Then a swift strike by means of southern Armenia may nonetheless reduce them off and depart them to be destroyed by the Armenians?”

“It may very well be carried out, with you main the troops.”

Constantine out of the blue grimaced and put his hand to his chest, urgent there to alleviate the warning stab of ache introduced on by his pleasure. “Not in my current situation,” he confessed. “As soon as I dreamed of pushing the boundaries of the Empire so far as India. Now I can’t even maintain the enemy from seizing territory that has been mine for thirty years.”

“I carry some cheering information,” Adrian instructed him.

“Then give it to me. God is aware of I’ve had little sufficient to carry me pleasure these previous years.”

“We’re having fun with extra commerce yearly by means of Antioch.” “What of the brand new church there? The one in-built an eightsided determine?”

Most stunning constructions

“The work goes on steadily. You’ll be able to make sure that when it’s completed in one other 12 months, will probably be one of the vital stunning constructions on the earth.”

“And likewise the primary of its sort,” Constantine stated. “Till now, a lot of the church buildings have been constructed within the type of the basilica, however I believe this new model will give us extra stunning constructions.”

“By the best way, Dominus,” Adrian stated, “the brand new church at Jerusalem is lastly completed. I noticed Bishop Eusebius at Caesarea and he requested about its dedication. You understand your mom deliberate to try this herself.”

[bookinghotelsbg]

Adrian understood maybe higher

“They should be punished, as quickly as I’m able to direct the marketing campaign,” Constantine mentioned. “First the torment in my soul stored me idle. Then, simply once I was starting to hope I might rid myself of that, my physique determined to punish me too.”

The shrewd Greek service provider didn’t miss the importance of the phrase “punish,” although Constantine himself appeared to not take heed to it. After years of shut affiliation, Adrian understood maybe higher even than Constantine himself what had been occurring to the Emperor’s soul these previous ten years. And although not a doctor, he had his doubts that the illness might be cured.

“The Persians have dared to push northward so far as the shores of the Pontus Euxinus at Trapezus,” he added.

“Have they denied the port to us?”

“Not but, Dominus.”

“Then a swift strike via southern Armenia would possibly nonetheless lower them off and go away them to be destroyed by the Armenians?”

“It might be finished, with you main the troops.”

Constantine all of the sudden grimaced and put his hand to his chest, urgent there to alleviate the warning stab of ache introduced on by his pleasure. “Not in my current situation,” he confessed. “As soon as I dreamed of pushing the boundaries of the Empire so far as India. Now I can’t even maintain the enemy from seizing territory that has been mine for thirty years.”

“I deliver some cheering information,” Adrian advised him.

“Then give it to me. God is aware of I’ve had little sufficient to deliver me pleasure these previous years.”

“We’re having fun with extra commerce yearly via Antioch.” “What of the brand new church there? The one in-built an eightsided determine?”

Most stunning buildings

“The work goes on steadily. You possibly can make certain that when it’s completed in one other 12 months, it is going to be some of the stunning buildings on this planet.”

“And likewise the primary of its form,” Constantine mentioned. “Till now, many of the church buildings have been constructed within the type of the basilica, however I feel this new model will give us extra stunning buildings.”

“By the way in which, Dominus,” Adrian mentioned, “the brand new church at Jerusalem is lastly completed. I noticed Bishop Eusebius at Caesarea and he requested about its dedication. You recognize your mom deliberate to try this herself.”

[bookingacruise]

Adrian understood maybe higher

“They should be punished, as quickly as I’m able to direct the marketing campaign,” Constantine mentioned. “First the torment in my soul stored me idle. Then, simply once I was starting to hope I might rid myself of that, my physique determined to punish me too.”

The shrewd Greek service provider didn’t miss the importance of the phrase “punish,” although Constantine himself appeared to not take heed to it. After years of shut affiliation, Adrian understood maybe higher even than Constantine himself what had been occurring to the Emperor’s soul these previous ten years. And although not a doctor, he had his doubts that the illness might be cured.

“The Persians have dared to push northward so far as the shores of the Pontus Euxinus at Trapezus,” he added.

“Have they denied the port to us?”

“Not but, Dominus.”

“Then a swift strike via southern Armenia would possibly nonetheless lower them off and go away them to be destroyed by the Armenians?”

“It might be finished, with you main the troops.”

