#and came across weird origami shapes

[folkofthecorner]

It’s mentioned in the cornerfolk video and the beginning of cornerworld that riley does (and is somewhat a savant at) origami after what happened. I can imagine he makes unconventional origami structures such as this:

it’s filled with corners, because they are still on his open mind.

[lilcutieana]

PANACEA ~ Epilogue

Word Count: 3.8k

Warning: Mild angst / mention of death

Rating: 16+

Pairing: Bea x Jungkook, Taehyung x Y/N

Genre: Angst/ drama (happy ending)

One || Two || Three || Four || Five || Six || Seven ||

Eight || Nine || Ten || Eleven || Twelve || Final

I felt numb, floating into the endless dark abyss of the void. I wonder, how did I end up here?

I.... Who was I?

"Taehyung"

Is that my name?

"Taehyung, wake up"

A harsh glare of Amber light assaulted my eyes and I scrunched them up only to blink them open once again, shielding with my fingers that tingled with pins and needles.

Everything around me was white and gold with hint of reds and browns every which way. Giant statues of winged angels, cherubs and demons decorated the huge room I was confined in.

Fisting the pristine white silk sheets I laid upon, I sat up without much effort, the striped pillow on my chest tumbled down and I noticed with a delay even my clothes were white. Was this heaven?

Getting out of the bed, I still didn't feel anything wrong with myself and that was odd. No hunger, pain or happiness--- nothing. I was just calm yet confused to the point it was eerie.

Taehyung. The name sounded familiar, nostalgic even. Why couldn’t I remember anything else?

There was just one door to my right, no windows and I decided to take a chance on it. Maybe I'll feel something, some emotion or pain if I cross that.

As I stood on the threshold ready to go through the door, I felt my heart come to a standstill. The rhythmic thudding I could hear all along was gone, replaced by absolute silence and yet, I felt nothing as if it were natural. Without looking behind me, I pushed open the huge white door in front of me that had no lock on it. Maybe they wanted me to escape, whoever kept me here.

As soon as the door closed behind me, I was faced with a huge hall filled with doors and winding staircases. Weird. I must be dreaming. This seems too cartoonish to be heaven. But then again, no one lived to tell what heaven actually looks like… or did they?

Y/N

The oddly familiar name came to my mind as a whisper and I didn’t know if it was something else, or perhaps, my own conscious mind. The name brought along a feeling of sadness. Something I hadn’t expected to feel at all. Why sadness of all things? What did the person mean to me? Or was it a pet?

Shrugging I walked forward and watched the white doors along my way. The winding stairs were weird, they went every which way and were too confusing, maybe, even to whoever designed them. Some led to doors, some to corridors and some to absolute nowhere.

Pressing my ear along a door, that looked interesting with swirly designs, I tried listening in to whatever it was that was hidden behind them but was utterly disappointed to not hear anything at all.

Why was everything so quiet in here?

“You have a lot of questions for someone who just woke up”

Startled, I looked back at a silver blonde haired man with cerulean eyes that sparkled with mirth. Pointing at my head, I asked confused, “Can you hear my thoughts?”

“No. But I’ve spent the last seventeen years with you. I’d know how to read your expressions by now.” He quipped with a smile that revealed his gums and made his eyes vanish behind his lids, squeezed between his cheeks. “I believe you’ve lost your memories. I’m Min Yoongi, your guardian when you were a human.”

“Oh. What am I now?”

“You wanted to be somewhat of a grim reaper before you died.” He said with a shake of his head, voice somber, “The option is still open. What do you want to be?”

“I…. I’m dead?”

“Yes. This is somewhat of a purgatory.” He spun around slowly with his hands wide open. Stopping in between me and the door I was listening in on, he pointed to it. “The door you choose would be your next life and if you don’t choose anything, well…”

“If, it was my past self who chose to be a grim reaper, then that’s what I’d like to be.” I declared, my voice steady and sure. For some reason, I knew deep down that was what I truly wanted. He wasn’t lying to me. I’d believe him in this one thing.

Looking me in the eye with his jaw slacked and eyes narrowed, he sighed at last and smirked.

