#reincarnation is the way to transit through dimensions

[sergioguymanproust]

We are temporarily one minute we are a fuzzy little crying baby in a fetal position ,the next we are fully grown with fears and seeking answers about life,then we fall never to get up ,we are on the way to heaven .We barely knew a life full of mysteries and pleasures.Civilizations went by in the blink of an eye ,and one minute I was an Egyptian and the next I was a German. What happened I ask myself, and out of a blue sky the answer came ,reincarnation happened . I’m back again in this world and walking amid ruins ,who am I this time? A guardian of antiquities,a soul among ghosts.I continue to exist but I must confess this time I’m much more alive than I ever was in my past reincarnations. I drink my tea sweetened and feel every sip ,unlike before ,my country is in turmoil but somehow I feel at peace among these pillars .You don’t know me but my heart beats just like yours .My message is one of peace and joy .We must step outside of our shell and broken ego and embrace our inner self. Breathe deeply and kiss the salty air.Say openly and loud how grateful we are to be here alive,because tomorrow we will never know.Words by Sergio GuymanProust.

Hassan Ammar | AP

[enddaysengine]

Shinigami (Paths Beyond)

When the cycle of life and death is disrupted, relentless and towering outsiders seek out the cause and drag offenders back to their proper fates. Old Planescape hands can be forgiven for thinking I’m talking about the marut, but today’s topic is shinigami.

There is a point to that intro, too. While the 2e marut stats still exist, they will be casualties of the OGL/ORC transition from here on out. While losing such a classic monster is a bummer, shinigami can admirably fill their niche. Maruts were beloved for being implacable and terrifying. While their aesthetic is very different, shinigami check off both boxes. Next time the PCs try to become immortal, they may be pursued by a small death god instead of a ruthless onyx statue. 

It is worth noting that while shinigami don’t have much in the way of elemental resistances in 2e, their fast healing 40 is high enough that they can tank the damage from moderate environmental hazards. The majority of the Plane of Fire deals moderate environmental damage. Sure, it probably will hurt like hell (literally), and it is worth protecting themselves if they know they are headed for the inner sphere. If push comes to shove, a shinigami can stride through the most hostile planes and be fine.

Who needs frightful presence when that’s scary enough as it is? (Although shinigami have a frightful presence as well, so they are bloody terrifying in every sense. Good luck. Fighting that.)

The party wakes one day to find a shinigami sitting cross-legged in the town center, watching people go about their lives. If questioned, Togusa the Judicator responds simply that he is gathering evidence and refuses to elaborate further. Over the next few days, the party gets the distinct impression he is watching them specifically. Worse, the shinigami somehow lurks at the edge of their dreams, keeping them under 24/7 surveillance. Following the monitor into its nocturnal mindscape reveals each party member is the reincarnation of an infamous historical figure who wasn’t supposed to be reincarnated. 

Æown Coppereye has terrorized the Five Kings Mountains for thirteen generations with his ruthless brand of justice. While not as renowned as the Whispering Tyrant or Arazni, the dwarven lich is still dangerous and frequently used as a bogeyman in children’s tales. While the psychopomps would love to see him join Purgatory’s ranks, he is clad in a robe of shinigami bones he stole from the Boneyard. It allows him to flit between dimensions and hides him from all of death’s agents, regardless of which god they serve. Mortal heroes must chase him across the planes if he is to be stopped.

Corruption in the Boneyard is a strange thing. Pharasma does not condone priests who spread cruelty and malice, but Eshi Ōko delights in such acts. The shinigami arranges for powerful artifacts to wind up in mortal hands, then watches the fallout as power goes to their heads. While Lord Eshi’s antics often lead to significant pain and suffering, he is careful not to disrupt the River of Souls or the cycle of life and death. Eshi has a network of adventures and criminals willing to assist his schemes or compromise their morals in exchange for access to the afterlife. Still, he is merciless to those who violate the cycle of souls or deal with oni and nindoru. 

[adrielcloud]

Rethinking Death Through Regeneration and Resurrection Ecology

The history of the world, as natural history, is nothing more than a stratification of events and processes that are never definitively ‘dead and buried’, but which continue to flow and exert an active force from a lower, or even subterranean, dimension than the present—events and processes that can also reappear in an altered form, upsetting our temporal perception. This characteristic pluriversality amounts to the preeminence of reality over imagination, i.e. the hierarchical superiority of natural processes over thought. 

- Chapter ‘For a chaotic vision of time’, Gruppo di Nun, Revolutionary Demonology

Death in secular societies is often viewed as the ultimate, irreversible conclusion to life. This perception is deeply rooted in our understanding of human biological mortality, where once the brain stops functioning and the heart ceases to beat, life is considered to be over, with no continuation beyond the bodily processes. This perspective is not universal, it's profoundly influenced by cultural, religious, and philosophical belief systems that offer different interpretations of what happens after the physical body ceases to function. In many spiritual and religious traditions death is not seen as the end of life but rather a transition to a different form of existence. For those who believe in reincarnation the end of the physical body does not signify the end, instead it is believed that the soul after leaving the body is reborn into a new one, continuing its journey through successive lives. This cyclical view of life and death suggests that death is merely a passage from one form of life to another, rather than an absolute conclusion.

The idea that human life can be prolonged, renewed, or even reanimated has been portrayed in diverse and evolving ways, from the pages of early science fiction to the screens of modern cinema, and increasingly within scientific laboratories. These portrayals reflect humanity’s enduring fascination with mortality and the relentless pursuit of ways to transcend it.  

Real-world efforts by the biotech industry pursue the reversal of ageing and, by extension, death itself. Peter Thiel, the tech billionaire known for his ventures into disruptive technologies, is one of the prominent figures leading the charge against growing old. His investments in biotech firms that focus on anti-aging research aim to challenge the inevitability of death by targeting the biological processes that cause ageing. Thiel and other tech entrepreneurs are exploring various avenues, from cellular reprogramming to extending telomeres—the protective caps on chromosomes that shorten with age. These efforts are rooted in the belief that ageing is a disease that can be cured and that, by doing so, the human lifespan can be dramatically extended, potentially leading to a future where death is no longer an unavoidable fate.

Immortality finds parallels in nature, where certain organisms possess regenerative abilities that defy the typical constraints of life and death. The immortal jellyfish (Turritopsis dohrnii), for instance, can revert to its immature polyp stage after reaching adulthood, effectively resetting its biological clock. This form of biological immortality allows the jellyfish to escape death, at least theoretically, by continuously cycling between life stages. Such natural examples of regeneration challenge our human-centric understanding of mortality, suggesting that life can persist in forms we barely understand.

Resurrection Ecology, which studies species that can revive after long periods of dormancy is an example of how life adapts and persists through extreme environmental conditions. This fascinating field studies the potential for ecosystems to recover or "resurrect" from extreme disturbances by analysing ancient organisms and their genetic material. A notable example involves the freshwater crustacean Daphnia, which can produce eggs that remain dormant in sediments for decades or even centuries. When environmental conditions become favourable again, these eggs can hatch, effectively resurrecting a population that had seemingly vanished. This process not only illustrates the resilience of certain species but also provides valuable insights into how ecosystems might regenerate after severe disruptions, such as climate change or human-induced environmental damage. As Gruppo di Nun notes in Revolutionary Demonology, the history of the natural world is one of "pluriversality," where even buried processes exert their influence across time. This suggests that nature operates with a chaotic, layered temporality, where the past re-emerges in altered forms, reshaping the present.

Cryptobiosis (literally meaning hidden life), is where the metabolic rate of an organism is reduced to an imperceptible level, showing no visible signs of life.' Cryptobiosis includes anhydrobiosis (life without water), cryobiosis (life at low temperatures), and anoxybiosis (life without oxygen). In the cryptobiotic state, all metabolic procedures stop, preventing reproduction, development, and repair where an organism can live almost indefinitely while it waits for environmental conditions to become better.

Within the human body, certain tissues and organs possess a remarkable ability to regenerate. The liver, for example, can recover from substantial damage by regenerating its lost tissue, a phenomenon that was mythologized in the story of Prometheus. Chained to a rock, Prometheus’s liver was eaten by an eagle each day, only to regenerate by night—a tale that ancient Greeks may have used to symbolise the resilience of this vital organ. Modern science confirms that the liver’s regenerative capacity is indeed exceptional, but it also highlights the limits of human regeneration. While some tissues like the endometrium and fingertips can regenerate to some extent, the loss of limbs or severe damage to the brain remains beyond our bodily capacity to repair.

Scientists are exploring ways to harness the body’s own regenerative mechanisms or induce regeneration in tissues that typically do not regenerate. The goal is to develop therapies that can restore lost or damaged tissues, effectively turning back the biological clock on a cellular level. 

Axolotls are remarkable for their ability to regenerate lost or damaged body parts, which has long fascinated scientists, particular for stem cell research. Beyond limbs, axolotls can regenerate vital organs like the heart, lungs, and even segments of their spinal cord, restoring function. They can also regenerate parts of their brain and eyes, something highly unusual in vertebrates. Unlike most animals, they heal without scarring, maintaining the full functionality of the regenerated tissue. This regenerative ability holds potential for human medicine, if researchers can unlock the genetic and cellular processes enabling axolotl regeneration, it might one day be possible to apply these insights to humans. This could revolutionise treatments for injuries like spinal cord damage, heart disease, or limb loss.

The implications of these developments reach far beyond individual organisms, extending into the broader ecological context. Just as a liver or jellyfish can regenerate, so too can ecosystems—though with varying degrees of success. For example, forests can regrow after fires, but this regeneration is influenced by a multitude of environmental factors, leading to variable processes and outcomes. Similarly, the global ecosystem, under increasing threat from climate change, will inevitably undergo its own form of regeneration. Some life will persist, some species will go extinct, and others may enter strange states of dormancy.

These ideas challenge our Western notions of life and death. Traditionally viewed as a final, irreversible state, death can instead be reimagined as a transitional phase—one that contains the potential for the (re)emergence of life.

[metaphysicalpistolsoraclemine]

The Astral Plane is the fourth dimension and is referred to as the Astral plane or Astral dimension of the Soul Matrix.

The fourth dimension, a green energy wave spectrum, is a dimension with heart damage (Anubian Black Heart and soul based trauma, which is partially propagated from incredible history of human soul damage upon the planet. These 2D/4D energy centers are compromised and are a part of every human being’s heart chakra complex and Pain Body, as well as linked to the histories of the planetary heart complex in Giza, Egypt.

Upon hijack of these 4D energy centers, False White Light, false Christ consciousness grids, aka False Ascension, were eventually used here to misguide and control human beings. The damage promoted in these centers also resulted in emotional distortions and aberrant accumulated energies in the lower bodily energy centers, such as in the 2nd Chakra, which became a repository of pain and Addiction. This was taken advantage of by the negative aliens to splinter the Soul Matrix energies, rather than the natural process to integrate and heal, by controlling the sexual, instinctual and creative energies of the Soul. By promoting distortions around the sexual act, gender roles and corrupting our relationship to our mother and father parent, our race descended into Sexual Misery and Soul Fragmentation.

The False Ascension Matrix is a inorganic alien technology NAA that was installed into the Astral Plane (4D) and is primarily controlled in the higher sound field dimension of 5D timelines. It is a false white light current (aka False Christ Consciousness light used by the Imposter Spirit) that is sourcing and manipulated from the lower Soul Matrix dimensional realms. This False White Light creates an intricate webbing with many Alien Implants and bio-neurological Mind Control technology which is exerted upon the human's Soul body and mind (through use of lower frequency wave manipulation) of the human being. Through this larger webbing in the Astral plane, it is possible to use Holographic Inserts and install software programs (like the Horseman Pulsing of the Armageddon Software) that Mind Control human beings to generate and promote belief systems for fear, religion and tyrannical control. It is a part of Consciousness suppression of humanity in this Ascension cycle which forces reincarnation into the lower realms of time fields on earth, which from the Guardian perspective, is a type of "soul recycling" for creating "worker bees" that are subservient to the on planet and off planet Archons. This is desired by the Archons, NAA because of the power source that can be generated and then harvested from both the planetary body and human electromagnetic energy source.

Gridworkers have been working to reroute new transit pathways that allow exit points for those that choose to pass their physical bodies within the next years. This means that many will be able to transit all the way beyond the reincarnation state, freeing them from returning to this plane again. This is great news. This is largely because of the Astral Plane reorganization and the collapse and demolition of false ascension matrices existing previously in the 4D planes. (These souls do not have to be caught up in the false umbilicus that was leading them to the Astral Plane.) The false ascension matrices are the complex architecture that created "white light" webbing and holographic reality inserts like a double sided mirror in the 4D Astral Layers. These complex systems were feeding off of souls connecting to the "white light" at the 4D octave. This is an area many planetary lightworkers were getting lost within the astral layers of delusion, creating complacency and a drunken type of bliss. (This is called a "comfort implant" to keep one inert and ineffective, see Astral Bliss.

The Astral Plane 4D False White Light webbing and its False Umbilicus structure was to subvert the Soul consciousness by forcing its recycling into the Astral Plane and sever its Silver Cord connection to the Threefold Founder Flame of our Universal Time Matrix.

The inorganic reincarnation structure attached to the group human soul layer of Lightbody is called the False Navel. The opening portal is accessed in Giza, Egypt the 4D Stargate in the planet. The False Navel and False Umbilicus are interchangeable terms for the same meaning, the Alien Machinery installed to recycle Souls into the Astral Plane repeatedly.

Astral Plane implants, and Alien Implants are stacked up many times in layers in the reproductive organs. This is as a way to collect sexual energy and promote Sexual Misery and Mind Control in humanity.

These implants can be from current lifetime or stemming from other lifetime identities, even a cloned image being used in another dimension as a Negative Form to create the implant.

Reference

[reniqt]

IN ANOTHER LIFE; N.JAEMIN

“are you still up to watching the sunset together?”

synopsis; each and every person must go through death before their reincarnation. this also means, your memories would slowly be erased the moment you enter your new dimension that holds a different body of your lover. Na Jaemin.

alternatively; After your significant other’s death, you decide to transfer, hoping you could have your memories erased before falling in love with a different guy who appears to look like your deceased lover.

pairings; idol!NaJae x stranger!fem.reader , bestie!haechan x bestie!mark ?? boyfriend!Na Jaemin x girlfriend!fem.reader

genre; big moments of mutual pinning, small injuries, friends to lovers, reincarnated au with memory loss, main character upcoming death, dark angst, uhhh idol and stranger maybe ??

warnings; ! SELF HARM ! please do not continue if sensitive to these type of topics. I did my best to avoid the action, so apologizes !! I’ve never wrote this type of oneshot before, so please do expect many mistakes throughout the fic. Dark with lots of angst !

STATUS | NAVIGATION

wordcount: 12.4k+

You remembered the scene clearly.

Out of all days, it had to be your anniversary. Specifically, your anniversary with your lover.

And your lover was the one and only, Na Jaemin.

4:00 AM . July 3 / 2018.

You had woken up to loud sirens that sunk into your ears, causing you to sit up from your bed in panic. Due to the countless sirens that surrounded your lover's house, you were filled with many negative thoughts. Right as you opened the front door to blue and red lights, you sprinted over to the heartbreaking scene only to be greeted with many police officers.

The figures stood in front of the barricade tape that surrounded your lover’s house, guarding the area while the gurney would be taken out of the driveway. The square shaped bed was hovered over by white thin covers, only covering his body that lined to his legs. And if you took a closer look into the scene, the white covers only exposed the victim’s head, revealing it was your significant other. Na Jaemin.

An anesthesia mask was held over his mouth, his eyes falling shut once he was taken inside the vehicle. His limb body would not move an inch, but you could’ve swore you saw him take one painful glance at you before falling asleep. Jaemin would tilt his head towards you for a second, immediately transitioning to a deep sleep once the nurses hovered the blanket over his face.