Constantine all of the sudden grimaced and put his hand to his chest, urgent there to alleviate the warning stab of ache introduced on by his pleasure. “Not in my current situation,” he confessed. “As soon as I dreamed of pushing the boundaries of the Empire so far as India. Now I can’t even maintain the enemy from seizing territory that has been mine for thirty years.”

“I deliver some cheering information,” Adrian advised him.

“Then give it to me. God is aware of I’ve had little sufficient to deliver me pleasure these previous years.”

“We’re having fun with extra commerce yearly via Antioch.” “What of the brand new church there? The one in-built an eightsided determine?”

Most stunning buildings

“The work goes on steadily. You possibly can make certain that when it’s completed in one other 12 months, it is going to be some of the stunning buildings on this planet.”

“And likewise the primary of its form,” Constantine mentioned. “Till now, many of the church buildings have been constructed within the type of the basilica, however I feel this new model will give us extra stunning buildings.”

“By the way in which, Dominus,” Adrian mentioned, “the brand new church at Jerusalem is lastly completed. I noticed Bishop Eusebius at Caesarea and he requested about its dedication. You recognize your mom deliberate to try this herself.”

[musictravels]

Adrian understood perhaps better

“They should be punished, as quickly as I’m able to direct the marketing campaign,” Constantine stated. “First the torment in my soul saved me idle. Then, simply after I was starting to hope I might rid myself of that, my physique determined to punish me too.”

The shrewd Greek service provider didn’t miss the importance of the phrase “punish,” although Constantine himself appeared to not take heed to it. After years of shut affiliation, Adrian understood maybe higher even than Constantine himself what had been occurring to the Emperor’s soul these previous ten years. And although not a doctor, he had his doubts that the illness could possibly be cured.

“The Persians have dared to push northward so far as the shores of the Pontus Euxinus at Trapezus,” he added.

“Have they denied the port to us?”

“Not but, Dominus.”

“Then a swift strike by southern Armenia would possibly nonetheless lower them off and go away them to be destroyed by the Armenians?”

“It could possibly be achieved, with you main the troops.”

Constantine immediately grimaced and put his hand to his chest, urgent there to alleviate the warning stab of ache introduced on by his pleasure. “Not in my current situation,” he confessed. “As soon as I dreamed of pushing the boundaries of the Empire so far as India. Now I can not even hold the enemy from seizing territory that has been mine for thirty years.”

“I deliver some cheering information,” Adrian instructed him.

“Then give it to me. God is aware of I’ve had little sufficient to deliver me pleasure these previous years.”

“We’re having fun with extra commerce yearly by Antioch.” “What of the brand new church there? The one inbuilt an eightsided determine?”

Most lovely buildings

“The work goes on steadily. You possibly can make sure that when it’s completed in one other yr, it will likely be some of the lovely buildings on this planet.”

“And likewise the primary of its type,” Constantine stated. “Till now, a lot of the church buildings have been constructed within the type of the basilica, however I believe this new type will give us extra lovely buildings.”

“By the best way, Dominus,” Adrian stated, “the brand new church at Jerusalem is lastly completed. I noticed Bishop Eusebius at Caesarea and he requested about its dedication. You already know your mom deliberate to do this herself.”

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

Roman could barely breathe. He had been hard at work on the desserts for the evening when his son appeared from the hallway, fully in his dark form and shouting about something Roman hadn't understood. Something that Roman had clearly done to anger him, but what? Aside from his usual teenage moodiness, Theo hadn't shouted anything too hurtful at his parents recently. Well, not anything more hurtful than usual.

"Theo!" Roman reached for his son, only to see him fall to the floor lifelessly. "Theo!"

"Call Lucy! Call Lucy now! I can call for an ambulance, but I think she might be the better option. Tell her to hurry!"

It took everything in Roman to keep from rushing to his son and holding him until he was better, but he knew from experience that there was nothing that he could do but stand in the way of those who could help. As much as he hated to admit it, Roman wasn't in a position to even diagnose his son, let alone help him.

If his brain had been functioning properly, Roman would have immediately dialed Abe to help. He felt like he was in slow motion, watching a disaster unfold before him that he was powerless to stop. He didn't know if he could dial a phone properly, let alone teleporting to rush him to the scene. Every second he left their son alone was critical time he might need to make medical decisions.