“Follow me. Let’s talk while we get to where you should be.” He chimed, his voice melodic and calming. Holding onto his golden necklace with a long design that was neither a sword nor a key in his right hand, he held onto my hand in his cold left grip.

A gush of wind swallowed me whole and spat me out in what could only be described as hell frozen over. It was dark, everything in richer tones of Black, purple, reds and maroons, except, it was too cold.

“It’s been this way for the two weeks you refused to wake up. Your soul had scattered and took a long time to form back into a whole person again. The temperatures should return to normal now that you’re almost back.” He mused with a fist over his mouth, looking pensive as blue lights in various shapes and shades danced around the room.

The room itself was beautiful with an open ceiling that overlooked the night sky, snowflakes shimmering in the air from above and drizzling down like rain. I wondered how beautiful it would be during sunsets and sunrises. I wanted to share it with Y/N.

That name again. Who was she to me?

Yoongi walked towards the circular fountain in the middle of the room, gushing amber liquid instead of water and had beautiful onyx mermaid statues in it gushing water through the various shaped conch shells they held in their hands. Sitting on the edge, he patted the space next to him for me to sit down.

“I can’t tell you about your past. It’s against the rules. But I’ll let you know that you’re at the right path. You’ll remember things in time, and if you don’t…” He looked away and bit his lips.

“If I don’t?” I prompted, hoping he wouldn’t evade me.

“Then just make new memories with her. You’ll know who she is. If you fell in love with her at first sight once, it will happen again. That’s just how things are.” Yoongi gushed, his eyes sparkling with happiness.

I was in love?

“Why a grim reaper? Why not choosing another life instead?” I asked frantically. I mean, if I was in love, and I died, won’t she still be human and devastated? Or was it one sided?

“Calm down, Tae. She’s one of the grim reapers. I’ll give you a hint, she will try her best to avoid you but also silently ensure you have the best of everything.” Nodding to himself, he folded his arms across his chest.

One of the grim reapers? Was he saying—I, a human, fell in love with a grim reaper? Is that why my soul scattered after I died?

“Stop overthinking” He said, smoothing my forehead and ruffling my hair.

“Sorry, hyung.” I breathed, “It’s just... I don’t understand anything.”

“See those blue lights? They’re all souls the reaper’s collect. Only a chosen few get to live life again. You’re one of them. That’s all.” He surmised, pointing at the various blue balls dancing about like dust particles, just larger in size.

“While you were alive, I tried my best as your guardian angel to keep the two of you apart. But love works in mysterious ways and you ended up dying for her so you could be with her after death, for all of eternity. She might hate you for it, mind you.” He said, pinching my cheeks and I swatted his hand away when it started to hurt. “I held a grudge against her for hundreds of years but now that she suffered the same pain of watching your loved ones die before you, I feel guilty and…”

“It’s okay, hyung, don’t force yourself if it’s too much to talk about.” I said with a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. Seeing him shake and choke up while speaking made me feel uneasy, sad and somewhat sympathetic. I felt like I was responsible, so I should console him, right?

“It’s okay. I owe you this much. What I’m trying to say is, I won’t come in between you anymore, and neither would other guardians. She’s….” Looking around, he turned to me with his eyes glinting. Uh oh… he was up to no good. “You’ll know who she is, she should be the one with the most emotional reaction out of everyone you come across is what I’m saying.”

“Aren’t you breaking rules by telling me this?” I asked with a smirk.

“What rules? I didn’t tell you about your past life or who exactly your childhood love is, now, did I?” He asked nonchalantly. Shrugging his shoulders, he held onto his necklace once again. “Do what your instincts tell you to. Remember, they are there for a reason. Follow your heart.”

 •❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

I never intended to, but the building I was in charge of had changed itself according to my mood. I shouldn't have learnt the trick from the Fae, for now the whole of my little space I'd been given in heaven to keep wandering souls, had now become frozen.

It already lacked any semblance of life, except the origami plants and animals I'd folded over the centuries in absolute boredom, and now in despair.

I'd thought I was prepared for Taehyung, the pure human child, to die one day, like every human did. It was an inevitable end. I thought that if I'd distance myself from him by indulging in sexual desires, it won't hurt as much when the end came. I thought I'd come back to heaven happy to have spent a human lifetime alongside him.