You remembered how painful that day was, and being held back by the officers that kept you from reaching for your lover’s arm. Your loud screams and cries you let out once your arms were taken into theirs, eager to see him one last time.

If you knew it was the last time you two ever met eyes, you would have monitored him every night. To see him smile.

But after many inpatient days of sorrow, you were never allowed to enter Jaemin’s room at the hospital. No matter how much you pleaded to see him, they’d always find a way to shut the door on you, revealing a second of them performing surgery on your significant other.

You were left into doubt, after many days of lack of sleep, you couldn’t stop worrying about him. You understood why a heart attack this serious shouldn’t be taken this lightly, but was desperate for how the process was going, and if he was gonna make it.

You weren’t ready to see him move onto another dimension without you.

Once you took days to accept the fact he was gone, you were left with nothing. Only to be in your best friend’s arms, and be given his comfort to recover from. You never forgave yourself for being so clueless at the time, once you put together each puzzle piece you were given.

It all came together.

Over the past couple of days, Jaemin wasn’t feeling at his best. Sometimes, he’d feel nauseous and have the urge to throw up until the pain was gone. He felt weak, and wasn’t motivated to get up ‘till he was better. He could hardly breathe at certain times, and wouldn’t stop sweating.

Of course, he didn’t want you to worry. Whenever you were in his presence, he’d manage to find a way to hide his symptoms away from you. Whether he’d sprint to the bathroom out of the blue, or push you away. You noticed he was a lot more closed with you than usual, and refused to tell you anything each time you asked him what was wrong. He’d give you silent responses, or even change the topic.

You became worried.

Jaemin decided to push it away, reminding himself he probably caught a cold and thought nothing of it.

But as each day went by, he found himself constantly running to the bathroom whenever he felt the urge to. He’d start to feel dizzy, and would keep himself in bed most of the day. Whenever you’d ask him out on a date, he’d come up with some excuse to stay indoors.

In fact, you did want to check up on him and knock on his front door to see if he was okay. But after getting no response from him, you decided not too. As much as you wanted to shower him with love and affection, you respected his boundaries and remained silent until you could.

You even stopped yourself from constantly calling him, once he suddenly started to ghost you.

Knowing Jaemin, you knew he loved you more than anyone else. Normally, he’d reply in just a few seconds and expect you to say something back until you two fell asleep. You two would stay up talking to each other for hours, and take hours to say goodbye without taking the conversation somewhere else. You found it adorable, and grew attached to his lovable affection.

At one point, you were finally accepted into his room, only to be greeted with silence as you watched him slowly pass in front of you. His limb fingers had slipped out of the bed, his fluttering eyes still tightly shut with the thin covers over him. You quietly stood beside him in tears, a bouquet of roses resting in your hands before you placed them into the vase on his nightstand.

You never came to realize as each day went by, each petal the bouquet kept had fallen onto the ground, representing the days before Jaemin’s death. Petal by petal, the roses would begin to wilt beside him until it was finished.

You remembered sleeping beside him on a chair, your head resting on his lap while your arms would lay beneath it. Your eyes had grown puffy overnight, hinting you were exhausted and couldn’t keep yourself from tearing up each time you saw a second of his face.

With all the memories you kept inside of you, you weren't ready to let him leave.

Once you were woken up to the blowing curtains that released wind inside of the room, you suddenly felt pressure onto your head. More like an arm, to be exact.

While you were sleeping, you never felt Jaemin’s hand motioning onto your head, weakly stroking your hair as you slept.

This had to be one of the last moments you and Jaemin shared together. Once you glanced over at his nightstand that laid beneath the bouquet of roses, you could see that the last petal had fallen to the ground. Your eyes transitioned over to the countless petals that slipped to the ground, leaving the stem by itself as it began to wilt against it’s vase.

He was gone.

Now that you finally put each piece together, you were speechless.

From being classmates to lovers, you knew throughout the journey with him, Jaemin never deserved that type of pain. If anything, he deserved more than enough. You never expected to have your future being ruined.

You had no idea what to do with the information you were given.

In this world, one must pass before transitioning to a new dimension

9:00 AM . July 2 / 2020.

Almost 1 year has passed since the incident.

You weren’t able to find happiness ever since, once you began to isolate yourself. Jaemin’s love for you was like no other, and left a deep mark on you. Something you were sure you couldn’t wipe off.

Your lover's loss had impacted you a lot, still tearing you bit by bit as you slowly guided yourself to the kitchen. You placed your fingers on the counter with a sigh, reminding yourself of all those times you were given his meals. Even if you lacked ingredients for him to use, he never fails to make something delicious for you for breakfast.

Even if you tried to return the favor, your finger sometimes ends up getting cut in the end. Jaemin felt guilty each time you tripped or harmed yourself, always blaming himself for not looking after you. No matter what you did, he never put you at fault no matter what the case was.

In order to have your forgiveness, he ends up treating your injury each time. He’d place ointment on your cut, and wrap bandages around it with an innocent grin.

Your heart ached to his lovable smile, missing him even more than before.

The only thing you could do was thank the system for being so gentle on his heart, wishing you would see him again in your next dimension. You wished at least, he’d find a new happiness there and at one point forget you two ever happened. All you wanted to know was if he was okay.

The sorrow and sadness you kept in this world was unbearable, and hard to accept. You weren’t able to recover from the incident, when you always broke down thinking about it.

Even if you weren’t able to see him again in your next life, you wished these memories could wash away sooner or later and bring you out from the heartbreaking angst. There was nothing you could do, other than make your one last decision.

you stared at the knife.

IN ANOTHER LIFE ; N.JAEMIN

by: reniqt

1:30 PM . March 13 / 2021.

“I told you she was dead.”

“I don't think I should have brought her to the concert..”

Your head spun around, feeling a painful ache as you reached for it. You let out a small groan, hearing not one, but two blurry voices surrounding you. You felt yourself lay against a rough, firm ground once you placed your other hand over the floor, moving around to scan the area. You, at first, guessed you were at home, but soon felt your fingers slip a bit due to the slippery surface. You kept yourself from opening your eyes to refrain yourself from panicking, slowly adjusting to your new world…..and body.

Were you, perhaps, in a bathroom?

“Finally, you’re awake.” He chuckled.

After hearing a small chuckle, you began to open your eyes, adjusting to the lighting once you locked it onto the two men who kneeled down beside you. One had held a first aid kit in his hand, while the other……had toilet paper? Not just any ordinary men, but your two best friends.

“I asked for PAPER TOWELS, dumb fuck.” He scolded, grabbing the toilet paper rolls off the other’s hand. “Not TOILET PAPER.”

Mark clicked his tongue, his eyes rolling once the other had stolen the toilet paper off his hands. “I- Well- SAME THING.” He countered with a pout, watching Haechan throw his toilet paper across the room. He transitioned his eyes over to yours, suddenly flushed in embarrassment once he realized you had watched the scene.

You couldn’t help but keep your eyes locked onto the two, filled with confusion as you watched the two argue over toilet paper. You were still stuck in the past, yet the two managed to make you laugh, even the tiniest bit. “Wanna tell me why I’m in the bathroom?” You giggled.

Haechan began to clear his throat, trying to find a way to talk to you in the most calming, proper way as he released his grip off the rolls.

“Welcome to your new dimension, sleeping beauty!”

You death stared at him, frightening him into coughing out his real self.

“I mean— Y/N, or whatever.” He began to mumble under his breath, stubbornly crossing his arms while he’d gesture Mark a look, hinting he should take the lead.

Mark glanced over at you, taking time to process the system leaving an unknown reason for your death. Though he wouldn’t dare to ask, he figured it was personal. You collapsed with no evidence in your past life. “Right, um, good question. Why don’t you tell Y/N why the hell we’re in the bathroom.” He shot back, Haechan freezing in shame.

Haechan groaned in embarrassment, his hands hovering over his face. “I had no other choice. It’s not my fault, Jae has millions of fans.” He deadpanned, earning a shocked look from you.

The sound of the part of your lover’s name ached your heart a bit, reminding you, you were brought into this world for a reason. You still needed to clarify if you made it to the same world as him. But what were the fans they were mentioning? Is he suddenly an idol?

You cleared your throat, sitting up a bit to lay your back against the wall. “Who’s jae?”

Haechan took another concerning glance at Mark, slowly replying once he looked over at you. “Just some popular idol we’re friends with.” He shrugged his shoulders, finding it surprising you hadn’t acknowledged his existence.

After hearing your best friend’s words, you had some sort of hope that grew inside of you. You knew well the four of you were a trio in the past, but only hoped it was the same Jaemin who adored you as much as your lover did. If you had the chance, maybe you could ask to look more into it.

Mark nodded, watching as you transitioned against the wall in silence. “You passed out at his concert today.” He truthfully told you, wanting to exclude the fact the two of them carried you towards the bathrooms. Haechan would grip your two legs and he would hold onto your arms, barely managing to keep you off the ground.

If Mark remembered, he did know at some point at the concert, Jae suddenly stopped singing the moment you fell to the ground. He’d slowly walk forward with his microphone, a bit shy to ask if you were okay. Even the fans were shocked, speechless once it grew silent.

Once him and Haechan began to carry you to the bathroom, he resumed his performance in relief.

It was Haechan’s idea to recover in the bathroom after all, but knew it was dumb since you basically passed out into the crowd. He figured you needed professional help, but to his surprise, you woke up a lot earlier than expected.

“—I did?” You looked puzzled, questioning why it had to be a concert out of all places. Not even that, but Jae’s. After that performance, you felt a bit embarrassed to reveal yourself to the crowd once more. Suddenly, a part of you had the urge to avoid any interactions other than your best friends for the time being. “Shit, sorry you had to carry me.”

“It’s no problem, really.”

“What do you mean, no problem??” Haechan sneered, his arms crossing again. “My arms NEARLY broke.” He dramatically told him, using it as an excuse to receive more attention from Mark.

“You mean MY arms.” He countered, Mark rolling his eyes at how dramatic Haechan sounded before he glanced over at you to tap your shoulders.

“But hey, you’re okay right ? Let's show you around our new apartment first. Maybe— help us unpack extra boxes?” He suggested, giving you an awkward smile.

—

You closed the car door shut, adjusting your eyes to the sunlight that grew above you. You were relieved you were in the arms of two loyal best friends you— somewhat knew? You held your hand above your eyes to gaze at the sky, Haechan calling you over towards the trunk to unload the luggages.

Outside seemed as if it was a lot brighter than your past life, considering everything seemed to get a bit gloomy in your eyes. Your best friends now were quite energetic, when all you remembered was that they were quiet with each other in your old world.

After one breakup due to stressful studying, they never spoke to each other. It was a painful sight to see.

You were almost glad you transferred to another world, when all you could see were bright smiles from them. You missed seeing your two best friend’s teasing one another, and we're glad you made the right decision. Or at least you did.

“Be careful, I hold very valuable stuff in there.” He pointed out, Haechan handing you a box that seemed to hold a lot of random junk he packed throughout the trip. “Clothes, money, socks, blah blah blah blah.” He continued, Mark glancing at the brown box you struggled to hold. If he looked close enough, he could see red and white slippers with antlers on the edges, poking out once he gently opened the box.

It was a reindeer-looking slipper, Mark got Haechan for christmas.

“Anyways,” Haechan abruptly closed the box back from Mark’s fingers, hinting that one specific item was personal to him. “I’ve invited Jae to come over and help us unpack. He should know you’ve transferred to a new body.” He calmly told you, watching you choke on your words and merely drop the box due to shock.

“We’ll show you your room once we’re there”

You quietly nodded, a bit unsure if this was a good idea or not. Sure you felt comfortable with your best friends and all, but you were still not ready to meet eyes with the appearance of your lover. At first, you chickened out a bit, but gathered enough confidence to enter the staircase once you’d let out a shaky sigh.

Everything was happening a little too fast. You were seconds away from meeting the Jaemin of your world, and you were years away from getting your memories erased. You hoped it would die out sooner or later. Whenever you even took a second to look at the love of your life, his death was still there. It continued to follow you everywhere, and give out the most negative thoughts you weren’t ready for.

In this world, one’s new reinarication keeps it’s memories until erased.

It may take years before the system resets its body.

You were completely against the system. You came to this world to find a purpose in your life, but only found yourself being dragged towards Jaemin. You felt like a cheater when you knew your significant other died, and didn’t want to interact with any other ones. It would only remind you of him over and over again.

The three of you finally made it up the staircase after countless steps you crossed, Haechan being the first to barge into your new apartment with his arms. You managed to carry the countless boxes in your arms, Mark jogging over to help you with extra ones once you made it to the doorstep. Once haechan had shoved the door open, you took the first few seconds to examine the apartment.

The room was loaded with boxes on the floor. A few luggages towards the windows, and some uncleaned dishes on the counter. The room kept a wooden floor with very few windows that were partly opened, releasing wind into the room.

Overall, the apartment already looked as if it had been used, but there were some certain spots where it looked clean. You could already assume Mark had decided on leaving uncleaned dishes for Haechan to clean. It explained why he kept such a guilty look on ever since the three of you barged in.

“Oh, JAEEEE,” Haechan hummed into the apartment, his eyes searching for the celebrity of your dreams. Though he was nowhere in sight, he knew exactly where he was. He slipped through the hallway, finally spotting the male outside the balcony. “Dammit, he’s on the balcony again.” Groaned Haechan, knowing it wasn’t the first time he’s entered the back.

“I’ll go get him.” Mark offered, letting out a sigh once he dashed past the two.

You awkwardly placed down the boxes with the rest, raising a brow in curiosity. “Again?” You repeated, second guessing this so-called ‘Jae’ person as you released your grip off the brown item. Haechan glanced over at you, slowly nodding in embarrassment.

“He’s been checking our neighbors' roses for a while, and he won’t stop.”

He wasn’t wrong. When Jae first entered their apartment, he offered to help start unpacking a few things around the room. Everything was fine until a plant of roses had caught his eye outside the balcony, suddenly dragging him towards it to examine the beautiful plant. Ever since then, he’d help take care of it to refrain it from wilting.

Haechan didn’t mind, but was still concerned.

Haechan let out another groan, his eyes trailing over to the unclean dishes that were left onto the marble counter. A bit bothered, he walked over to you, kneeling down beside you to help unpack. “Y/N, right? You reincarnated earlier than I expected. ” He questioned, opening the extra boxes that exposed the countless pieces of random junk. The male took out a snowglobe afterwards, gently propping it onto the ground. “Can’t forget this.”

You watched as Haechan walked over to you with a sigh, nodding as you helped place the other items down. “Yeah, it’s a funny story.” you joked, a painful laugh escaping your lips before you’d get caught in Mark and Jae’s presence. You darted your head towards the two, your heart aching once more.

“Y/N?”

You slowly trailed your eyes over to Jae’s, examining him from head to toe. From his blue colored jeans to his mint colored sweatshirt, you froze. He had blueish hair, with the tips of gray on each strand that seemed to be noticeable once you took a closer look. The wave of his nostalgic beauty ran past you, capturing you into his familiar face. With his gentle shaped eyes, and his dark pupils, you were brought back into a lovable appearance.

He had the look of Jaemin. Your deceased lover in the past. He looked a bit older, but never failed to keep his sweater on whenever he could. Ever since the two of you had met eyes, you never wanted to hug him more than your life. You wanted to run up to him and wrap your arms around his body and tell him how much he meant to you.

But he wasn’t him.

You blinked back into reality, fixing your eyes towards Jae who was jogging towards you. You could’ve sworn his smile expanded on the way, as he immediately wrapped his arms around you. He began to close his eyes, suddenly covering you with warmth.