Down the hallway, Miruna had answered his call to summon Lucy. Lucy hadn't immediately hung up and left Roman to the chaos he knew she'd enjoy. Perhaps her wife had insisted on helping her godson and they would both be there in seconds. Perhaps they saw this as a test for Theo to pass and wouldn't help. Asking Lucy for help was always a game of chance, but if Roman had to guess, Lucy's wife would insist on intervening even if Lucy wasn't interested.

Call Abe. Lucy is coming, now I need Abe here.

Abe was unfortunately at home with the kids, even if Roman could get him to the palace in his distracted state. Who was going to watch Abe and Saturnia and ensure that the twins weren't up to mischief? Evren or Adrian could, but that meant calling them, hoping they were free and being coherent enough to communicate what was happening without bursting into tears.

Still, Abe had to know, even if Roman himself didn't understand what was happening.

Theo's having an episode again. Called for your sister. I'll keep you updated, but Abe, I'm scared.

Short and reasonably informative. Hopefully by the time Abe got his text, Roman would have some kind of update for him

"Theo!"

Roman looked to the heartbroken boy who had screamed like his entire world was ending, seeing Theo collapse. There was a reason Roman liked that boy better than some of the other contenders for his son's heart. He seemed to genuinely care about Theo, even when things got complicated like this.

Without warning, Adam's face seemed to shift into something dark and wild. Strange markings ran down his face, turning his eyes into a feral red. It was like nothing Roman had ever seen, well, aside from the few times he'd seen Theo play with blood magic. He could only assume that blood magic was the source for this emergency, just as it always was.

Fiercely shining lights emerged from Adam's palms which he directed at Theo's still body. When Theo remained unresponsive, Adam snarled in frustration and ended his spell. He paused for only a moment to reassess the situation. With a solemn sigh, Adam drew more power to himself.

Roman could see the effort the boy was making and the strain it was taking on his own body to gather what he needed to help Theo. There was definitely blood magic at play here. The stronger Adam made himself, the more the glowing fields around Theo shimmered. Was this the magical equivalent of a blood transfusion? Would Theo be stable now because of this transfer? Did he dare to hope that the solution would be that simple?

"I'm not losing you over something stupid like this!" Adam shouted, throwing back his arm wildly to summon an even stronger energy. He flicked his hand expectantly and in a flash, a long white staff appeared.

"Adam?"

Miruna looked up from her phone to marvel at what she saw before her. Witches and warlocks could use a wide variety of wands for spells, usually when complex movements of fingers were impractical for things like dueling. In his daily life, Adam usually used hand movements for spells, but he also had a crystal wand for more complicated magic. Most magic users followed this example their entire life, never needing another wand to function daily.

The exception was a fraternity of select few magic users who could summon the White Staff of the Maricourts. The staff had first appeared at the beginning of recorded history and was expertly mastered by the earliest members of the Maricourt family. They shared this power with their covens and over the generations, teens came of age and were able to produce the staff on their own. It was a feat that most descendants of the Maricourt bloodline managed upon reaching young adulthood, and after years of study by those outside the bloodline. As the Maricourts divided over the centuries, taking control of both the Pleasantview and Strangetown coven, they taught the ability to those they trusted. Every member of the witch council in Pleasantview could produce the staff, and before its demise, the Strangetown coven's leadership could as well. That was why Miruna couldn't believe her eyes. No one had taught Adam that ability yet and it had taken Miruna years to master. Clearly this little blood magic problem hadn't just fed power to Theo, Adam was benefiting from it just as much.

"Roman! What the hell happened? Theo's in trouble?"

Consort Lucy Helios-Diablo appeared in a shimmer of sparkles beside her wife, the Sovereign of all Demons, who Theo lovingly called Alexis. Roman hadn't been given a name to call her by, aside from Your Majesty, and didn't dare presume that being Theo's father and Lucy's brother in law entitled him to call her anything else.

"We made a pact and the spell went great...until it didn't," Adam answered, gritting his teeth with the effort to stay connected to his boyfriend. "It worked but instead of breaking off the pact, something went wrong. I think he's dying! I can feel him getting weaker and weaker, like something's pulling him away. I'm not letting him go though, I can save him."

Roman whimpered, trying to hide his panic at hearing these words, but failing miserably. He watched Theo's limp body with horror. Every time he'd seen his son collapse from magical causes, everyone had assured him that it would never happen again. Theo survived his birth, then his infant years, then his childhood only by a series of miracles and benevolent demons. 

"This is why he's in school," he said, his voice heavy with anger and fear. "You said this wouldn't happen again! You promised me!"