Little did I know, he'd already wormed his way into my heart the first night he looked me in the eyes and called me beautiful. Who does that? To the angel of death, no less? He was an enigma. Mischievous, yet innocent. Pure, yet a pervert. Sweet, yet held grudges for ages. Caring, yet devised the most dangerous of pranks. You could never categorize him and I was always drawn to his very essence. His soul, his personality, his heart and his beautiful mind, that saw the world in a different light.

I was truly, madly, deeply in love with the idiot who fell headfirst into love with the angel of death. And nothing, not even a casual fling, with an angel who was far more knowledgeable, far more handsome, far more superior in every which way--- could compare to the feelings I held in my heart for Taehyung. 

Seokjin just wasn't enough to make me fall for him, the way Taehyung had, with just one look and just one touch. But I knew in my heart, he would be, perfect for someone else---someone whose very world revolved around him. 

He had harbored feelings for me for ages but never acted upon them until he felt me slipping through his fingers. He had always been a comforting companion by my side-- caring, sensitive, emotional, humane, observing and just downright sarcastic. He would always defend me, encourage me to be better, bring out the best in me; but somehow, somewhere, I think I'd developed feelings for him too. 

Certainly, my feelings weren't platonic. They were lustful, they were hedonistic but they were also of pure love. I loved him for who he was, who he is and who he will be. But what I felt for him wasn't as profound as what I felt for Taehyung. It just wasn't the same. But I couldn’t completely and honestly say that there weren’t times when I hadn’t selfishly taken advantage of him, his love for me and his sincerity. 

It hurt when I ended things with him the day I’d finally let myself acknowledge that what was there between Taehyung and I was far from platonic. Despite the age difference and him being a human, I had fallen in love with him and him—with me. There was no going back, there was no way to let him down easy. There was no way I could be away from him without hurting us both.

And yet, the moment I decided to let my feelings be known. The moment I decided to share his lifetime by his side, he had to play the hero and give his life away in vain. I knew if I’d stayed near his human body without the necklace, he’d die and become one with me. And still, as stubborn as I was—I’d let myself be near him, I’d let myself hold him in my arms as he took his last breath and I’d stayed as his body grew colder in my arms. 

I had lost my sanity then. And before I could ruin what was left of the Fae kingdom, I’d teleported back into my little cave of darkness and solidarity. I’d spent each day hoping his soul was happy wherever it was and checking among each soul in my little cave to ensure none of them belonged to him. 

So long as he didn’t choose to rest in peace, I’d have a chance to see him thrive again. As a human, or as an angel. He’d make a wonderful guardian. His soul was pure and determined, observant and kind with the right amount of mischievousness to stir problems once in a while. He’d be perfect. He was perfect. 

A fresh bout of tears made it to my eyes and I scrubbed frantically at them. I didn’t need more angel tears. They were useless. They couldn’t protect the one human I needed the most to. Though, they did enhance Jimin’s powers. But still… my love had to face a trial. A trial I didn’t want us to face. Not yet. 

But fate never worked the way we’d wanted them to. Despite having the power to revert back time, I couldn’t use it. Somehow, I didn’t want to disrespect his wishes. He’d said his last goodbyes. I didn’t want to make him stay. I just couldn’t bring myself to. Before I changed my mind about letting his soul rest and decide for itself, I ran away like the coward I was. 

I still couldn’t bring myself to ask about him, it had been eight years since then. I couldn’t even bring myself to see any of the other guardians or the little family I’d come to make for myself. 

I hoped Jimin was okay. He had people by his side now, but I still couldn’t face him. Not yet. I’m sure he missed me, was disappointed in me just as Seokjin had been. But I wasn’t ready to face the music, I wonder if I’ll ever be. 

I tried playing nonchalant for the longest time, drowning myself in work and mundane tasks. Even the grim reapers and the black dog of the graveyard had started to worry for my wellbeing and had confined me here until I got my act together. 

It took me five years to understand that I had to accept his death and mourn over him. But I couldn’t—especially since our connection wasn’t severed yet. I could feel him still and I knew he wasn’t completely lost. 