He was relieved you were able to recover from the heat. “God, I’m so glad you’re okay.” He calmly told you, soon releasing his arms to see if you were okay. He gently reached for your hand, examining it for any bruises. “You’re not hurt anywhere, right?”

You stepped back a bit in hesitating to find the male immediately wrapping his arms around you with a comforting smile, giving you the warmth you wished you could have again. With all the swarming memories that gathered in your head, you weren’t able to run from it once more.

“I’m fine, thanks—” you mumbled under your breath, abruptly tugging your arm back from his fingertips in fear.

Jae paused, releasing his hand off of yours in shock. “Oh— right, my bad.” He awkwardly responded, slowly lowering his hand to take a few steps back. Clearly, it was obvious you weren’t interested and wanted to avoid him for the time being. He pursed his lips a bit, the silence slowly sinking in once Mark and Haechan froze in silence.

“….”

“Uhm, well, I finished unloading in the back right? ...I’ll be at the practice rooms.” He glanced over at the two for a bit, waving before he’d start heading towards the front, pushing open the door to leave.

You froze a bit, reaching to hold your hands together once Jae brushed past the three of you, leaving you in silence. You felt pretty guilty for making the atmosphere dry, but had to admit to your mistakes.

“..Is there something I’m missing?” Haechan frowned.

“Let’s just say things didn’t go well with me and him in the past.”

You quietly responded, watching the two tense up a bit as you kneeled down towards the luggages. You claimed the maroon one, propping it up into the palm of your hands with a sigh.

“This one’s mine, right?” you confirmed, Mark nodding before you dragged it across the wooden halls, the male pointing to your soon to be bedroom.

The two sat in silence for a while, Mark being the first to break it.

“I know it’s her first day..” He slowly spoke, raising a brow in concern once he watched you shut the door afterwards. He found it a bit odd, but didn’t bother to interfere with your past once he stood off the ground. He walked over to reach the unclean dishes with a visible pout. “But— I’m becoming worried.” He truthfully told him, Haechan intentionally grabbing the dishes from his hands.

“I think it’s better to give her space.” Haechan sighed, pressing his arms against the counter as he threw his head back in confusion. Though he was concerned himself, a part of him was curious if you were willing to open up about it. “Also, give me that.” He reached to unexpectedly grab the dirty dishes off Mark’s hands, earning a dramatic gasp from him.

“Don’t you hate washing the dishes?”

Haechan began to feel his cheeks heat up.

“I kind of want to do it today.”

—

10:15 PM . March 13 / 2021.

“I know it’s a lot to take in. I should’ve told you sooner, but I couldn't bring myself to.” Jae’s eyes softened, the male continuously ruffling his hair with a towel as he held his phone to his ear with a sigh. He had just left the practice rooms not too long ago, already worn out from dancing once he had left to use the restroom. He pressed his fingertips against the sink, the male fixing his eyes towards the foggy mirror that held his blurry face. “Fine, but promise me you won’t tell her.” He quietly spoke, the humid air beginning to hover over each mirror. He used this opportunity to draw a bunny, his fingers slowly tracing across.

“Alright, thanks Haechan.” He finished, the male finishing the animal once he drew a nose onto it. After receiving a goodbye from the call, he lowered his cell to hang up. After exhaling a large amount of air, he released his hands off to the edge to get back to cleaning his hair. “Man, something tells me he won’t keep it.” Jae frowned, returning back to talking to himself once he headed towards the backdoor. He pressed his arm against it, pushing the door open to be covered in darkness.

He glanced over to the left, squinting his eyes towards the figure who was running towards him at a face pace. It seemed to be holding a few grocery bags in each hand, sprinting towards his direction before you would slowly reveal yourself due to the alleyway’s light. After being exposed to the brightness, it causes you to slow down a bit before you’d get caught in Jae’s presence. And at the right time, he managed to shift himself to stand in front of you with a raised brow.

You frowned.

“Do you need something?”

“Why are you out here?”

As much as you wanted to leave, it was quite weird to find some person outside with groceries. You couldn’t blame him. You were mainly just going out for a jog, and figured the others needed to restock on a few ingredients.

You were certain the two hadn’t found out you left the apartments, considering you tiptoed past the two figures who were sleeping on the couch. You could’ve sworn one of them left their heads on the other’s shoulder, merely stopping you to stare in confusion.

You didn’t see a problem with going out, but needed to sort out your thoughts after what happened today.

Attempting to escape from his trap, you moved to the left.

And to your surprise, he moved to the left too.

You scoffed, immediately swerving to the right.

He moved to the right too.

A heavy groan escaped your lips, stepping back a few steps in defeat before you’d throw your head back a bit. “Alright, fine. You got me,” You mumbled, your hands digging through the groceries to see if you could bribe him with some random ingredient. While you did, you suddenly heard a faint of laughter coming in front of you.

You quickly transitioned your eyes over to Jae’s to find him letting out nothing but small bits of laughter. Your lips began to unpurse themselves in shock, your cheeks beginning to burn. “W-What are you laughing at??”

After stopping you from left to right, Jae couldn’t stop himself from bursting into laughter at the sight of you struggling. He reached to dramatically wipe his tears, shaking his head at your embarrassed face. “Nothing. Am I not allowed to laugh?” He chuckled, his eyes catching another black figure who was coming towards the two of you.

With a look of shock, Jae immediately reached to grab your hand, pulling you into the bushes with him.

You immediately got dragged towards the plants, stumbling over the soil. “What the? let go-” you stuttered, trying to break free from his grip once you were caught inside the crowded plants. You were covered in leaves, the two of you beginning to hide between each bush.

You struggled to stand up, the male having to place his hand over your mouth to tape your mouth shut. You’d slowly feel your cheek’s burn again.

“Shh.”

He continued to keep his hand over you, Jae slowly poking his head out of the bushes to scan the area. His eyes trailed down from the road, in relief after realizing the blurry figure had disappeared. Though he wasn’t sure if they were fully away from danger, he cautiously released his hand off of your mouth.

Before you could even say anything, he gestured his finger to signal you it was now safe.

“I told my manager I was gonna head back to the dorms after practice.” Jae quietly sighed, confessing he was supposed to be there a few minutes ago. And what’s worse, if his fans catch him hanging out with some stranger, of course they’re gonna assume the two of you are dating.

He wasn’t even sure if he was at risk, considering this was his first time merely getting caught in your presence. He tried to keep himself out of trouble, otherwise this would have ruined his career by now. “If they catch me, it’s over.”

“God, I keep forgetting you're an idol.” You groaned, giving a gentle punch into Jae’s shoulder.

In all honesty, you did not want him to be blamed for the situation and wanted to stay out of it before it would get worse. This was scarier than it is, and somehow you were worried only after you two JUST met. It hurts to even think about it.

Jae winced in return after getting his shoulder punched, being the first to stand out of the bushes after confirming no one was there. He began to brush the leaves off his clothes, attempting to leave no evidence even if it was obvious he fell somewhere. “Sorry, I just- I never had this much fun in awhile.” He turned himself to face you, offering to help you up with his hand out.

You raised a brow, the atmosphere becoming a bit awkward once you refused to take his hand, gently slapping it aside. You stood up to brush the dirt off your clothes. “You call this fun? We literally dived into the bushes together.” You clicked your tongue, slowly shaking your head in disappointment.

Jae shrugged his shoulders, his hand getting pushed aside. “Look, it’s not something you would expect from an idol, you know.” He scoffed, the male crossing his arms in front of you with a frown.

He shifted his eyes over to your hair, a piece of branch being caught into your strands of hair. “Also, you have a little something-” He gestured his hand over his head, hinting there was something on you.

“Oh, do I?” You reached to grab it, swiping it off of you in embarrassment.

“…..”

You glanced down at the torn apart grocery bag that held the ingredients, kneeling down a bit to hold it in your hands. You began to search for one specific item, your hands digging through the crowd. “Well, before you go,” You started, struggling to find it. You managed to grab hold onto a square shaped case, gripping it out of the ripped bag. “Take this.”

You held out a closed bag of rose seeds.

Jae’s lips parted themselves in shock, hesitating on grabbing the delicate bag from your fingers.

Your two fingers held onto the bag, swaying it back and forth for him to take. You couldn’t help but feel the ends of your lips curve, automatically grinning at his reaction. “You like roses, right? Here.” You smiled, Jae still speechless from your sudden sweetness.

“What’s this for?” He softly spoke, finally reaching to grab the seeds off your hands. Though he was grateful, he had no idea how you found out he was a fan of them. Specifically roses. “This is sweet of you but—” His words were suddenly caught off by your disappearance, Jae raising his head to find you sprinting away with the torn bag in your hands.

You were running into the distance with a noticeable smile.

“TAKE IT AS AN APOLOGY!” You shouted from behind, running backwards to wave at him with a grin.

It felt wrong to do such a thing, but you couldn’t help it. You reminded yourself to stay away from him after today, but couldn’t help but not think about that one specific moment. After apologizing to him with a gift, you couldn’t help but notice Jae’s personality was familiar to you. He was childish, and enjoyed any simple moment you two did together. The funny thing was, he didn’t seem to be entertained easily when it came to his other friends. Sure, he could smile once or twice, but a part of you felt as if it wasn’t sincere.

Ever since today, his smile was possibly one of the prettiest things you’ve ever seen. You missed seeing such a thing, each smile he gave reminding you of Jaemins. His loveable smile never fails to make you feel at ease.

You didn’t wanna seem selfish and compare the two, but you didn’t wanna be stuck in your comfort spot forever. You knew at one point you had to open up to the two about your past before time would run out. It didn’t bother you that much, considering you had lots of time before your memories would erase. You decided to take it slow for a bit, and adjust to your new friends. Even Jae.

You admit, Jae was a gentleman and probably one of the sweetest people you’ve ever met. Along with the other two, you found yourself becoming attached to the three in just a few months. You became a lot more open with the two, and we're looking forward to your future with just the three. You were regaining your happiness again.

Although, you were getting to become worried for Jae and his career. Ever since the two of you had begun to hang out together, you seemed to notice the littlest things. Whether it would be being given questions, such as if the two of you were dating or even spreading rumors around about the two of you.

No matter how much you told yourself to avoid Jae for the sake of his career, he’d always find himself running back to you to ask if you were free.

And as much as you wanted to reject his offer, you couldn’t say no to his pleading eyes. You were starting to risk it each time.

You just never realized it was becoming a problem.

-1 Petal

—

17:05 PM. June 30 / 2021.

Photos were probably one of things Jae cherished. Specifically, ones that carry memories.

You, two, were also a fan of photography and had the love for taking photos. Whenever the two of you would hangout, you’d always find yourself pausing to take a picture of Jae doing something special. Whether it would be him doing something stupid, such as, tripping over a his own feet at practice or even accidentally dropping his microphone on stage, you’d take your camera out.

Most of the photos were just random photos of you three doing ridiculous things together. You confessed most of them were Jae, but a lot of them include him blushing out of embarrassment. You found it quite dumb and adorable for a person like him, using every chance you had to keep memories inside of your camera. You’d make sure to look after them for comfort before it was too late.

It had only been a few months, and your storage was running low. You planned on asking Jae for a new camera, but planned on using it ‘till it’s fullest.

A few days ago, Jae had asked you if he could borrow your camera. He never gave you a specific reason why, other than saying it was ‘a little something.’ You didn’t think too much of it, considering you basically put your full trust on him by now. You still wondered why he was so desperate for it, now that it had been a lot quieter these days. There was a lot less socializing between the three of you, Jae ending up rejecting your offers for the sake of practice and other unknown reasons.

Now that he finally finished practicing his last performance, he was given permission to hang at the three of your apartments for the night. Though it was a surprise he had unexpectedly shown up on your front door step, you couldn’t be mad at the wrapped box he held in his arms. With the innocent grin he held, you were certain it had to do something with the photos.

“You didn’t delete any, right?” You began to examine the camera in your room after being given it, wanting to make sure there were no scratches or marks around it. “I don't know, it looks messed up.” You teased, opening your cabinet to gently place it inside.

Jae rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he propped the wrapped gift onto your bed. “Nope, I swear.” He truthfully told you, walking over to glance over your shoulder. He didn’t think there would be any marks, when he didn’t really do much with it. “Wait, really?? Where—” he stuttered, desperately looking around for it.

You stared into his eyes, breaking into laughter at his gullibleness. You placed your hand on top of his head, gently ruffling his hair for forgiveness.

“I’m just teasing, Jaemin—”

“Jaemin?”

You immediately paused, your hand quickly releasing itself off his hair in realization. Your heart ached at the sound of his name. You didn’t mean to mix the two up, regretting saying such things right as silence fell between you two.

You kept forgetting he wasn’t him.

You stuttered. “Jae. My bad,” you quickly responded, trying to escape the awkward tension as you lowered your head in disappointment. His reaction was pretty bland, but confused once the two of you freezed up a bit.

“……”

“Well— you said you brought something over, right?” You broke the silence, your cheeks burning in embarrassment after how awkward it became.

He blinked back into reality with a quick nod, guiding you over towards the gift that laid against your covers. After patting the sheets for you to sit down beside him, he happily handed you a rectangular shaped gift with a grin. “Here. It’s for you.”

You glanced over at the rectangular gift, taking time to process Jae didn’t use any ordinary gifting paper, but a Christmas one. It had countless snowmans that scattered across the package, and a small red bow that was glued onto its surface. You hesitated to reach for it, slowly grabbing it from his hands in shock.

“What’s up with the Christmas wrapping paper?”

“…I had no other wrapping paper, okay??”

You laughed, leaning over to take the small package into your arms. You confessed the packaging was beautifully done, and left no messy marks in any spot.

You admired the amount of effort that was put into this. You were even impressed at how proper it looked after examining it, spotting a card attached to the red bow. Due to the tape that folded the card together, you were unable to read it.

As you reached to tear one part of the package, you’d feel Jae gently slap your arm aside.

“I want you to open it on my birthday, stupid. Not now,”

You winced in return, your arm getting slapped to the side. You began to fix your eyes over at him with confused eyes, slowly placing the packaging back onto your lap. “It’s not my birthday, Jae.” You reminded, wondering why he’d choose to give you something when it was HIS birthday.

Though it was sweet of him, you planned on giving him lots of gifts. “Plus, I wanna make yours extra special.”

Jae paused, a blush of red appearing across his cheeks. “But this is what I want, Y/N.” He whined, making a pleading pose with his fists. “Pleaseeeee,” He pleaded, attempting to convince you with his noticeable pout and desperate eyes. You sighed in defeat.

“Fine. Only for you.”

-1 Petal

20:05 PM. July 2 / 2021.

“Wonder what Haechans gonna make tonight.”

“Who knows, it’s probably gonna be good.”

You agreed with Jae’s statement, nodding as the two of you walked through the sidewalk. You managed to offer the male your black cap in case anyone would suspect you two, and forced him to wear a mask out in public just in case.

In your eyes, he just looked like any average normal teenager with blue hair. You knew how strict his fans were when it came to dating, so you were extra careful when it came to dressing him.

He paused for a bit, turning his head over to you. “Oh, you want me to show you the rose I planted?” He grinned behind the mask, catching up to you to tap your shoulder.

If he remembered, he had been properly caring for it at the apartment. There, left a single rose in a vase that was comfortable sitting at the corners of his balcony. With the seeds you gave him a few months ago, he couldn’t be more than happy to plant it once he made it back.

And ever since then, he’s been eager to show you the view, and his progress.

“With the seeds I gave you?”

After Jae nodded, he reached to grab your hand, immediately taking the lead as he guided you towards his small apartment that seemed to be close by. The balcony held a hidden spot that was out of sight, but possibly had one of the best views from afar. From his perspective, he was certain that you’d enjoy it as well.

Once the two of you jogged through the small crowds, the two of you met eyes with a nearby apartment that had not too many cars parked up front. He gently tugged you aside, slowly siding to the side of the building where countless windows were aligned. Each part held a balcony, leading up to the top.