Lucy and the Sovereign shared a weary glance at this. 

"No one promised you anything, Roman," Lucy corrected him. "He's in school to save him and it's been working pretty great so far. It's not our fault that you and Abe keep screwing things up and encourage these flare ups."

Lucy stared, waiting for the usual Bellamy deferment of blame, only to be completely taken aback by his response.

"I know," he sobbed, collapsing pitifully on the floor. Less than a meter from him lay Theo's motionless body. "It's all my fault. I don't know how, I just know that I'm to blame. He started yelling at me, I don't know what about. He was just so angry and then- and then-"

"Damn, Roman, you used to have at least some dignity," Lucy scoffed. She sat on the ground beside her brother in law and tried consoling him as best she could. "Did Ulyssa screw with you so badly that you lost yourself? Kids are going to be kids no matter what you do. God only knows what Noelle gets up to, and I don't blame myself. She's learning independence, just like Theo is. I mean, he's at school most of the month, so how are you screwing him up? You barely see him."

As usual, Lucy's consolation only made Roman feel worse about himself and his role in his son's life. It was true that he didn't see Theo as often as he saw Saturnia and Abe Jr, and it still tore him apart to think of his son growing up and experiencing all the exciting changes that came with it without his parents nearby. 

The Sovereign watched Adam struggle to hold on to a blood magic bond that was rapidly disintegrating. From what she could see, Adam had made a fair assessment of the situation. The pact had worked, she could see the energy the boy was holding onto and it had started to split, separating the two teens. If anything the Sovereign was impressed at the progress her little protégé was making. Completely unassisted, Theo had made a blood pact, fulfilled it and successfully ended it. This was progress that she would be reporting to his teachers so they could adapt his lessons to better suit his most recent abilities. 

"Hmm. If my suspicions are correct, this should be a simple matter of…Mr Darktide, is it? Do you think you can maintain the blood connection for a few more minutes? I know that it's slipping away at the moment, but if you can hang onto it for a bit longer, this should be an easy fix."

"So he's going to be fine?" Roman gasped, focusing all of his hope on this new information. "He's not dying?"

"I'll do anything to save Theo," Adam interrupted quickly. They could deal with Roman's breakdown after Theo was safe. "Just tell me what to do."

The Sovereign raised her hand and concentrated on sensing the complicated flow of magic. She wasn't an expert in blood magic, but she was old enough to have been taught the basics centuries ago when it was more heavily practiced. Her posture relaxed when her suspensions were confirmed. She wouldn't have to deal with a distraught Bellamy, wailing about his own failings over a hospital bed tonight. Theo would need some rest, but nothing serious.

"Keep holding onto the connection," she ordered and Adam nodded as best as he could. 

It was painful having to keep a grip on a connection that was slipping away from him, but Adam held firm.

"Is that…is that the Maricourt staff?"

From behind Adam, a crowd had gathered to watch the spectacle. Remy stared at her brother in amazement, while her father grinned proudly.

"Your brother did it," he said with pride. "I didn't summon it until I was seventeen. Miruna was eighteen. I haven't even taught him the beginning steps."

Remy frowned, her amazement slowly turning to jealousy. She was Adam's twin and he'd just set some kind of family record for magical brilliance while she was still struggling to pass magical theory class.

"Yes, just like that," the Sovereign called, still impressed by this little warlock's natural talent and his dedication to his partner. "All of this is fixable, there was never a question of him dying- he's gotten too powerful for that to happen." Roman stared at the limp body of his son and tried to believe those words. Having his son live at school and the sacrifices he and Abe had made were worth it after all. Even though Theo looked lifeless, his studies were keeping him safe. The Sovereign was acting like this was the demonic equivalent of putting a bandaid on a minor wound and not something life threatening. His son was going to live.

What kind of episode? What did Lucy say? I'm dropping the kids off with Mom and coming there. Pick me up in ten minutes.

Roman smiled reading his husband's words now that he wasn't actively preparing for Theo's funeral. There would be plenty of time to figure out how exactly this had happened now that Theo still had plenty of years left to learn from the experience.

"You know, I think I'm just going to head home. This has been fun and all, but I think things have gotten a bit too weird for my liking. I'll see you guys around."