I hadn’t felt him for about a few weeks but then suddenly one day, there was a soft thrum of energy in my veins and I knew, he had been revived and was in heaven. But as what?  Remained a mystery still.

 By the sixth year, everyone had given up on me. And here I was, eight years after the incident, waiting for the new graduates while sat upon the fountain of ambrosia, the literal nectar of immortality—to gift the new horde of grim reapers who I’d personally test and give them a new purpose. 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅• 

I believed Yoongi hyung, I really did, but I was losing my patience. He told me how to tell who my first love was, and still, I couldn’t find her. Or maybe, I had but didn’t know who she was.

While I knew I was an immortal now, it didn’t help that time moved slower in heaven. It certainly didn’t help that I couldn’t just straight up ask someone to confirm if they knew me when I was alive. 

Most souls retained their memory but I had lost mine and I was okay with it. Really. In the eight years I spent learning about the roles, rules, and skills of a grim reaper, I’d slowly found out about my life as a human. 

I didn’t have the most common of friends. Living with a guardian angel, having a Fae prince as a younger sibling and two Daemons as older siblings sure surprised me, but I wasn’t the least bit disappointed. But, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t recall who it was I was in love with. Every time I tried to remember, I fainted and woke up in another place. 

Today, however, I was scared. And yes, I had started to feel things little by little. They weren’t as strong as when I was a human, but they were there, in the back of my mind. And I was downright sweating and pacing around the room. I would finally graduate after all the long grueling lessons. Sometimes, I still wonder why I chose to be a grim reaper of all things. Was my love that important to me? 

But then I remembered that if I’d died for love, probably that was my plan all along. I wouldn’t just randomly let someone kill me. Not while I had perfectly capable guardians and protectors. 

“Next” 

A soft, yet demanding voice crooned from behind the dark red doors that loomed before me. The woman standing in front of me, who had been snickering behind her hand all this time—for pacing around the room in nervousness—had now jumped a feet into the air, and squeaked like a mouse, opening the mahogany door and sliding past it. I suppose it isn’t as funny when it’s your turn to face the music. 

I gulped, my throat suddenly losing all moisture, even though it was deathly cold in here just like the first time I’d come here with Yoongi hyung. It truly was my turn yet. Whoever went past the door, didn’t make it back. Where were the hundreds of people going to? Was there a portal? Or was the Angel of death truly so terrifying and cold that she’d end up taking their souls for herself. 

While I tried avoiding all sorts of rumors in this place, somehow the ones about her always drew me in. I found myself stopping and listening every time her name was mentioned. It seemed familiar, just like my own name was to me now. 

Out of every reaper out there, I’d met most of them. And if my soul shattered again today, everything would be in vain. But what if? What they were just rumors? What if she was the one I had fallen in love with? 

Then I’d get to know her all over again. Work for her, work with her and make her fall in love with me this time for sure. If our love didn’t work back then just because I was a mortal-- surely it should work now. 

“Next” 

Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself for whatever I’d face past the door. I knew it would be life changing… or death changing? Since … well, I was already dead. 

Okay, I suppose I’m too nervous to even make jokes like Seokjin Hyung. I knew he held a grudge against me, but I had to admit, he was an amazing angel and I’d look for him, in any case, I couldn’t find Yoongi hyung. I would trust him with my life too. He was genuine and perhaps one of the only angels who let their emotions control their actions.   

Shaking my hands to rid of the nerves, I pushed open the huge double red doors in front of me and stepped forward with my right foot. Something vague about it being lucky crossing my mind for a fraction of a moment; and then-- a black cat, a black feather and a million other images and emotions flashing by me right as I stepped across the threshold. 

I heard the rushing of water and looked straight at the woman seated at the edge of the waterfall right where I had sat under the onyx mermaid statue gushing amber liquid through a conch shell held in her hands. Her mouth was trembling and her eyes—oh her eyes, they spoke of a thousand words I couldn’t begin to describe. A trembling hand raised and held her perky lips that now were bitten underneath her sharp canines. A muted sob escaped her throat and made it past her lips. Widening her eyes, as I moved a step forward, she shook her head and leaped towards me. 