And one of them was Jae’s.

“Why are we going through the side?”

“You’ll see why.”

“Tell me if you need a hand, there’s a lot of steps.” He offered, referring to the fire escape ladders that sat in front of you two. He was the first to place his hands on the edge, slowly climbing up the ladder to reach the right one.

Each ladder led to countless apartments from above, one of them holding a fully grown rose on the edge.

You could’ve swore you saw Jae take a few glances over his shoulder to confirm you’re okay, making you shy.

You continued to follow after him, already enjoying the view once you took small glances to the side. It was something you never really experienced, unless it was an emergency. Having to climb up to the balconies was enjoyable, yet a new experience for you. After watching each move Jae took, you were certain it wasn’t his first time entering his apartment through the back. You admired him for it.

Once Jae finally made it to the last ladder, he turned himself around to find you following after him. He took his hand out, reaching to grab your hand to pull you up. “Now you see why I chose to have the apartment near the top?” He grinned, your hand being taken into his before he’d gently tug you onto the balcony with him.

“Hold on, close your eyes.” He snickered, walking behind you to cautiously place his hands over your eyes. You were a bit startled at first, but felt yourself being guided slowly towards the front.

As told, you closed your eyes before feeling the palm of Jae’s hands hover over your eyes. You began to slowly walk forward, your hands raising to hold his hands as well. “If this is a joke, I’m leaving you.” you threatened with a hidden eye roll, hearing him scoff in return before he slowly released his hands off of you, revealing a mesmerizing view.

He laughed at your unexpected reaction, Jae kneeling down to grasp the planted rose off the ground. He held it in his arms, patiently waiting till he caught your attention.

“You see that?” He pointed his index finger over at the hill of grass, leading to an unknown path of darkness. “I always wanted to go there and watch the sunset.” He dreamily told you, adoring how peaceful and calm the atmosphere looked. Despite the noisy crowds and flashing lights, he needed his time and space.

“How about on your birthday, I’ll take you.”

“…Rigghttt, on my birthday.”

“I’m serious!” You playfully shouted, reaching to gently slap your arm across his shoulder. You almost heard him let out an evil laugh in return, the male reaching to rub his shoulder in pain. “It’ll be a part of your gift, Jae.”

“I promise.”

You took the opportunity to stare back into the distance, taking time to take in how gorgeous the view was. From afar, it was one of the best angles you’ve stood up from.

You were in denial. Jae had the chance to see such a beautiful sight each night, and open the door to a starry sky, making you jealous each time you thought about it. You were convinced you could practically release any anger you had and be taken in by it’s calming presence. It definitely puts you at ease.

You slowly moved to the side, spotting a single rose being held in his arms. It was sitting comfortably in a vase, it’s beauty bringing you closer.

“Is this the rose?” You pointed to it.

“Yup.” He nodded, gently handing the vase over to you with a grin.

You happily took it from his arms to examine the plant, noticing a few petals that were buried into the ground.

Your eyes widened in surprise at the plant, filled with awe and sadness. “It’s lost a few petals, already?” You softly spoke, your tone softening once you scanned the beautiful plant. It seemed to have lost a few, your eyes fixing towards the fallen petals that seemed to be dreadfully laying against the soil.

Despite the disappearance of the dried petals, the flower was still gorgeous.

Jae slowly nodded in disappointment. “Probably because of my schedules. I haven’t been taking care of it that much lately.” He confessed with a groan as he watched you caress the flower with a small grin, handing it back to him afterwards.

“Didn’t you want more of them? Why plant only one?”

“Don’t know. Probably just a feeling.”

You awkwardly laughed in return, avoiding his gaze to keep your eyes in front. The two of you went back to leaning across the balcony, the tension growing silent.

Jae began to lean closer to the balcony with a sigh, continuing to watch as the countless trees that lined across the sidewalk began to flow. He transitioned himself to leave his head onto the palm of his hand, trying to refrain himself to look at you. And whenever he had the intention too, he couldn’t help but notice the visible frown you kept upon your lips, almost as if you needed the reassurance.

He stared at you.

“What’s the face?”

“What face?”

Jae frowned, his fingers reaching to gently pinch your cheeks. You winced a bit, your lips pursing as he leaned closer to you. “That face, Y/N. This isn’t you,” He sighed, releasing his fingertips off of you before you painfully rubbed your cheek. “What’s wrong?”

You hate to admit you were too caught up in your thoughts, overwhelmed by everything. You could feel yourself still stuck in the past, still reaching for reassurance and the love you missed. You could feel as if the mark Jaemin gave you was still there, and was unable to erase no matter what you did. You weren’t able to escape from reality after looking back, missing him even more.

You lowered your head in sadness. “It’s just—” you hesitated, trying to choke out the right words. It was hard for you to explain to Jae the pain you went through. “I-….my anniversary with my boyfriend is tomorrow.” You confessed, your voice turning into gentle mumbles.

You completely forgot about your anniversary with your deceased boyfriend. You felt hurt to think your first anniversary with Jaemin was wasted, ever since the chain between you two broke. You remembered how you were desperately searching for gifts, preparing a celebration for him once it arrived.

You were so excited to see his reaction. To see him walk through that door, and surprise him with gifts.

You just felt so lost after taking months to get out of your comfort spot, every inch of you wanting to run back into his arms and let him know you love everything about him. You didn’t want to accept the fact he disappeared on you.

You took a deep breath. “He’s— he’s not here anymore.” You blandly told him, a shaky sigh escaping your lips as you continued to avoid his gaze.

You didn’t regret leaving your old body one bit. In fact, you were glad. You found happiness here, and enjoyed every moment you had with the three of them. You felt as if it was calling you, bringing you back into your normal self each time.

You were relieved to say you were healing from the past, but your heart wouldn’t let you.

You weren’t ready to let him go.

“Y/N—”

Jae darted his head towards you, tugging your arm and bringing you into a comforting hug. He began to hear quiet sobs against his shoulder, feeling your tears run down his jacket. He began to stroke your hair silently, bringing warmth onto you as you cried. The two of you stood in silence as he listened to your painful cries, the male’s eyes softening in sadness.

The amount of guilt he held was unbearable.

“I miss him, Jae.”

-1 Petal

“What was he like?”

“One of the sweetest, bravest, kind hearted people I know.”

“Someone I could never replace.”

2:33 PM. August 7 / 2021.

“What happened??”

You barged through the door in panic, panting as you desperately searched the room in worry.

After the small incident that occurred during Jae’s performance, Haechan had quickly given you a phone call, immediately explaining to you the details of what happened. You remembered dropping your grocery bags as you held the phone close to your ear, your voice becoming shaky as you gritted your teeth in shock.

In reality, you didn’t understand why you cared so much. ‘Till this day, you remembered how rude you were when you two met eyes. How distant you were with the three, and how secretive you became. It had only been a few months, and you never thought you’d worry this much to the point you’d sprint back home, leaving your bags behind.

Haechan’s simple words had done nothing but make you panic, triggering you into returning back to the apartments in a small amount of seconds.

Haechan knew how much you cared for him, but never expected you to run back.

You stood in silence, your lips parting once you spotted Mark treating Jae in the living room. If you looked close enough, there was a folded, wet towel that was laying against his forehead. The male was sleeping comfortably on the couch, his softened eyes tightly closing as he continued to rest. Lined to his chest, appeared a thin blanket that was hovered over his body, giving him warmth.

Without hesitation, you dashed over to the two, kneeling down beside the couch. You were relieved Jae was calmly sleeping beneath the covers once you scanned his body, glad no Marks were created. It hurt to see him have an expressionless look across his face, worried if he was going to be okay or not.

“It’s his memories.”

Mark finally spoke, exhaling a small amount of air as he began to narrow his eyes. He refused to admit the system was eating up his old ones, leaving him in many accidents, and soon, a new life. He was well aware he may not be able to be given the opportunity to be his best friend again, if the reincarnation ruins his body.

Unexpected accidents like this, left off hints it was only the beginning of it. “I don’t know how much time we have left.”

“Y/N— listen to me,” he began, turning himself to face you and your heartbroken expression. He released his hand off the towel. “He’s— he’s not the bad guy you think he is.” He painfully sighed, fixing his eyes towards the sleeping younger. “..You have no idea how painful it was to see Jae break down the moment he transferred.”

The memory was clear to him, and a memory him and Haechan will never forget.

The memory of Jae bursting out with tears was locked into his head. Tears were streaming down his cheeks, and painful cries had echoed through the door while he began to hide himself in his apartment. The painful ache in his chest was there, and he couldn’t do anything to heal it.

The moment he woke up from collapsing, he couldn’t stop himself from having tears trail down to his chin. No matter how much he wiped his face, it managed to make its way out of his puffy eyes. He became sick of it, and had a hard time adjusting to his new life. The two felt heartbroken to hear him struggle in each performance he had, being forced to be held under care until he was prepared.

The two were confused, wondering what was causing him to break down this much. It hurt them to see him struggle in the most simplest things, Jae always having to refuse to sleep until he finished crying. It was hard to admit it took a year for him to get out of his room, and start preparing himself to work again. To be the idol he grew into.

But no matter what Mark and Haechan did, they were never given an answer. Jae never bothered to open up to the two about it until he was ready, but nothing seemed to work. Night after night, he became mentally exhausted and was tired of becoming selfish over almost everything he didn’t want to accept.

But after preparing himself to become productive again, the two couldn’t be happier after seeing his sudden progress.

They were happy for him, and became known as Jae’s two best friends.

The two idiots who promised to have Jae by their sides until he was willing to let go.

Jae began to practice more, and started to attend his delayed performances after disappearing from his fans. He trained himself to get back up again, and learn to move on. Thankfully, he was beginning to adjust into his new life and regain his confidence to start over.

But inside, Mark was still worried about him. If he was okay with getting his memories removed, and if he was willing to forget the three of you.

Most importantly, you.

“But I can tell he loves you a lot.” He confessed, reaching to wipe the formed tears in his eyes.

He was telling the truth. The moment you appeared in his presence, he couldn’t help but notice the way Jae had been acting towards you. He seemed like himself, and held one of the most sincere grins ever. After watching each move he took, Mark came to realize he was happier than before.

The two noticed his sudden behavior, whether it would be Jaemin begging the two if he could come over or even him rushing to swallow up his food only to see you.

They found it quite adorable, actually. In your eyes, he may be a tough, sweet gentleman when in reality, Jae would be risking it all for you. He’d possibly do anything to make you happy.

Mark came to realize You represented his happiness in this world.

He never wanted to thank you enough for being the light he needed.

The light that guided him.

“Please, take care of him.”

-1 Petal

—

1:45 PM. August 12  / 2021.

“..Why didn’t you tell me?”

Jae tensed up a bit in guilt as he watched you turn your back on him. You turned to grit your teeth in pain, your arms crossing themselves while you forcefully stared onto the floor. Surprisingly, you found it hard to believe he was days away from getting his memories erased.

The worst part was, you never knew when.

You were filled with questions, wanting to ask him if all his memories will be erased and if they’ll remember each other.

It was obvious he was getting closer and closer to getting his memories erased, each accident hinting he was days away from leaving. Ever since he passed out on stage, the memory system wouldn’t leave him be.

Days later, he began to pass out more than once throughout the day, or even develop with a fever without a reason. Whether it would be him struggling to focus his eyes, or even have trouble remembering bits of the past. He’d even unexpectedly zone out at practice, pausing to hold his head in pain until it was over.

How could you not worry?

“Y/N, listen to me—” Jae stuttered, the male walking forward to reach for your arm. You pulled your arm out of his reach in anger, stepping back. “I don’t know how many days I have left, but—” you stopped him.

“What is there to listen to, Jae??” You countered, beginning to clench your fists in pain as you continued to avoid his gaze. It hurt to argue with him after you and Mark spoke, but felt furious once you found out he kept a secret from you this entire time. From someone you trusted.

“You knew this entire time, you’ll be getting them erased.”

“Y/N, I’m sorry, I-”

“I trusted you, you know.” Your voice became shaky, tears beginning to form in your eyes as you watched him hesitate to reach for your hands. “I didn’t be your friend just to see you hide THIS from me.” You snapped, your nails digging into your skin.

You were too lost in anger that you hadn’t realized commotion was created.

A crowd began to gather around the sidewalk, your raised voice luring people towards the two of you. They began to look around the area, some of them holding their cameras high to record the scene. After Jae had taken his mask off, exposing his identity, he began to drag fans forward in curiosity.

The crowd shoved and pushed, creating a round boundary between the two of you. It was clear they were angry, countless people beginning to take pictures at you two.

“Y/N, this is not what I wanted.” Jae countered with a single tear, watching as you faced him with your back once more. You didn’t want to interact with him anymore. “I didn’t mean to tell you so soon. I just—”

He grunted.

You paused in motion, slowly turning yourself around to find him grabbing onto his head in pain.

His symptoms were back, and you could tell the pain was getting worse. Jae frowned, trying to break into words as tears ran from his eyes. “It really isn’t.” He winced, the ringing in his head beginning to grow.

You watched in regret, your hands starting to fiddle with themselves. “Then what is it that you want, Jae??” You responded, your voice raising before you looked away.

The crowd continued to shove others aside, some of them struggling to reach the front to ask you two a question.

Specifically Jae.

“What seems to be the problem, Mr. Na?” They shouted, their cameras out to capture the moment.

The reporters were back, attempting to shove the microphone towards you two. “Is this possibly the woman you’ve been sneaking out with all along?” They chirped, cameras clicking.

You purse your lips, being the first to step away. “Yeah, why don’t you tell them if I am??” You sneered with an eyeroll, walking towards the crowd to angrily shove your way through. They managed to create space for you, easily letting you exit.

“..Y/N, wait!”

“Goodbye, Jae.”

-100%

……

System reset, complete!

He fell to the ground.

9:04 AM. August 13  / 2021.

There you were, silently sitting on your bed, the square shaped gift resting into the palm of your hands.

It was Jae’s birthday.

You weren’t able to get to sleep last night. After what happened yesterday, it forced you not to. You felt guilty for not being able to say anything to Jae ever since, your phone sitting on your front desk, almost as if it was waiting for you to pick it up. Of course, you fought the urge too, considering the anger you had for him was still there. You didn’t wanna face him after regretting the rude things you’ve said to him. He didn’t deserve it.

You missed him so much. Though you couldn’t figure out why, you missed and needed his presence again. The amount of guilt you felt throughout the night was more than enough, making you hesitate on checking up on him. You didn’t mean to shout at him, regretting every little thing you said. You didn’t want to picture the tears that ran from his face, making you feel hurt each time you imagined it.

You wished you'd given Jae the chance to talk.

Surprisingly, you hadn’t felt your phone vibrate since then. Despite the amount of missed calls you received from Mark and Haechan, your phone went silent. Right as you returned home last night, the two weren’t there. You thought nothing of it at the time, assuming they were probably out getting things. The thing was, they never returned this morning, which seemed to worry you.

You hesitated to call them back, wanting to ask where they were, but kept your distance. You didn’t seem to have the energy to socialize since then, wanting to sort your thoughts out before getting out again.

You glanced down at the beautiful gift with your exhausted eyes, your fingers reaching to tore the gifting paper. You painfully tore it, bit by bit, watching as it would slowly expose a black item.

As you tore to the last bit of wrapping paper, the black item appeared as a tape video. There, laid a small note that was glued to the recorder. You read it.

‘For, Y/N :)’

You softened your eyes, pursing your lips together once you fixed your eyes towards your television that laid beside your bed. You slowly stood up from the edge, making your way towards the closed slot that rested beneath your tv. You could merely feel yourself smile at his sweetness, already wanting to apologize to him.