Ewan tried to exit the room as quickly as possible, before someone could turn their attention on him. It was one thing to try to figure out what his half-siblings had planned for him, it was an entirely different thing to be in the same room as his neglectful father, a princess and apparently the devil herself. If this was the kind of life that he was missing out on, Ewan was glad for it. Theo was cute and it would be a great accomplishment to steal him away from his half-brother, but there were some lines that Ewan didn't want to cross. He'd grown up in a country that demons flocked to, but he'd never seen one in their dark form before and definitely not this close. He wasn't exactly sure how to get home from Crystal Cove by himself, but the last thing he wanted was to engage with the supernatural spectacle he'd just left. Maybe his mom would send him money for the train if he asked. Anything was better than hanging around here.

[holidayinbg]

Adrian understood maybe higher

“They should be punished, as quickly as I’m able to direct the marketing campaign,” Constantine stated. “First the torment in my soul stored me idle. Then, simply after I was starting to hope I might rid myself of that, my physique determined to punish me too.”

The shrewd Greek service provider didn’t miss the importance of the phrase “punish,” although Constantine himself appeared to not take heed to it. After years of shut affiliation, Adrian understood maybe higher even than Constantine himself what had been taking place to the Emperor’s soul these previous ten years. And although not a doctor, he had his doubts that the illness may very well be cured.

“The Persians have dared to push northward so far as the shores of the Pontus Euxinus at Trapezus,” he added.

“Have they denied the port to us?”

“Not but, Dominus.”

“Then a swift strike by means of southern Armenia would possibly nonetheless reduce them off and go away them to be destroyed by the Armenians?”

“It may very well be executed, with you main the troops.”

Constantine immediately grimaced and put his hand to his chest, urgent there to alleviate the warning stab of ache introduced on by his pleasure. “Not in my current situation,” he confessed. “As soon as I dreamed of pushing the boundaries of the Empire so far as India. Now I can’t even hold the enemy from seizing territory that has been mine for thirty years.”

“I deliver some cheering information,” Adrian instructed him.

“Then give it to me. God is aware of I’ve had little sufficient to deliver me pleasure these previous years.”

“We’re having fun with extra commerce yearly by means of Antioch.” “What of the brand new church there? The one inbuilt an eightsided determine?”

Most lovely constructions

“The work goes on steadily. You possibly can make sure that when it’s completed in one other 12 months, it will likely be one of the vital lovely constructions on this planet.”

“And likewise the primary of its form,” Constantine stated. “Till now, many of the church buildings have been constructed within the type of the basilica, however I feel this new model will give us extra lovely constructions.”

“By the way in which, Dominus,” Adrian stated, “the brand new church at Jerusalem is lastly completed. I noticed Bishop Eusebius at Caesarea and he requested about its dedication. You already know your mom deliberate to do this herself.”

[travellingbg]

Adrian understood perhaps better

“They must be punished, as quickly as I’m able to direct the marketing campaign,” Constantine stated. “First the torment in my soul stored me idle. Then, simply once I was starting to hope I might rid myself of that, my physique determined to punish me too.”

The shrewd Greek service provider didn’t miss the importance of the phrase “punish,” although Constantine himself appeared to not take heed to it. After years of shut affiliation, Adrian understood maybe higher even than Constantine himself what had been taking place to the Emperor’s soul these previous ten years. And although not a doctor, he had his doubts that the illness might be cured.

“The Persians have dared to push northward so far as the shores of the Pontus Euxinus at Trapezus,” he added.

“Have they denied the port to us?”

“Not but, Dominus.”

“Then a swift strike by southern Armenia would possibly nonetheless lower them off and depart them to be destroyed by the Armenians?”

“It might be performed, with you main the troops.”

Constantine abruptly grimaced and put his hand to his chest, urgent there to alleviate the warning stab of ache introduced on by his pleasure. “Not in my current situation,” he confessed. “As soon as I dreamed of pushing the boundaries of the Empire so far as India. Now I can not even hold the enemy from seizing territory that has been mine for thirty years.”

“I carry some cheering information,” Adrian informed him.

“Then give it to me. God is aware of I’ve had little sufficient to carry me pleasure these previous years.���

“We’re having fun with extra commerce yearly by Antioch.” “What of the brand new church there? The one in-built an eightsided determine?”

Most lovely buildings

“The work goes on steadily. You possibly can ensure that when it’s completed in one other yr, it is going to be one of the vital lovely buildings on the earth.”

“And in addition the primary of its type,” Constantine stated. “Till now, many of the church buildings have been constructed within the type of the basilica, however I believe this new fashion will give us extra lovely buildings.”