Running all the way, she collided into my chest and clutched at my suit lapels. Was she my Y/N? 

“Where…” She sobbed, her face buried into my chest, right above my heart. A heart that didn’t beat anymore. My time was stopped for me until I became an actual angel. Until I drank the nectar of gods. “Where have you been?” 

“I was always here…” Was she truly the one I loved? Her hair though messy looked regal, her eyes though sad, looked hopeful and her lips…so kissable. But what was the most magnificent of all were her absolute black wings that were folded behind her. “Y/N”

She was my Y/N. I was absolutely certain now. I knew now why when I’d lost all memory and even my own name, I remembered hers. 

She was my most precious emotion and memory that I retained when my soul shattered. She was the most important to me. The only wish I had during my last moments. 

“I think I’m falling in love all over again. Even when your eyes are red-rimmed, hair a mess and words incoherent.” I whispered by her ear, holding her close to my chest. “This time, I won’t let you go.” 

“I’d kill you if you did. And make you drink ambrosia to bring you back.” 

“I’d die a thousand deaths for you if that made you happy. Unfortunately, I can’t die anymore.” 

“I love you too. I always have.” She spoke in a whisper, a secret between the two of us. 

“And me, you.” 

I sealed the promise of an eternity with a kiss that I’d craved for the past eight years I’d gained a new life. Here, in heaven, we were finally together.

One || Two || Three || Four || Five || Six || Seven ||

Eight || Nine || Ten || Eleven || Twelve || Final

[theultraknight]

The new zodiac, chapter 1 The crystal forest, Part 1

A UFO flew through the dark vastness of space. The passengers abroad looked like they were made of bulky gray 90s computers. Two of them stared, out the windshield.

"How long until we arrived?" The mystery man asked. He had a silver rectangular box face.

"Ten hours, seventeen minutes, and nine point eight seconds," Mystery woman said. Her head was made of three boxes across from each other, the middle box held her silver face.

Mystery man #2 walked through the doors. "He's coming after us."

The ship shook as struck it by something. It began to be pulled back like a nail to a magnet. That's when a face appeared on the large computer screen.

"Turn back." His deep voice said.

"RAM," Mystery man #1 said.

"I'm already working on it," Mystery man #2 a.k.a. RAM, typed away.

"As your king I command you return immediately," Deep voice said.

"I need your hands,' RAM told his comrades.

They all put their hands on the computers control panel.

"Hyperdrive initiated," The computer said.

"Don't worry my king, well be back," Mystery man #1 said.

The ship tore itself from the pulling force and shot straight ahead for Earth.

On Earth, in a flash of blue, a girl appeared, she had rich brown skin and her black hair was in a braid. She wore a white tee, a blue skirt with a matching flannel shirt tied around, and heels.

"What?" Anna(The girl) said. She took in her surroundings, there were trees but they seemed to be made of sapphire, and the grass was blue.

She looked down at the thick little sapphire butterflies flapping their little wings around her. Then it dawned on her, her friends were gone. She raised her head up then gasped.

A creature stood before her made of sapphire. It was her height, with an oval face, big lips, and no eyes. It even had little butterflies wings on its back. Also, its arms and legs were shaped like logs.

Anna observed it, and it looked back even though it didn't have eyes.

It started to walk off, it looked back and waved its handless arm, gesturing for Anna to follow it.

Anna was hesitant, but it didnt seem to want to harm her. So she started walking and stepped on a path of sapphire. And while Anna tried not to slip on it, her friend Cain was looking for her.

"Anna, Jamie, Cara, can anybody hear me?!"

The only ones who could hear were these little creatures that resembled origami birds but made of yellow topaz crystal.

Cain had brownish blonde hair and brown eyes, he was white and pale and wore a yellow shirt, jeans and converses.

He was in a place like Annas except made of topaz, that and being surrounded by weird birds made Cain more determined find his friends.

He set off to when he was knocked down. When he looked up, he saw topaz. It flat but thick and crescent-shaped, the ends being wings, it also had a beak and hovered. It didn't do anything, just hover.