It felt wrong to be opening a gift on his birthday, but promised him you’d be opening it the moment you wake up. You found it hard to believe he’s fixed up a video tape for you, wondering why he’d ask you to open it today out of all days. You didn’t think too much of it, kneeling down to place the video tape inside the slot.

You slowly glanced at the screen that appeared to be blurry at first, but slowly transitioned into clear footage after a few seconds. You’d plan on reading the card while the video played, reaching to detach the white card off the red bow.

The footage started off black, but slowly revealed each and every part.

Your heart dropped.

Dear Y/N,

Yayyyy! It’s my birthday! Can’t believe I’m turning twenty two already. Time flies, doesn’t it? Haha, thank you for opening up my gift. Don’t worry, I didn’t do anything to your precious camera. I only used the footage for the gift, silly. Are you watching it right now? Or are you, perhaps, reading this right now? you must be wondering why I made this for you. I’ll tell you why. BUT ONLYYY, if you promise not to get mad, okay? Alright, drum roll please! bam bam bam bam, BOOM. You probably haven’t noticed, but I’ve kept a bigger secret from you.

You dumbass, it’s me. Jaemin. Maybe you haven’t realized, but I was by your side all along. The moment I knew it was you, my world seemed to get a lot brighter than before. Is it too late to say you’ve basically been my first love this entire time? Haha, it sounds cheesy, but I miss you. The whole entire reason why I decided to keep this hidden from you was because I was afraid of hurting you. I was afraid that, if I tell you, I’d end up hurting you again. Anddddd, I don’t want that. :( On the bright side, maybe I am that sweetest, bravest, kindhearted guy you once loved.

I knew I had to tell you at some point, but couldn’t bring myself to ask you out again. To reclaim you as my one and only girlfriend. Please don’t get mad, but I’m running out of time. I don’t have enough time to tell you how much you mean to me, sooooooo here we are. I decided to express it through this letter, so you won’t kill me during the process.

LMRO did I do it right? Can’t remember if it’s lmao or lmro. Lol you texted it to me and It was one of those, I thinkk. Anyways, you better be treating yourself well. You better be eating healthy! By now, I don’t think I can be by your side any longer. :( by the time you're reading this, my memories will probably be damaged by now.

Memories don’t last, do they?

This is just a daily reminder for you to keep going, and trying your best. But without me. Maybe you can learn to be friends with my new self, and start a new life together. Who knows? It’s the least I could do to make you happy. But hey hey, if you can, are you still up to watching the sunset together?

xxoxoxooxoxxoxooxxooxoxoxoxoxoxooxxo

rooting for you! —Jaemin

—

EPILOGUE

—

You desperately dashed up the ladders, tripping over a few steps that created a few bruises on your arms. You managed to catch your breath on the way there, finally reaching the last step to his balcony.

Dear, Na Jaemin.

You immediately searched the area, tears streaming down your cheeks with your fists clenching. You turned left and right, scanning for his planted rose you assumed was sitting on the corners. It wasn’t.

After heavily searching the area with no result, you suddenly laid eyes on the red colored flower that was hiding behind a chair. Though you questioned why he’d leave it to wilt at such a dark spot, you now knew why.

Was it you all along? God, there's so much I want to say. How am I supposed to say this all in words?

The flower had wilted already, it’s stem turning dry as it visibly tilted to the side. The petals? Gone. Each petal you thought had stayed had fallen onto the ground, leaving pieces of evidence once you stared down to the ground. Each petal was there, painfully sitting against the ground until it cracked.

Thank you for being so caring about it. :( Your gift was emotional, yet sweet. You didn’t have to hurt me like that, stupid.

—

You shoved your way through the crowd of reporters, shoving their microphones in Jaemin’s face after the small accident. They demanded answers, and wanted to know the REAL reason behind who you were to him.

Cameras continued to click, Jaemin continuously blinking his eyes at the nonstop flashing.

I’m not mad at you, Jaemin. It feels very weird to be calling you that, but it’s okay. I’m glad I’ve been talking to the right person this whole time.

You watched in panic, your eyes getting caught at the male who seemed to be moving back in confusion. It was obvious he didn’t want to answer, and had no clue what they wanted out of him.

“Y/N?….who’s that?”

You felt your heart ache once more, realization slowly sinking in at his memory loss. The moment he spoke, revealing he never knew you, broke you. After everything you two went through, you never wanted to run away so badly.

But Jaemin was right. There’s always a chance you’ll be friends with him again.

You decided to bring yourself out of the crowd, immediately shoving the reporters and microphones out of his face in anger.

“Leave. Can’t you see he doesn’t want you here?” You snapped, triggering the crowd into gathering space for you two. All of them looked shocked, making puzzled faces at one another.

I’m sorry I’ve been so rude to you from the start. I was too caught up in the past, I never realized you were in front of me. Though, I had my suspicions, I can’t believe you’re telling me this now. >:(

“And you are?” Jaemin peered at you, eyebrows furrowed as he watched you protectively stand in front of him. He felt his heart flutter at the sight, your head turning to face him with the most innocent, painful grin ever.

“Y/N, sir.”

The footage was amazing! You never told me you could edit that well. Maybe teach me one day? You might wanna show your girlfriend the ropes, so I could make you one like that too. :)

—

“Haechan, Mark!”

You barged open the door in shock, speechless to see the two gathering towards the front door, luggages in their arms. You looked over at the patched up boxes that sat on your front door step, almost as if it was waiting for you to pick it up.

And for the last time, Jaemin, it’s LMAO. Okay? I don't know what the hell is LMRO, but you do you I guess lol.

Haechan glanced over at you, immediately dashing over to happily wrap his arms around you in sadness. He had so much to say, yet couldn’t break out the right words.

“We’re at higher risk now, now that everyone knows we’re Jae’s closest friends. They know you’ve been sneaking out with him almost every night.” He heavily sighed, slowly releasing his hands off of you.

“We’re gonna move to safety before any of us get hurt.”

I should be the one to say sorry. I didn’t mean to go off at you like that, when I knew you were seconds away from passing out. If I knew that would’ve happened, I would have never bailed on you like that. :(

Mark walked over to the two of you, placing his hand on your shoulder with a weak smile before he exited the room to start packing up.

“Mark, I—”

Haechan softened his eyes, sighing. “Oh, Y/N. I’m so sorry we never told you sooner.” He apologized, confessing he knew the past between you two.

The day you were getting groceries was the time Jaemin finally confessed he knew you in his past life. And the relationship. The moment the two called each other, he was surprised to see Jaemin open up to him about the two of you, and how happy he was. How happy you made him, the moment he hugged you.

You never felt so heartbroken to hear you impacted him this much.

“We’re planning on moving out today.”

I moved into a new apartment today! Good thing was, my local grocery store had rose seeds today! Do you think I should plant some when I get back?

“Do you plan on staying?”

“…Actually,”

You might be wondering where I am now, aren’t you? Wanna guess?

You wrote onto the sheet of paper, your pencil led elegantly moving itself across the lines. You tapped the eraser to your chin afterwards, taking a small glance beside the figure who was sitting right next to you.

“What are you writing?” Jaemin beamed, scooting a few inches closer to peer over your shoulder. Luckily, you managed to move it out of his sight in time, causing him to pout. “Hey! Y/NNNNNnNnNn.” He groaned, reaching for the notebook with his grabby hands.

You scooted away just in time, sticking your tongue out at the male with a mischievous grin. “Too slow, dumbass.” You teased, letting out laughter at his flushed cheeks.

You glanced over at the horizon from afar, reaching to tug Jaemin’s shoulder towards you.

“Look! The sunsets out.”

You exclaimed, raising your finger to point at the sunset that soon exposed itself to the darkness, revealing it’s brightness that seemed to lighten the area as each second went by.

The two of you sat comfortably against the hill full of grass, Jaemin confusingly glancing over at you. “And why did you take me to watch the sunset, may I ask?” He asked, interrupting your gaze as you sighed.

You smiled at him.

“Because my boyfriend wanted us too.”

In another life, Jaemin.

—Y/N

[geminilily]

The Goddess is the universal Mother. She is the source of fertility, endless wisdom, and comfort. Wiccans revere Her as the giver of fertility, love, and abundance, though they acknowledge Her darker side as well. We see Her in the moon, the soundless sea, and in the green growth of the first spring. She is the embodiment of fertility and love.

As the Triple Goddess she is represented by three aspects: the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. The aspects each represent a different phase of life; the Maiden correlates with youth and puberty, the Mother with parenthood and maturity, and the Crone with old age and wisdom. Each aspect is then symbolized by a different phase of the moon, Maiden: Waxing, Mother: Full, and Crone: Waning & New. The phases represent the ever-shifting process of life unto death and then rebirth. She is the beginning and ending and everything in between.

The Number Three

The number three has often been a sacred number. It is still found in many sayings, such as, “all luck comes in threes,” or “a dream dreamed three times comes true.” Folktales often have three fairy godmothers or three wishes or three chances. It is also said by scientists that we live in the third dimension, the material world. Many ancient civilizations considered three to be a secret and lucky number. It symbolized birth, life, and death; the beginning, the middle, and the end; childhood, adulthood, and old age; body, mind, and spirit. Today, most schools of spiritual illumination have three steps or degrees. This can be found in the Masonic Lodge (Apprentice, Fellow-craft, Master) and most Wiccan covens or schools have three degrees. In numerology, the number three is the number of activity, creativity, talent, and knowledge.

The First Aspect: The Maiden

Sometimes called the Virgin or the Huntress, the Maiden represents the spring of the year and fresh beginning of all things. The Maiden is the continuation of all life, the repeating and endless cycle of birth and rebirth, of the body and of the spirit. She is the dawn, eternal youth, and she is enchantment and seduction. She is ripe with potential energy, vitality, wisdom, and spiritual growth. A lump of clay that has yet to be molded. She is represented in the lunar cycle by the Waxing Moon. The Maiden’s traditional color is white, indicating newness and innocence. She invites us to believe that future possibilities are infinite. She can be valuable when we need a fresh perspective on things. When we feel directionless she can be the creator of new ideas and new beginnings.

The Maiden is free with her feelings and emotions, often expressing herself in sudden decisions. She is empathetic to all creatures. She is independent, Her own person. No one owns or rules Her. She is responsible for Herself and Her actions. She knows who She is and dreams of the potential of what She can become. Vital to human happiness and growth is the Maiden’s determination to be Her individual self and all that She is capable of.

The Maiden is the Way-Shower in spiritual growth. She leads us down the spiritual path and urges us to combat our fears and hesitations. Through Her we learn to see the simple beauty and great wonder in the world. We remember how to imagine, which opens infinite doors in magick, particularly those of manifestation and astral projection. Without the ability to forget all the world has taught us we cannot do and look at the world with wide perspectives there remains a block on our ability to spiritually advance. In linear thought, in order to go forward, one must go back. In cyclical thinking one must always continue forward to reach the beginning again, however, in fluid thought, one can experience all aspects at once.

The Second Aspect: The Mother

The Mother aspect of the Goddess represents the summer, blazing noon, reproduction and fertility, and the high points in all cycles. She is in the ripeness of womanhood. This aspect is the one of ultimate and active creation. She is the great teacher of the Mysteries. The boiling or churning cauldron is Her symbol and She is represented in the night sky by the Full Moon. The Mother’s traditional color is red, the color of blood and the life force.

The Goddess as Mother seems naturally more accessible, because physical mothers tend to be closer to their children than fathers are. In the old days, there were no DNA tests, so a man could never truly be sure of fatherhood, but one could not deny a mother.

In the cycle of life, the Mother is associated with the stage of adulthood. Adulthood means accepting responsibilities, particularly those brought about by Her own actions. Acknowledging the results of our own decisions is one of the greatest responsibilities every individual, and humankind as a whole, has. By recognizing the Mother aspect of the Goddess we learn valuable lessons in self-discipline and patience as well.

The Goddess as Mother does not want Her creations to abuse themselves in anyway. Mistreating our bodies, whether by drugs and alcohol, or unsafe sex, or excessive food, or life threatening situations, it is against Her will. Mistreating our minds through negative self talk and staying in abusive situations are also not within Her desires. The Mother is balance and happiness, and enthusiasm for life.

It is through this aspect that we discover ourselves and our potentials; we learn to take responsibility for our actions. We learn to reach outward and inward, loving and receiving love. It is during this stage that we need to understand that every act of love is a ritual to the Mother Goddess, be it physical, mental, or spiritual. Love extends beyond the physical sexual act, encompassing acts of kindness and spiritual love. The Mother’s directive is, “To be loved truly, one must know how to love truly.”

The Mother is the great nurturer, Her love is unconditional, yet as with physical mothers, She disciplines when necessary. The Mother is confident in Her independence, going about the business of living while unconcerned with those who think they rule Her. There is no indecision within Her about Her abilities; She knows who and what She is. She is joy, and reveling in the joy of life itself. She is confidence, responsibility, and increasing knowledge of life. Along our spiritual journey she is the Great Teacher and Keeper of Knowledge. It is through Her that we learn the Great Mysteries.

The Third Aspect: The Crone

The Crone is the third and final aspect. She is also called the Dark Mother, Old Wise One, or the Hag. Since She is the least understood and symbolizes death, this aspect frightens many. The Crone recycles and reforms our soul into a new incarnation through Her cauldron. The Crone represents Winter, the night, the abyss where life rests before rebirth, the gateway to death and reincarnation, the Waning and New Moon, and the deepest of Mysteries and prophecies. Her traditional color is black, and the deepest of purples or dark blue. She is the Initiator into the Mysteries.

Advanced age and the wisdom of experience that comes with it should be honored and anticipated. It is a time of life when one can look back with introspection, remembering the good times with a happy heart and the bad times with wisdom. The rest of us could benefit from their help and hard-earned knowledge. Elders can pass on their knowledge by helping in schools, tutoring, and participating in events at community centers. They should demonstrate wisdom, vibrance, caring, and love.

The Dark Mother is the teacher of the very deepest of spiritual Mysteries, including the contacting of spirits. Through Her we learn the necessity of focusing our energy on important things, like spiritual growth, living our lives to the best of our ability while seeking the Goddess within. The Crone knows what She has been and what She will be. She is the ultimate Prophetess who sees the past, present, and future.

Everyone must come to terms with death and the Crone eventually. Most people have a healthy fear of death, which saves us from fatally risky behavior. That “will to live” is necessary to keep us fighting for survival through physical and mental illness. However, we should seriously contemplate our mortality. A comfortable relationship with the Crone will prepare us to handle the loss of friends and family. Eventually this relationship with the Crone will help us to make our own transition.

We must seek the Dark Mother not the other way around. When we continue our spiritual journey under the guidance of the Crone we find that the path that has led us downward eventually leads upward once again. With Her assistance, our eyes are open to the deepest spiritual mysteries. We gain the knowledge needed to plan a new life, whether that be the one in which we are now, or in the next.

Sources:

Maiden, Mother, Crone

D.J. Conway

Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner

Scott Cunningham

Wicca: The Complete Craft

D.J. Conway

[dreamofasupernaturalchamber]

Dabb's Dream of a Red Chamber: Dean, Sam, Cas, Jack, and the roles they play

In my last post, I explored how Dean starts off as Qin Keqing in S14 but becomes Lin Daiyu later on in the season. The transition point is 14x13-- the 300th episode. I always found it funny that Dabb chooses the Ruyi Baozhu to start this episode. It's a Buddhist item, and of course, SPN becomes very Buddhist toward the end (which is why everyone hates the finale). What I want to talk about today is Baozhu as both a pearl and a name.