“By the best way, Dominus,” Adrian stated, “the brand new church at Jerusalem is lastly completed. I noticed Bishop Eusebius at Caesarea and he requested about its dedication. You recognize your mom deliberate to try this herself.”

[metrotravels]

Adrian understood perhaps better

“They must be punished, as quickly as I’m able to direct the marketing campaign,” Constantine stated. “First the torment in my soul stored me idle. Then, simply once I was starting to hope I might rid myself of that, my physique determined to punish me too.”

The shrewd Greek service provider didn’t miss the importance of the phrase “punish,” although Constantine himself appeared to not take heed to it. After years of shut affiliation, Adrian understood maybe higher even than Constantine himself what had been taking place to the Emperor’s soul these previous ten years. And although not a doctor, he had his doubts that the illness might be cured.

“The Persians have dared to push northward so far as the shores of the Pontus Euxinus at Trapezus,” he added.

“Have they denied the port to us?”

“Not but, Dominus.”

“Then a swift strike by southern Armenia would possibly nonetheless lower them off and depart them to be destroyed by the Armenians?”

“It might be performed, with you main the troops.”

Constantine abruptly grimaced and put his hand to his chest, urgent there to alleviate the warning stab of ache introduced on by his pleasure. “Not in my current situation,” he confessed. “As soon as I dreamed of pushing the boundaries of the Empire so far as India. Now I can not even hold the enemy from seizing territory that has been mine for thirty years.”

“I carry some cheering information,” Adrian informed him.

“Then give it to me. God is aware of I’ve had little sufficient to carry me pleasure these previous years.”

“We’re having fun with extra commerce yearly by Antioch.” “What of the brand new church there? The one in-built an eightsided determine?”

Most lovely buildings

“The work goes on steadily. You possibly can ensure that when it’s completed in one other yr, it is going to be one of the vital lovely buildings on the earth.”

“And in addition the primary of its type,” Constantine stated. “Till now, many of the church buildings have been constructed within the type of the basilica, however I believe this new fashion will give us extra lovely buildings.”

“By the best way, Dominus,” Adrian stated, “the brand new church at Jerusalem is lastly completed. I noticed Bishop Eusebius at Caesarea and he requested about its dedication. You recognize your mom deliberate to try this herself.”

[bookingoneway]

Adrian understood maybe higher

“They must be punished, as quickly as I’m able to direct the marketing campaign,” Constantine mentioned. “First the torment in my soul saved me idle. Then, simply after I was starting to hope I may rid myself of that, my physique determined to punish me too.”

The shrewd Greek service provider didn’t miss the importance of the phrase “punish,” although Constantine himself appeared to not take heed to it. After years of shut affiliation, Adrian understood maybe higher even than Constantine himself what had been occurring to the Emperor’s soul these previous ten years. And although not a doctor, he had his doubts that the illness could possibly be cured.

“The Persians have dared to push northward so far as the shores of the Pontus Euxinus at Trapezus,” he added.

“Have they denied the port to us?”

“Not but, Dominus.”

“Then a swift strike via southern Armenia would possibly nonetheless minimize them off and depart them to be destroyed by the Armenians?”

“It could possibly be executed, with you main the troops.”

Constantine out of the blue grimaced and put his hand to his chest, urgent there to alleviate the warning stab of ache introduced on by his pleasure. “Not in my current situation,” he confessed. “As soon as I dreamed of pushing the boundaries of the Empire so far as India. Now I can not even preserve the enemy from seizing territory that has been mine for thirty years.”

“I carry some cheering information,” Adrian instructed him.

“Then give it to me. God is aware of I’ve had little sufficient to carry me pleasure these previous years.”

“We’re having fun with extra commerce yearly via Antioch.” “What of the brand new church there? The one inbuilt an eightsided determine?”

Most lovely constructions

“The work goes on steadily. You may ensure that when it’s completed in one other yr, will probably be one of the crucial lovely constructions on this planet.”

“And in addition the primary of its form,” Constantine mentioned. “Till now, a lot of the church buildings have been constructed within the type of the basilica, however I believe this new fashion will give us extra lovely constructions.”

“By the way in which, Dominus,” Adrian mentioned, “the brand new church at Jerusalem is lastly completed. I noticed Bishop Eusebius at Caesarea and he requested about its dedication. You understand your mom deliberate to do this herself.”