Cain slowly got up and started to carefully walk away, but the strange creature blocked. He tried to move away again, but it did it again then it, bent down.

Cain thought it wanted him to get on, that may not be the best idea but he needed to find friends and this looked like his best option. So he stepped on and it took off, he almost fell off but balanced himself like he was his skateboard.

Shun was having a different time than his friends. He was playing his guitar with the ruby fireflies and singing songs in Mandarin. He was kinda pale and his hair was a little long.

When it felt like something was behind him, he turned around and was met by two glowing red compound eyes.

This creature was made of ruby as tall as him with no arms but had two long shards of ruby floating behind its shoulders.

The creature had an intimidating aura about it, which caused Shuns heart speed up a little but he didn't let it show.

It looked at him then nodded up to the left.

Even though Shun didn't know if he could trust this thing, it could lead him to his friends. So he went along.

Three more friends are unaccounted for but they'll have their time.

Anna had finally made it to her destination. A clearing surrounded by trees, everything was made out of sapphire even the throne that sat in the center of the clearing.

Anna wondered how and why a place like this existed. 'Magic, maybe a mutation? She thought.

The creature she followed stood in front of the throne.

Anna had no idea what was going on, so she did the only thing she could ask. "Why did you bring me here?"

The creature pointed up.

Anna looked at the sky, a ship flew into sight, it looked like a flying saucer.

"That?"

The mysterious creature nodded.

'What is happening?! she thought. "Are those aliens?"

The creature nodded again.

"What am I supposed to do?"

It nodded at one of the little butterflies causing it to glow.

The little one lands Anna's ring finger, a blue liquid began to engulf her, and panic set in her. Then the liquid crystallized, Annas heart was pounding, her chest heaving but she realized she was okay. "What just happened?"

The creature smiled and took a seat on the throne. The little butterflies and other animals gathered around their attention focused on the throne.

It wasn't hard for Anna to figure out that was their, queen? Assuming it was a girl.

A tractor beam shot down from the aliens' ship then it faded away.

"Did they just come down?"

Anna received another nod.

"I don't know what you want me to do, but I can't handle this."

The queen creature waved her butterflies over to the right.

The butterflies gathered until they formed the shape of a person.

The queen waved some more butterflies to the left, and they did the same. Both looked like a people made of flapping wings.

The queen pointed to the one on the right then pointed to Anna.

"That's suppose to be me?"

Another nod, the queen pointed at the left butterfly person then at the spaceship. She swung her arms together, and the butterfly people fought.

The right one kicked and kicked and knocked the other one down.

Anna finally understood what the queen wanted. "You want me to fight them?"

Nod.

"I don't know who you think I am, but I have no idea what to do, call the Navy or someone, or anyone who can really help."

The queen wrapped Anna in a blue aura and levitated her.

This amazed Anna, she almost weightless. Blue flames shot from her hands. "I can do, you what I'ma stop, asking questions because I know you're gonna nod." Wings appeared on her back.

The queen turned off the aura, sending Anna into free fall. All Anna could think was don't fall, don't fall! She expected to hit the ground but she didn't and then she realized her wings were flapping.

Anna was a bit shocked and it was weird to be flying but she could get used to this.

"Well, this is unexpected," That was from mystery man #1, on the ground.

Cain was having his own adventure trying not to fall off the hovering bird. When they came to a stop, Cain jumped off and tried to regain his balance, his stomach was doing somersaults.

Once it calmed down, he could take in his surroundings, yellow trees, and matching lake, which looked like a pool of lemonade, and there was the large stump of topaz next to it.

His hovering friend perched itself over the stump, and a bunch of topaz animals literally came out of the woodworks.

Cain gathered from their reaction and his size that, hover was the leader.

Boom! The sound rang through the area, and it didn't sound far away.

Cain decided to follow it, he walked through the trees and brush, and then he saw it.

A topaz pillar and the mystery woman. She punched it. Boom!! Interesting, I expected it to crack easier.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

She turned to Cain. 'A human, didn't expect' that she thought. She turned her attention back to the pillar and punched it again.

"Stop that!"

She punched it again. What the human wanted was irrelevant to her.