This name appears in Dream of a Red Chamber. Who is Baozhu? One of Qin Keqing's maids who volunteers to be adopted by her after her death so she can play the role of the daughter during the funeral. She then becomes a nun after the funeral-- fitting, no, considering her name? Let me tell you this: a monk (and this gets interesting, but I'll get to that later) arrives at Lin Daiyu's home when she's young and says the only way she'll live a long life is if she becomes a nun. Obviously she doesn't choose this route. But going back to SPN--Dabb twists the Baozhu into another Buddhist message-- so why not use some other artifact from Buddhist lore? Why Baozhu?

I think it's because Baozhu is the combination of the Bao from Baoyu's name, and Zhu, which means pearl. The emphasis is on the pearl, which makes sense-- Dabb isn't going to involve yu, or jade, when Cas (the character corresponding to Baoyu) is secondary in this episode. Dean is the one who makes the wish, and so the treasure is going to represent him.

So who is associated with pearls in Red Chamber? Qin Keqing, for one-- she has maids who carry "pearl" in their names. And Lin Daiyu, who is the reincarnation of the Jiangzhu (Crimson Pearl) Fairy. She's also associated with the Jiling Pearls, which foreshadow the Jia family getting dragged into the royal family's power struggle.

But Dean is nothing like Lin Daiyu, readers might say! He's not sickly. We'll get to the sickly part later-- let's first talk about Lin Daiyu and what she represents.

First and foremost-- Lin Daiyu represents rebellion. Not literal rebellion (although if I'm not wrong, the Jia family gets into huge trouble for aligning themselves with the wrong princes), but rebellion against societal conventions and patriarchal feudalism. The last thing Baoyu wants to do is take the imperial exams and become an imperial bureaucrat-- but this is exactly what his family wants him to do. This is what Baochai, Shi Xiangyun, Xi Ren, and all the girls want him to do-- except for Daiyu. Daiyu tells him, "You should do what you want." And so they think of each other as zhiji, which I suppose can be translated as soulmate, but really means "a friend who knows me." A zhiji is a friend who knows your soul.

And this fits Dean and Cas-- Dean is the one who encourages Cas to rebel against Heaven. Dean is the one who asks Cas what he wants. Dean is the one who bucks convention; he's the subversive one, the one who represents free will.

(And as a side note, Qin Zhong, the younger brother of Qin Keqing, is another one of Baoyu's more subversive loves-- he dies just as Baoyu's oldest sister is made the highest ranking imperial concubine, which indicates that Baoyu's attempts to buck against feudalism are destined to fail and foreshadows Lin Daiyu's death. Qin Zhong, Qing Zhong-- his name tells us that Baoyu is a lover.)

Dean doesn't die from what looks suspiciously like TB, which is how Lin Daiyu dies in the last forty chapters of Red Chamber-- however, we know that those chapters are ghostwritten and doesn't fit her panci, or the poem that foretells her fate, the hints that she's married off for political purposes, or Zhiyanzhai's footnotes which indicate that she dies of a broken heart. Zhiyanzhai is very likely the coauthor of Red Chamber, and their notes indicate they were there for most of the events of the story (Red Chamber is thought to be a retelling of how the author's family fell upon hard times-- of course, there are other interpretations too, which I will talk about in a separate post). Dean dies from a broken heart two times. The second time takes.

Now let's talk about Cas and Baoyu. Baoyu is usually considered the reincarnation of Shen Ying Shi Zhe, who is a heavenly monk in another dimension. He waters the Crimson Pearl Grass every day, and she becomes a fairy as a result; it's hinted that he falls in love with her, which threatens his cultivation/enlightenment, so he runs off to the human world to gain more enlightenment, and she follows him and decides to repay her debt by crying all of her tears for him (the lyric "don't you cry no more" comes to mind). Yes, Lin Daiyu is the fairy this blade of grass becomes. Yes, Shen Ying Shi Zhe is responsible for giving her life, much as Cas is responsible for lifting Dean from perdition.

Cas also falls from Heaven to experience love, but up until Dabb took over, this was usually framed as a positive thing. I'm-- not quite sure Dabb actually frames it as a positive thing. Cas's ending calls to mind the endings of the gods/fairies who fall from grace because they fall in love in Chinese folklore-- they either become human, or they become enlightened and regain their standing in the heavens. Baoyu's real ending is unknown, but it's not hard to guess that he becomes enlightened and goes back to being Shen Ying Shi Zhe-- which would match nicely with Cas's ending.

There's another version of Red Chamber (there are multiple versions-- again, remember, this is a work of metafiction, and this will come into play later) where he's considered to be one of the rocks Nuwa was going to use to patch a hole in the sky, but was discarded. We usually interpret this rock as the piece of jade Baoyu was born with, but I do want to point out this version, because Cas, given his performance in the later seasons, also fits this description.

Then there's Sam-- he contains shades of Baoyu (he marries someone after Dean dies, but he's never happy, which is what happens to Baoyu; this is foretold in a song Baoyu hears in Bo Ming Si), but I'm going to argue that he is Baochai. Who is Baochai? The other girl in the love triangle-- Baoyu loves Daiyu, but marries Baochai instead (this plays out differently here). What does she represent? She represents money (there's the gold radical in chai, and it's often said that her union with Baoyu is a marriage of gold and jade, and her family is exceedingly wealthy). She represents adherence to tradition. She and Daiyu are like "sisters" at one point, but that falls apart because Lady Wang hates Daiyu and wants Baochai as her daughter-in-law instead. And even though Baochai and Daiyu top the first volume of the beauties, they share a poem that foretells their fate; all the other women get their own poems. And what's Baochai's fate?

It's a one liner-- a gold hairpin (chai) buried in snow. I've seen all sorts of theories flying around that she's supposed to die in the snow, but honestly, I think the ending in the ghostwritten chapters is probably close to what was planned for her. She marries Baoyu, but he leaves to become a monk and she lives alone in the Jia family. In the ghostwritten ending, she also has a son. Her room at the Jia's mansion (she lives with them)? It's compared to a Snow Hole; she's a minimalist when it comes to interior decoration.

And let's look at Sam's ending. He basically lives in a shrine to the dead with his one son, and it's clear his marriage was short-lived (no pictures of the wife). His ending is a perfect match for Baochai's.

And then there's Jack. I compared Jack to Baoyu in the previous post, and again, if you look at the stories of Shen Ying Shi Zhe and the rock (especially when you consider that Jack was born to stop the apocalypse/make the world a better place), you can see the similarities. But he also represents other characters-- Daiyu and most likely Prince Beijing, who's the head of the four princes, or the old guard; those two characters are connected through Baoyu, which makes for a nice trio of characters.

How does Jack represent Daiyu? There's the way he's not entirely welcome in his own home (Lin Daiyu lives with the Jia family, and Lady Wang dislikes her immensely.) There's the way he dies in 14x08-- from what looks suspiciously like TB, just as Daiyu dies in all the TV adaptations and in the ghostwritten chapters. He changes identities after this death -- he becomes the prince.

Let's finally talk about Prince Beijing. He's young-- under twenty. The Jia family is close to him. He clearly plays a role in the power struggle-- if we're going off the real prince he's based on, then he should be in the faction against the dowager emperor, which means he's loyal to the emperor, but most analyses claim that he's not loyal to the emperor. One piece of evidence for the latter viewpoint: he attends Qin Keqing's funeral in full regalia, which is considered disrespectful, and hands Baoyu a bracelet of Jiling pearls that the king gave him to symbolize their brotherhood. That's-- not what you do with what the emperor gives you. It's just not done. (That being said, I can see the real prince getting away with that, because he was the real emperor's favorite brother.) Baoyu then hands Daiyu those pearls, and she throws them away. Later on, Baoyu will hand Daiyu the prince's straw coat and she tosses it away again. She doesn't accept anything from Beijing until she's forced to. We can interpret this as Daiyu disapproving of Baoyu's alliance with Beijing (and there are other interpretations that assert Beijing is responsible for marrying off to distant lands, but since the last forty chapters were never written...).

This fits Jack. He's TFW's only hope against Chuck, who is both the emperor and the dowager emperor in this story. Cas has faith in him, just like Baoyu likes Prince Beijing. Dean doesn't have faith in him, just as it's implied that Daiyu doesn't have much faith in the prince either. This is where the meta gets very interesting, because who is Chuck? The writers? The network? What does it mean if he's both the emperor and the dowager emperor? I'm going to talk about this next in a post on the meta structure of SPN and Red Chamber.

What I want to point out before I end this post is that it's very likely Dabb planned these very controversial endings for Dean, Cas, and Sam-- I doubt censorship had anything to do with it. SPN may have been a story about a fight between the writers and the network, or it may have been a Buddhist story, but either way, I'm pretty sure SPN ended exactly as Dabb meant it to end.

[synchlora]

pspsps spare karl hcs? 👀

YESS hell yeah !!! sorry i did not see this earlier jxascjjcsvksjcskv. gonna try and split it up so it somewhat makes sense

interdimensional form:

this is his normal form

he is literally not from this dimension, god knows where he's from honestly

this form is difficult to describe bc the laws of his dimension don't apply here so he kinda constantly appears to be shifting in ways that don't make sense to anyone seeing him

but he is generally about 9 to 11 ft tall, various bright neon colors, and always seems to have energy (maybe electric but almost appearing magical as well) crackling off of him

can't really express much human-like emotions in this form bc his face doesn't allow for it (technically he doesn't have a face, what u see is something he has projected in order to mimic human emotions and show how he is feeling)

still feels these emotions, they're just hard to express in ways that humans would understand

travelled a lot through dimensions and timelines within those dimensions

ended up overexerting his abilities and crash landed in the dream smp's dimension (this is where his portal is currently and he hasn't tried to move it yet)

can no longer leave that dimension, though he can still time travel throughout it

sapnap was one of the first people he met after crashing and, while he was shifted into human!karl form, he was still very unstable and it was quite obvious he wasn't entirely human

fast forward a lot of time, but i like to imagine that he does eventually show both sap and q this form, though he was very afraid they wouldn't love him

but ofc they still do

these fuckers love their 10 ft tall interdimensional being of a boyfriend

shapeshifting & "possession":

karl can shift to other forms in order to hide his actual appearance

one of those main forms is human!karl, which is what we see most of the time and how most people on the smp know him to appear

this form is difficult for him to maintain but it is manageable

but because he is losing his memory often, he slips up on the details occasionally (hence the inverted spiral hoodie a few weeks back)

it is a very cramped form because he is fitting ~10' tall of weird energy that should rly not be confined to a ~5'10 human form

but he feels obligated to continue to keep himself in this form because he genuinely doesn't want to scare off any of his friends or god forbid his fiances

possession on the other hand is a whole different ballgame

i hinted at this in an older drawing but he can basically possess people in a way

we see it in the lost city of mizu where he basically becomes the person known as issac

i imagine this works similar to the stranger in tma where he becomes the person and those around him still believe they are the same

not quite as sinister as that though because while he does take over their body, their thoughts and beliefs and decisions are still based upon who the person was

so like. karl becomes the person in a way because he acts how that person would have

he gains all of who they were while still managing to maintain his own self as well

which is why it can be very taxing and extremely dangerous for his memory

because he essentially became this person for a while, he ends up garbling his memories up with those of the people he posesses

normally, he can de-possess people and they will have those memories of what happened while they were possessed but it'll just be a little foggy to them

but obviously that did not happen with issac which leads to the next point

death:

this is the interesting part because he has gotten killed multiple times now during tales from the smp

i think that when he got killed while possessing issac in mizu, he basically left his body and scrambled to escape through the portal before any really bad consequences happened

because he had to leave so suddenly, he ended up losing a good portion of his memory there because he wasn't able to smoothly transition out of possessing someone and back into his home form

his intention was never to get issac killed and he still feels incredibly guilty over his and the other fishemens' deaths

when he was killed in the masquerade, i don't think he was possessing anyone (considering his appearance and name) which is interesting

but we also don't see him actually die which makes me think he teleported out through his portal before he was killed

either that or the in-between is a place where he goes when he "dies" during travel and has to recuperate

it's hard to tell because we don't really know at this point and i have a feeling canon will very quickly disprove this ahvishcksgkcs

to me, i think the in-between is either where he goes when something very bad happens during his travels or it is just generally an in-between dimension he travels through in order to make it to another dimension

his husbands and recurring characters:

this is basically just me being sad but i believe that karl recognizes people through his travels who act/appear like his husbands and friends

i have two theories here so bear with me

first theory is that he meets their ancestors / descendents or even what's considered reincarnations perhaps and recognizes them as such

this one's a little more realistic whereas the next one is more sad

second theory is that karl is slipping so badly in his memory that it seems like he is seeing the same people over and over as various different people

so for example, maybe james from the masquerade reminded him slightly of sapnap so he ended up seeing/hearing him like sapnap

and this is where it gets fuckin sad because, in the end, these people don't know him

he may trust james like he trusts sapnap (though it's hard for him to remember who that even is anymore) but james doesn't know him at all

but seeing these people die is so intensely emotional for him, yet he doesn't fully understand why he feels so attached to someone he met less than an hour prior

anyway that is all bc i don't want to make this ungodly long ajfgksjcgskc so here u go !!

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: Looking for a New Show? Check out Hime's Helpful Recommendations!

  If you’re reading this now, then chances are you’ve checked out anime sensations that is Jujutsu Kaisen or The Promised Neverland. But what is there to do when you’re stuck between episodes and waiting a whole week for the next exciting installment? Or worse ... what do you do when you've finished your binge? Luckily, there are plenty of anime in Crunchyroll’s catalog for you to check out!

  When it comes to scary demons, dark magic, and captivating stories, there’s no shortage of shows that can satisfy your cravings. From your genre-defying battle shows, popular fantasy worlds, or quirky titles with crazy fights, you're sure to find something from this list that will quickly become your next favorite binge:

  That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

    Fantasy world anime are all the rage these days, and one of the most popular right now comes in the form of an adorable amorphous blob slowly building up their own nation in That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.

  As 37-year-old Satoru Mikami suddenly began to take a spiritual transition from one life to the next, they unwittingly made requests that resulted in their reincarnation as a lowly slime in an RPG-like high-fantasy world. In this new life, they gain new abilities and use their apparent charisma to acquire powerful allies and develop their own nation that unites all species under his guidance. 

  As far as fantasy world shows go, this rags-to-riches story has a little something for everyone. There are few things as inspiring and necessary in our world as seeing an insignificant slime creature rise up the ranks and unite everybody. Packed with compelling world-building, exciting fights, and a spoonful of emotion, Slime scratches plenty of itches, and the ongoing second season will definitely leave you begging for more.

  Demon Slayer

    There are plenty of great anime centered around fighting denizens in the dark, but Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba certainly stands out among them all.

  Tanjiro Kamado’s tough but rewarding mountain life was suddenly disrupted when his entire family was mauled by a demon, with his little sister on the verge of becoming one herself. But after showing his potential as a fighter and vowing to protect his sister who still clings tenuously to her humanity, he is recruited to undergo demon slayer training in order to harness his latent abilities and find a way to return his sister to normal.

  Ufotable, Inc. is an anime studio renowned for its unparalleled animation, and Demon Slayer is the perfect example of the team’s skill. The show is renowned for its seamless integration of digital effects to generate flowing animation and has previously topped our list as one of the best anime of the 2010s. Since its premiere, Demon Slayer has raked in several Newtype anime awards, and its first opening — “Gurenge” by LiSA — topped Oricon’s digital charts for weeks. With all these accolades under its belt, Demon Slayer is most certainly well worth checking out. 

  Mob Psycho 100

    If stylish animation and gorgeous fight scenes are up your alley, look no further than the psychedelic psychic battles of Mob Psycho 100. 

  Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama is an abnormal boy trying to live a normal life, despite his unique telekinetic abilities leading him to crazy situations. Under the misguided tutelage of con artist psychic Arataka Reigen, Mob takes on several malevolent spirits while trying to navigate his turbulent adolescence. Through his adventures, he slowly but surely develops his understanding of human emotion, especially when they gradually build up to various explosions of psychic energy.

  Mob Psycho is packed with stellar action and hilarious gags, but still finds room to offer a refreshingly heartwarming story about trying to be your own self. With two seasons' worth of episodes, this is a great option for fans of people throwing telekinesis at each other.

  Overlord

      The only thing more interesting than a fantasy world show is a fantasy world show with a villain as the main protagonist. Enter Overlord.

  The massively successful, highly interactive MMO, YGGDRASIL, is about to have its servers shut down after 12 years. Momonga, the skeletal leader of the strongest guild of the game, makes it a point to stay on until the final minutes of service. When the countdown runs out, Momonga’s player finds himself inhabiting the world as his character and still commanding his guild, Ainz Ooal Gown. Taking on the name of his guild, Ainz Ooal Gown begins to expand his rule with an iron fist while trying to find any other players who may also be trapped in the game with him.

  Overlord is unafraid to make its protagonist undergo some dark transformations. Despite Ainz’s intentions to create a stir in this new world and unite all species under his rule, he becomes gradually less hesitant to use his immense power to achieve his goals by any means necessary. With its dark overtones and unique protagonist, Overlord truly makes a name for itself among the genre. 

  Hunter x Hunter

    Love the action genre but wish the formula could be tweaked a little bit? The infamous Hunter x Hunter may just have what you’re looking for.

  Gon Freecs is a young boy who sets out to become a professional Hunter while searching for his missing father. Along the way, Gon learns how vast and diverse the world is as he meets new companions, fights terrifying monsters, and becomes stronger at every turn. There’s no telling what new adventure or threat awaits Gon and his friends as the world of Hunters opens up wide to them.

  Subversion is the name of the game when it comes to this popular and influential series. While there’s plenty of intense action to be had, Hunter x Hunter isn’t afraid to go deep into mafia politics, race relations, and even gender identity. At almost every opportunity, Hunter takes the usual tropes and turns them upside down to tell a story that’s all too raw, emotional, and impossible to look away from.

  Garo: Vanishing Line

    Jujutsu Kaisen director Sung Hoo Park has plenty of notable works under his belt, including directing The God of High School. But you might be surprised to know that JJK isn’t his first foray into demon-slaying action. He also directed Garo: Vanishing Line.

  While searching for her missing older brother, Sophie is led to the metropolis of Russell City where monsters known as Horrors prey on humans in the night. Luckily, she comes under the protection of Sword; as Garo, the strongest Makai Knight, Sword and his crew are tasked with defending the city and eradicating Horrors.

  As part of a popular tokusatsu (live-action with heavy special effects) franchise, Garo is known for its modern gothic aesthetic and compelling action. Vanishing Line continues that tradition in spectacular fashion with intense fights and an exhilarating soundtrack, not to mention an intense first opening by Jam Project of One Punch Man fame. From start to finish Vanishing Line never takes its foot off the pedal and is sure to keep you pumped all throughout its high-octane 24-episode ride. 

  The Rising of the Shield Hero

    Fantasy world shows often put their protagonists up on a pedestal, but the eponymous Shield Hero is practically dropped into adversity from the get-go.

  Naofumi Iwatani is one of four different high schoolers plucked from their dimensions into a fantasy world in peril. As each of them is armed with different weapons to combat the impending threat, Naofumi draws the short stick by becoming the Shield Hero, who is traditionally marginalized and maligned by their peers. To make matters worse, he is accused of debauchery amongst royalty and shunned by the entire kingdom he was summoned to protect. Broken and disillusioned by this strange new world, the Shield Hero must now climb his way to redemption alongside other unfortunate souls neglected by society.

  A Cinderella story in every sense of the word, The Rising of the Shield Hero draws its appeal from its protagonist having to overcome the odds and fight back against the forces that oppose him. While it can be hard to sit through when it comes to raw emotion and some questionable content, this anime has plenty of inspiring moments as marginalized folks work their hardest to become heroes of their own repute.  

  Attack on Titan

    Chances are you’ve at least heard of the anime sensation that is Attack on Titan, and with the show approaching its end, there’s no better time to see what all the hype is about.

  Humanity has spent thousands of years walled off from the outside world in order to keep Titans away lest they feast on humans. Eren Jaegar has long wondered what the world beyond the walls was like, but he gets a rude awakening when Titans break down the walls and begin a violent invasion. Vowing revenge on them, Eren joins the Survey Corps and swears to do everything he can to eliminate every Titan in existence.

  This popular anime is known for its unparalleled animation and mysterious story that takes several unexpected turns. As long as you can stomach the violence and sit through some terrifying visuals, there’s something for everyone in Attack on Titan from heart-warming relationships to intrigue and high-stakes drama. As the show comes to a close with its final season, there’s no better time than now to jump onto the giant-slaying phenomenon.  

  Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-

    Nothing messes around with the rules of the fantasy world genre quite like Re:ZERO: Starting Life in Another World. 

  In typical fantasy world fashion, gamer shut-in Subaru Natsuki is summoned into a medieval fantasy world rife with magic and monsters at every turn. For all intents and purposes, he now lives in a game world, especially whenever he dies and comes back to life sometime before his death like a checkpoint revival. With his newfound power, Subaru attempts to survive in this strange new world and help out his growing band of companions, especially when it comes to Emilia, a young elf who’s in the running to become queen of the Kingdom of Lugunica.

  Re:ZERO is rife with powerful drama as Subaru uses grim knowledge of his past lives in order to do good. This darkly compelling fantasy has been praised for its complex world and nuanced characters, and has even accrued many Newtype anime awards in 2016, including best director and best protagonists. If you like the idea of traversing murky corners and tough moral choices, then Re:ZERO might just be your next big obsession.

  Which of these shows do you think you'll check out? Comment below and tell us!

      Carlos (aka Callie) is a freelance features writer for Crunchyroll. Their favorite genres range from magical girls to over-the-top robot action, yet their favorite characters are always the obscure ones. Check out some of their pop culture editorials on Popdust as well as their satirical work on The Hard Times.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Carlos Cadorniga

[rnegitsune]

would you,, maybe have time to share your wisdom of the lore for those of us (me) with no idea or,, sdkjfsd

ajskdlafds sure; ok so this is just how i understand it and if i’m wrong whATEVER but i’ve been collecting lore cos i’m making a video lol so i’ll just do the chosen seven and the metal galaxy parts since they’re the most relevant also this is gonna be long lol so below a break it goes

sO one thing to note first that will be needed later- the chosen seven, who are the figures in the distortion mv, are said to be seven metal spirits who were sent out into the universe ok..NOW,

one thing that has been big since legend s literally all the way back in 2017 is the idea of light and dark and how each exist as sides of babymetal. so legend s, being the light side (the very beginning of the show literally says ‘a new legend has arrived with light’), speaks about how the light of the world was cast into darkness after a powerful beam of light called despair appeared. the world was dark for a long time and then su tells us that it is now 20XX (which is how they have been stylizing their anniversary stuff, so presumably some big new thing is happening then) when a new bright light comes and it’s a new light, a different light. a prophet of the fox god says that a new goddess will come as a result of this light and be the new messiah, and she will rid the world of darkness. so we be waitin for this messiah to come and save us BUT she has to sacrifice herself to light in order to bring about the light that will save the world (at the end of legend s, su is sacrificed/crucified into fire ie she is becoming the new messiah with this ‘death’) and she rises stronger than before. so as she is carried off, a bright beam of light appears yay (important to note- the song playing during this bit is literally shine. all the way back in 2017. god damn.) so she flies off and is the brightest thing in the darkness of space and she gets reincarnated into a new goddess who uses her voice to give hope to the people, hopes which became stars that shone down on the people. the lights keep growing and combining until they became yet another beam of light that shone through the fox god, creating ‘the one’. the goddess sings because it’s her fate and her mission and she keeps singing to keep providing that hope. and thus, she begins a new legend.

and what they continually emphasize is opposites - light and dark being the epicenter of it. so where there is light, there is dark, which leads us to dark night carnival. this show was their new look and featured 5 backup dancers to make 7 total. also, the lore speaks about how dark and light are both necessary in order to form the metal galaxy; light and dark intersect and form a strange dimension in space known as the metal galaxy. and thus we’re back with our seven metal spirits, who can only be revealed as the chosen seven in the metal galaxy. but again, they need both light and dark in order to do so. so babymetal has had their light, legend s, and their dark, dark night carnival, so we headed to the metal galaxy boiiiiiis

but first! how are babymetal themselves related? well, what was the next major show? awakens - the sun also rises. and at this start of this, they tell us we are going to be hearing something from 2010 ie babymetal’s debut. su says something about having a spirit that resides within her and this meeting was what caused them to make an odyssey to the metal galaxy. so essentially, the seven metal spirits found their way to babymetal, and with the light and dark, were able to find the metal galaxy and head to it. and all of this was put into motion in the name of the fox god. those exact words. in…the…name of….like the song. 

right, so the album metal galaxy, i interpret it as this quest; so, the first half starts with future metal, which contains the part about we are on an odyssey to the metal galaxy, so this half up to night night burn is them heading to the metal galaxy. the second half starts with in the name of, which has all the lines about heaven and hell, joy and sorrow, light and shadow, and so forth; it also has a line literally what su said at the awakens show- in the name of the fox god. so this song is the light and dark intersecting. so past this song is IN the metal galaxy. and what song is after in the name of? distortion, which has the chosen seven in it. sO. 

legend s, which AGAIN, was all the way back in 2017, starts with in the name of, the transition song and the song that signals the intersection. this show marked the start of the process towards metal galaxy. the show literally ends with a piano version of shine, which wasn’t released until the album nearly 2 full years later. so yeah that’s the lore up til now, or at least how i interpret it :/ 

[athenas-spirit-blog]

In today’s Spirit Blog I’m going to discuss what it means for my own Soul to assist and prepare a Spirit to transition from their Human Life into the Spirit Realm.

At Soul Level we all have jobs, a life purpose, a mission of sorts that we agreed to do upon planning out our lives before reincarnating. We agreed to walk paths that may not be easy for us, especially when our emotions are tied to such matters. I have been working with Spirit’s since I was a young girl. I have gifts I inherited from both sides of my family as well as the ones my Soul has developed throughout my many different lives. Some would say the path to ascension I chose was a rather extreme, fast track, spiritual path but it was done this way because my own soul knew I could handle whatever Spirit has placed in my path.

Since I was a young girl I have felt and seen Spirits. Some were pleasant and others were not. I didn’t have the support system I would have liked to have as a child knowing I was different than others but again, this is what I signed up for to help my Spirit to become stronger. I am many things at Soul Level- A Healer of sorts, a Soul Soother, a Catalyst, a Protector, a Warrior, a Magic Worker, someone who walks in MANY Worlds/Dimensions, an Energy Worker, a Spirit Medium assigned to assist souls in crossing over and so much more. I look at myself from the inside to the outside and I see what a strong soul I am and still becoming. At times my human self has doubts as every human does...but that is when I turn to my own Higherself /Source Self and my team of Spirit Guides asking for a bit of clarity when I’m too emotionally attached to an outcome.

What does being a Psychic Medium have to do with transitioning souls to the spirit realm?

In all honesty I have been doing this for so long I had no idea until the past few years I was doing this. All of the human jobs I was in I was surrounded by people I knew would have an impact on my spirit but I wasn’t aware of just how much. I have worked in Restaurants, Pharmacy’s, Durable Medical Equipment Offices, Nursing Homes and even had Temp Jobs where I met people that impacted my Spiritual Life. In all of these jobs I would encounter Spirits every step of the way.  When I worked in Nursing Homes, I would feel certain Patients become very attached to me in a very short amount of time for no apparent reason. Even if they had a general distain for me, I would feel some part of them clinging to my light, my happiness, my soul soothing abilities just for a moment of peace and clarity. I would dream about a patient's family member getting ready to pass and my spirit was there reassuring them that it would be okay and to trust the process of crossing over. Usually when this phenomenon would take place this patient would pass shortly after.

I have known for about 7-8 months now that my Biological Mother’s time on this earthly plane wasn’t going to be much longer. I did not dream of this per se but it was a message my own Higherself downloaded to my heart space. I knew there was a reason I had been dreaming of my mother so often and it wasn’t easy to accept this. Yes, I understand death is inevitable for all of us and we don’t necessarily “die” we just transition to the next place our Spirit has chosen to go. Last night I had an extremely vivid dream of my biological mother. I seen her standing in a long line of other people I did not know. In this dream she was picking out different types of coats and there were 3 prominent colors that stood out in this dream. I saw 5 Red Puffy Coats in the front, 1 Royal Purple Puffer Coat and 2 White Jackets at the end. She looked confused and overwhelmed about which jacket she was supposed to choose. This is when I told her she was to choose the Purple Coat as this was the color she was supposed to wear. She seemed pleased with this jacket and the dream jumped to another timeline. I was again brought back to this same place in my dream state because she still seemed conflicted about the colors she was seeing and what she was supposed to choose. I, again, reminded and reassured her the Purple would look very nice on her and this time she seemed more pleased with this.  

I took this as an opportunity to not only analyze the dream in regards to the colors and the meaning behind the Red, Purple and White but I also felt a strong nudge to call in my Ancestors from my mother's side to have a discussion about her wellbeing to see if she was okay. 

I’m going to break down the color’s and their meanings in a dream as well as sum up the messages I received from my Ancestors on my mother's side. 

In the dream I seen 5 Red Jackets....A red jacket indicates a new start in your life. So, does this mean she will be having a new start in her Human Life or her Spirit Life? Well, I have to go with the ladder on this one as I know the state of her health and her conscious mind is not the best. The color red is associated with the Root Chakra and in Energy Healing can also be used to “burn” things out of the Aura and Chakras. Think of Mars and its fiery energy. This is definitely a color you want to be careful with when using different rays of light as it can be a bit strong for both humans and spirits if used incorrectly. As Crystal and I always say, Intentions are EVERYTHING in your Magic. Whether you are using Healing Modules to assist you or simply using your own energy to sending healing energy, intention and permission are two very important key factors. 

If you see the Color Red in this dream from a psychological point of view, Freud associates the red jacket with the idea of moving forward. Hence my mother’s Spirit is wanting to move forward from the anger and depression she has carried in her Chakras and Spirit Body for so long but does not have the tools or capability of doing this in her waking life. In fact, it has already been shown that her Spirit DOES NOT want to receive the energy healing I or others could send her to assist her on her journey.

The color Purple (The 2nd Coat/In the Middle) is associated with Crown Energies, it can be used to assist those with Mental Confusion, reconnecting with one's own spirit, it is associated with good judgement and has a calming presence which can give oneself a sense of peace and clarity. This is where her Spirit needed Guidance on which “Color” would best assist her in the current state her mental state is in. 

The Color White is associated with Spirit, our Source/God/Goddess Self. To me this is a color of enlightenment and protection to one's spirit body. The color “White” is also associated cleansing, healing, purity, returning to one's innocence and the truth of who we are at Source Level. 

I might add in my emotional state this morning, upon waking up from this dream of seeing my mother, I asked one of my Spirit Guides if they could possibly check on her and make sure she is okay.

The response I received brought a painful trigger to my awareness and this is what prompted this topic for my Spirit Blog. The answer I received upon my request was straight to the point “Athena, even if one of us checks on her you know we cannot intervene”. 

In that moment I had no idea what my Guide meant by that but he was aware of things I was not. As much as I hate to admit it, he knew it would trigger me to call fourth my own Higherself and my Ancestors to ask the questions I’ve been dreading. Was my Higherself  truly on my own Mother’s Transition Team?!? If so, how would I keep my emotions at bay to assist her in the best possible way? How do I not have an emotional attachment to the outcome? The truth is, regardless of what I feel, death is inevitable. I cannot change it, I cannot ask her Spirit to stay in limbo like she has been, waiting for her body to finally say “It is time now”. I simply have to be there for her the best way I can and continue holding space for her.