Cain wasn't gonna let her destroy this place. As if on queue, one of those topaz origami birds landed on his finger, and something like liquid topaz encased him.

Mystery woman watched curiously as the substance crystallized.

Cain had, nooooo idea what just happened, but the little bird from before kept thrusting its body forward like it was pointing at mystery woman. 'It wants me to stop her, okay, come on Cain, you got this' He looked at mystery woman. "Leave now." He said in a stern voice.

She didnt want to deal with this inconvenience, but oh well. She leaped forward and punched him straight in the chest.

He flew back and landed on his back.

Mystery womans hand electrified, and she was going straight for Cain, but hover bird, shot out of nowhere and fired an energy blast from its beak, knocking mystery woman away.

The leader pulled up next to Cain.

"Thanks," Cain said. He put his hands on top of the leader, to push himself up. He still felt sore from the punch. He might have to deal with another one though, as mystery woman stood up, her chest a little charred.

"Apparently, this is going to be more difficult I thought." But Mystery woman was ready for the challenge.

Shun had been following his gemstone companion for what felt like hours. "Where are we going?"

It just kept walking, not bothering to look back at Shun.

Shun was frustrated, he thought this would lead him to his friends but he was wrong.

The ruby creature stopped in its tracks.

RAM was in front of them standing next to a ruby throne.

Shun is trying to process how he went from trying to leave school, to now with a mythical and a robot.

The ruby creatures shoulder blades sent out like a red electrical current connecting to the two shards behind him. Now they can move like arms. He wasted no time launching them toward RAM.

RAM blocked one with his arm, the other striking him in the side, then the first one smacked him in the face. He was able to grasp ahold to the shards and chucked them back at the creature.

It still had control of its shards so they flipped over its shoulder and landed floating behind its back.

RAM rammed his fist into the ground, causing everything to shake.

The creature's shards electrified with magic and it began to rise from the ground then it charged at RAM!

RAMs mini earthquake caused ruby trees to fall, one tree had ruby fireflies under it.

Shun saw it falling, he sprinted there, gathered the fireflies in his arms as the tree fell on top of him.

The ruby creature stared at the fallen tree, as RAM held off its attack.

RAM took advantage of its divided attention and fired an electrical pulse from his stomach, knocking the creature away.

Under the fallen tree glowed a red light, next thing the tree rose up and Shun threw it to the side. He was covered, in ruby armor thanks to the fireflies. He didnt know what happened but was happy it did. He saw the creature on the ground and RAM heading for it.

Back with Anna, she was face to face with mystery man #1.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" 'Please say you come in peace' Anna thought.

"My name is Hard Drive, me and my associates, RAM and CPU, are here for your crystals."

"Well, they're not really mine, why do you want them?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

"Well, how else am I supposed to get answers."

"You're gonna be trouble aren't you?"

"Now whos asking the questions?" She turned to the queen. "He's not one of the good guys is he?"

The queen furiously shook her head no.

Anna took a deep breath and fired blue fire from her hand. The End.

Anna, Cain, and Shuns adventures continue in the next installment.

© ultraknight 2018

[gorfscapes]

Eclipse 2017, Ankeny Wildlife Refuge, Oregon

We idled in our truck past a field of hay, flattened under a bare and yawning sky, the hay all glossy from months without rain and rolling hills all around. Trashed campers and trucks and toy-sized electric cars were parked in every ditch and in the cut hay and people crossed the road haphazardly and sundazed, but it still seemed spacious, empty. It was like a crowd gathering for some peaceful music festival where there was no authority and the audience was trusted to govern themselves and the admission was free and the music was silence. We parked in a patch of thorny blackberry brambles down the road from the field and walked the half mile back under vibrating heat.

People dawdled all around in camo and tie dye alike, directionless, carrying camp chairs, wearing large practical hats and fanny packs, everyone either holding or wearing blunt paper sunglasses that looked like something from a future that never happened or a history remembered wrong, a collective dream that seemed convincing and could pass for a memory, some alternate Earth timeline that could have been or was meant to be or was imagined to be and never executed. They sat and pondered the sky expectantly, as if waiting for a sign from God, only visible thanks to the fairground science of the tinted lens that allowed one to peer into His dimension, or for the fickle oracle delivering her prophecy on the hillside or for the start of a film after a long commercial, projected onto the sky in a selected frequency of light. Drones hovered around the farmland, spinning slowly in place and blinking lights or tearing off suddenly toward a cluster of tents with strapping and confident young college men and patriarchs of Indian families wielding the controls toward the sky and smiling. The discord of drone motors lay weirdly and uncomfortable under the pastoral vista.

We laid out a blanket somewhere near no one and waited for the eclipse. I put on my glasses and saw that it had already started. A small perfectly round bite had been taken out of the orb of the sun. Through the lens, the normally impossible and mercurial shape of the sun was condensed into an abstracted neon disc, a rusty orange color, as if rendered by backlight on a laser-stained antique arcade screen. The way it looked, the lenses could have been a simple crescent shaped die-cut and the true world beyond, visible through the masking, could have simply been made of perfectly uniform orange pigment. It was hypnotic and difficult to look away. The imperceptible change of shape and movement of the moon was maddening through the lens, but it was surely happening. I had a sense of cosmic frustration at my primate mind's failure to behold something outside of my familiar time scale, and a primal defiant urge to keep the glasses on and focus; as if to prove to the cosmos that I could transcend my small human reality, or as if to catch the moon and sun in their sneaky dancing, to show that it wouldn't go unnoticed by us.

In the field, nothing happened for a long time. A matte black hot air balloon rose from over a distant hill and drifted across the naked sky, slow as the moon, like a weird omen. People scattered sparsely across the field, snacking or chatting, giddy and lazy. A family perched around an enormous telescope and spoke in Korean. Dogs peed and yapped. Pilots tested maneuvers on their drones or showed off for their friends.

Amy and I wandered to a grove of trees to pee. I noticed that my shadow across the hay was fuzzy and made of tiny crescent shapes. We took a photo of that. As we walked back, a cold wind came howling across the field and we saw that the light all around had become desaturated and dim and greyish and unreal. I checked the sun again through my glasses and it had shrunk to a tiny sliver of a crescent. We ran back to our blanket where my dad sat relaxing with his dog and his supplies, watching the moon.

The light had become even greyer and duller and more dreamlike as we ran. It had become like a cheap old film where a night scene is simulated by filtering footage of a daylight shot. It was strange to suddenly occupy the surreal sham world of a nighttime film scene, something that had always been fictional in my mind; as if I were now the resident of a fictional world. We sat and waited in the cold wind and the weird light, wondering if this was it, if this strange effect was all there was to see. We could've been satisfied if that were true. I kept checking the shrinking sun through my glasses. Suddenly, the familiar glare of the sun was snuffed out as the last sliver of light disappeared behind the colossal black stone that was the moon. A sudden roar went up as every person in the field gasped or shouted or cheered and clapped and a smiling drone pilot sent his blinking craft whirring inches from our view of the moon. The sky went a deep blue-black and stars appeared. On the horizon, it looked like there were many sunsets happening on all sides; in every direction, the sky faded around it's edges from void blue at the top down through a rainbow of warm hues until it touched the glowing orange edge of the Earth. And the moon was a stark and empty negative disc, like a hallucination, like the mouth of a black hole, yawning over the Earth, ready to swallow us, all gathered around to watch. And from the edge of that round void it spewed an undulating frosty white smoke, the tattered beard of a god, the mane of a cosmic ancient, a hazy and ghostly veil of divinity hatched from stardust.

For two minutes, all of us in that field were united in awe and vulnerability and absolute euphoric attention. And the past and the future all collapsed, the ancient and the fleeting, the divine and the mundane, the primitive and the epic and the cosmic all collided. The sprawling and terrible scale of the universe folded for a moment into a narrow something, a completely unfamiliar shape, some origami tesseract, that we on the ground could just begin to perceive the edge of, to glimpse a wisp of the infinite, so briefly that we couldn't quite be sure that it had really happened, that we hadn't imagined it, that it hadn't been a dream or a mass hallucination or some mis-remembered fictional history that we had all begun to believe.