I spoke with her Primary Spirit Guide as well as other Loved Ones from my mother's side for answers and clarity to this particular situation. I cried with them as well as for them because they too knew it would be her time soon. My mother’s Primary Guide was very honest and blunt which I’m truly grateful for. He made it clear that she has been in a Spiritual Battle most of her life. My Mother’s Spirit has tried to detach from her own body in her younger years a few times because she was spiritually tired from the trauma’s she endured. Thankfully there was an intervention of sorts as she still had lessons to learn from this life. My mother’s Higherself is in a statis of sorts. Not disconnected but resting, healing, floating, preparing. My mother's spirit has made it ABUNDNTLY clear she does not want healing of any sort from her Spirit Team or Myself. Some would see this as a way of the human mind being stubborn and carrying too much guilt from this life. As a Shaman, I see it from a different perspective and understand her Spirit is receiving the healing and guidance she needs in a higher plane as her human body goes through the motions down here.

What was the significance of the color “Purple” you might ask?

The significance of this “Purple Coat” in the dream was my own Spirit’s way of offering her protection from the un-seen elements in her time of transitioning. I do not know how long my mother has, quite honestly, I do not wish to know of these things. I do know this is a part of who and what I AM. I am one of many who chose to be a part of assisting souls into the next part of their Spirit Journey. 

If you are interested in an Intuitive Mediumship Reading with me please click on this link to be directed to my services.

I do not own the rights to the image in this blog. Source-Google Image-"consciousreminder"

[hongkongdramas]

Barrack O’ Karma

Yay to creepy and mysterious themed dramas! I have always liked such drama themes. So currently I’ve only watched till episode 4 and I have started to like it. The first two episode under the story ‘梦’ wasn’t impressive to me. It was exciting at some point in time but excitement level went into a flat line again... I would assume that it was an opening to show how Siu (Joel Chan) has this connection to his past life through his dreams. But it was a little too draggy by the some what random robbery case and a murder case in the prostitute house. And I was bored out of some unnecessary conversation going on which was a tad bit too long...

Episode 2 to 4 was way more interesting compared to the first two. I liked how Candice Chiu portrayed the mother that lost her child. That story for ‘婴’ kept me really curious as to what Mrs Ho wanted and the paranoia that the baby’s mother went through was so pitiful. Even though there were a lot of conversational scenes on some baby care methods, i think it was necessary for them to show the transition of how the baby’s mother trusted Mrs Ho to starting to suspect her weird behaviors. Now i’m looking forward to the other stories and now how they ended episode 4 with a flight turbulence!

The next story “娃” was interesting too. What started off as an uncomfortable involvement with dolls for men’s pleasure ended up to be a sad story about how a father felt so lonely after his daughter grew up. But this episode is filled with so much jokes that are so not for children.. 🙂 Anyway kudos for having an interracial couple and the first I’ve seen in a hk drama. Speaks so much about being accepting and diverse.

Following that was “鴉烏” (is it on purpose that they put the name the other way round? Or should I be reading it from right to left instead...) which has a pretty sad ending. Deep meanings in this story... the pressure from society and high expectations from parents on kids nowadays are really prevalent. The moment Tung-Tung said he didn’t want to grow up to face the hardship as an adult related to me so much. It was sad to see everyone losing their memory about Tung-Tung and finally even Tung-Tung himself losing his memory about his parents.

“異夢” was refreshing because it finally brought us back to the past to understand more about their past life (if there is some reincarnation thingy going on). It was so cool to see the opposite of what was happening like how it was Sis Coco dreaming of future Siu while in present life was Siu dreaming of Coco. And also Law Lan Jeh’s cameo!!! The lesbian case was ordinary but I guess it was necessary to link up the stolen $ and the release of Brother Hung.

Finally I got my question answered in these episodes. During Tung-Tung’s case, I was wondering so much on why Tung-Tung’s parent didn’t bat an eyelid when Alex came in to find out why they were arguing so loud. It felt like Alex wasn’t there at all... and I finally found my answer at the end of “洞”. Is Alex dead??? Mmmmm. Have to watch on I guess. Anyway, IMO, there wasn’t much of a supernatural thing going on in “洞”... (other than the fact that the hole in the wall was the creepy element to it) I guess there was an inspirational message going on throughout the story of pursuing one’s dream like how Mia finally found her calling and decided to put in effort in achieving what she wanted. Of course it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of that guy {forgot that guy’s name.. shall call him chicken little like how Siu called him}. Chicken Little was the one who made Mia realize her goal in life despite been an annoying keyboard warrior his whole life...

Next was “金丁” which was the weirdest shit story ever... I was totally baffled at the entire story with that weird ass theory of getting happiness after sleeping with that guy... I think this was the worst story ever that I have nothing to say about it..

Yuki Jeh is actually very pretty!! Her “美魔女” story was interesting because it linked back to her mum in the past. So we get to toggle back and forth between past and present to see the reason for her obsession with beauty. Too bad Yuki Jeh went bonkers till the end.. I wasn’t expecting her to use the cotton wool to wipe it on her face when Shui left 😅

DR POONNNN! Like everyone else, I was anticipating and waiting and waiting for Dr Poon to appear and there she is!!! But she appeared for such a short duration :( Anyway, the story of “Simone” was so cute!!!! I really like the part when they enter the gaming story. The augmented reality they were in was so interesting! And the story really shows how scary technology can be in our digital world. The manifestation of technology, especially in the world of augmented and virtual reality, can be dangerous where our personal data are constantly being collected for other purposes... the love story was just an added feature.. Hahahah KELLY CHEUNG was gorgeous!! And that Big White Duel reference there was cool! Plus also, they were finally revealing the ultimate story behind Siu, Alex, Fai and Coco. Teacher Lam is super mysterious and I’m really wondering what is that “thing” that he refers to suspiciously.

Last story!! 夢遊. Okay actually I’m only till the last second episode. Wow mind blown. They actually came up with some sci-fi thingy where you’d have to almost drown to time travel...? Okay that was out of the blue.. and omg don’t tell me Lam Gor Zai is some cat demon that kills people.

Finished Barrack O’ Karma and I was a little confused at the ending and also annoyed at the fact that they spent a whole 3-5 mins nearing the end to show flashbacks other then providing us with a little more details for the story.

Instead of looking at Lam Gor Zai being a real cat demon or some sort, I would rather view Lam Gor Zai suffering from mental illness as a result. His horrible past (the sacrificial burial) might caused him to suffer from PTSD and resulted in him having DID (dissociative identity disorder) hence the “cat demon”. The cat demon was the other personality he had that harms people. Just like M. Night Shyamalan’s Split movie starring James McAvoy having 24 split personalities, the “Beast�� was just one of the personality that goes around harming people. 

The final ending was the confusing part. Initially, the part where Coco and Siu (who time traveled) were almost dying on the boat, I thought that if Coco were to die and Siu to survive, Siu would not drown in the present time and Alex would have been declared dead from the missing flight. And if Coco were to survive and Siu to die, Alex would have survived in the present time and found from the missing flight while Siu would have drowned in the water tank. Boy was I wrong... instead, I would think that for Siu to time travel and have altered the past, it has created a whole new dimension in the present where characters we have seen had a whole new story in their lives but yet a striking similarity to what we have seen in the past episodes. (e.g Mia who is now a star with that chicken little who may have a special connection to her, Yuki Jeh who is now blind and unable to “appreciate” the beauty she has, Tung-tung who is now with his family and his dad a common bus driver etc.) As for Alex, she is now (coincidentally still) a flight attendant while Siu now a pilot. The eye contact and tears in their eyes may have brought forth the familiarity both had for each other just like how Alex said that she felt this homey feeling when entering Twilight Mansion and that it felt as if she had been here the whole time. 

Oh there was this weird scene where we see Lam Gor Zai and the older version of him (played by Lau Kong) carrying on to Lan Po. Seriously confused by this... I need some explanations here... That was so out of the blue...

Overall, I really enjoyed myself watching this drama with every subplot and ultimately the main story on reincarnation and time travel. Kudos! Looking forward to the sequel which has been green-lit!

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 4 February 2019

Quick Bits:

Archie #702 sees Sandy Jarrell and Matt Herms pitch in for much of this issue as Betty and Veronica try to figure out who Archie’s seeing now. It goes about as well as you’d expect. Nick Spencer is still delivering some humorous dialogue and the opening sequence from Marguerite Sauvage is as beautiful as ever.

| Published by Archie Comics

Archie 1941 #5 is pretty heavy, dealing with the the grief, remorse, and emotional devastation of loss experienced during the war. Peter Krause and Kelly Fitzpatrick’s artwork has been wonderful throughout this entire series and they nail the conclusion.

| Published by Archie Comics

Avengers #14 sparks the fuse of the vampire civil war from Jason Aaron, David Marquez, Justin Ponsor, Erick Arciniega, and Cory Petit. There’s some really nice world-building going on here with the Legion of the Unliving and a rather interesting development with Ghost Rider.

| Published by Marvel

Batman #64 begins “The Price” crossover with The Flash from Joshua Williamson, Guillem March, Tomeu Morey, and Steve Wands. Outside of the tie-ins throughout the DC titles, I haven’t been reading Heroes in Crisis, but this ties in as well, spotlighting some of the strain that Batman and the Flash have been under. Something definitely feels off about the situation.

| Published by DC Comics

BPRD: The Devil You Know #13 feels like shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic at this point, with all of the pieces moving into place, and we’re just awaiting the inevitable end of everything. Stunning artwork from Laurence Campbell and Dave Stewart.

| Published by Dark Horse

Champions #2 fills in the hole of what happened during the battle with Zzzax last issue and, boy, is it a doozy. Jim Zub, Steven Cummings, Marcio Menyz, and Clayton Cowles set up something interesting, and possibly horrifying, to come down the line.

| Published by Marvel

Conan the Barbarian #3 maintains its high bar of excellence as the one-off stories building up Conan’s past continue from Jason Aaron, Mahmud Asrar, Matthew Wilson, and Travis Lanham. The art from Asrar and Wilson is just perfect.

| Published by Marvel

The Curse of Brimstone #11 is the beginning of the end in the first of this two-part finale for the series from Justin Jordan, Denys Cowan, John Stanisci, Rain Beredo, and Wes Abbott. It’s great to see Cowan’s art here as he, Stanisci, and Beredo make the beginning of this final fight look absolutely gorgeous.

| Published by DC Comics

Daredevil #1 is a very impressive debut from Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto, Sunny Gho, and Clayton Cowles. It picks up from Matt’s recovery in Man Without Fear and, well, things are messy, unfocused, and he’s having a hell of a time getting his feet under him again. But, beyond that, there’s a real depth to the story here. Though there’s a ton of action, it also goes deep into character building and flashbacks of Matt’s time as a kid getting morality lessons from his priest. This is damn good, taking cues from Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s “Born Again”, but it also feels influenced by Mike Grell’s “The Longbow Hunters”. There’s also a back-up written and illustrated by Zdarsky himself with an interpretation of how Daredevil “sees” and the digital edition gives a smattering of back-up material including covers, art comparisons, and sketches. I highly recommend this.

| Published by Marvel

Deathstroke #40 concludes the “Arkham” arc with Slade killing Hugo Strange and then slaughtering a bunch of homeless men. Maybe. Depends on which truth you believe. In doing so, Priest sets up the seeds for the upcoming crossover with Teen Titans.

| Published by DC Comics

Die #3 peels back another layer of the onion of this world as Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, and Clayton Cowles give us a story of how the various regions work. All through an allegory of war between Eternal Prussia and Little England, Tolkien re-adapted to a kind of explanation on his own allegory. It’s interesting, especially when coupled with the essay Gillen pens in the back that explains the whole construct. That said, it also works great as just an extremely pretty adventure where a party of adventurers fights a dragon. I’m loving what this series is doing.

| Published by Image

Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #4 concludes the opening arc with the Hoarder from Jody Houser, Rachael Stott, Erica Eren Angiolini, Viviana Spinelli, Richard Starkings, Sarah Jacobs, and John Roshell. I still love the inventiveness and ornate quality to the Hoarder’s design.

| Published by Titan

The Empty Man #4 gives a bit more insight into the disease ravaging the planet, as more of the strange skittering monsters appear and the kids from the original mini-series return. Cullen Bunn, Jesús Hervás, Niko Guardia, and Ed Dukeshire are crafting something very dark and weird with this series, but also very, very good.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Female Furies #1 isn’t a bad start from Cecil Castellucci, Adrian Melo, Hi-Fi, and Carlos M. Mangual. I quite like Melo’s art here, as she’s adapted it somewhat to highlight influences from some Fourth World luminaries like Jack Kirby, Keith Giffen, and Walt Simonson.

| Published by DC Comics

The Freeze #3 delves deeper into the early days after the Freeze as the awakened look into the serial killings, and we get more mysteries in missing people (who may or may not be the same as those murdered) and the revelation that Ray is being manipulated. Really great work here from Dan Wickline, Phillip Sevy, and Troy Peteri. 

| Published by Image / Top Cow

GI Joe: Sierra Muerte #1 sees Michael Fiffe bring his kind of retro charm to the Joes in the beginning of this series. It’s actually played pretty straight and reminds me of the loving care that Tom Scioli also takes to these properties. Great art and a story that reminds me of the original GI Joe cartoon.

| Published by IDW

Giant Days #47 intertwines Daisy learning to drive, McGraw’s brother dropping in on him and Susan, and Esther taking care of an illicit adorable puppy. All the usual humour and character building you’d expect from John Allison, Max Sarin, Whitney Cogar, and Jim Campbell. 

| Published by Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

The Girl in the Bay #1 is an intriguing debut from JM DeMatteis, Corin Howell, James Devlin, and Clem Robins. It jumps headlong in to some of DeMatteis’ favourite themes and topics as spiritualism, reincarnation, and coming of age (particularly in Brooklyn) and presents a compelling world and mystery for the seemingly dead, then strangely awakened fifty years later Karen Sartori. Very nice artwork from Howell and Devlin.

| Published by DC Comics / Berger Books

The Green Lantern #4 may yet be the most beautiful issue to date, with Liam Sharp and Steve Oliff elevating the impossibly high bar of their artwork to an even greater level. The character designs, page layouts, panel transitions, and sheer storytelling in the artwork is incredible.

| Published by DC Comics

Gunhawks #1 is another of the revived title one-shots in celebration of Marvel’s 80th anniversary, this one a western from David & Maria Lapham, Luca Pizarri, Neeraj Menon, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Travis Lanham. It’s gritty, bloody, and the art from Pizarri, Menon, and Rosenberg is very impressive.

| Published by Marvel

Immortal Hulk #13 concludes the descent into Hell in an issue that is probably as epic as the Avengers beatdown from #7. Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Ruy José, Belardino Brabo, Rafael Fonteriz, Paul Mounts, and Cory Petit continue to deliver one of the best series on the stands today.

| Published by Marvel

Justice League #17 follows on from the annual and the revelations in the “Escape from Hawkworld” arc in this single issue story of Martian Manhunter’s past from Scott Snyder, Jim Cheung, Mark Morales, Walden Wong, Tomeu Morey, and Tom Napolitano. Some fascinating developments in J’onn’s history here, with gorgeous artwork, and the funny truth that Batman’s really a concerned bat-dad.

| Published by DC Comics

Killmonger #4 wages a pitched battle with Die #3 and The Green Lantern #4 for most beautiful art in a comic this week. Juan Ferreyra’s work is stunning, giving the book depth, character, and an immense re-readability just to stare at the imagery again. There is a wonderful sequence of blood pooling up the page as the violence and body count increases and the design for the cat goddess is gorgeous. As to that latter, Egypt isn’t for want of multiple cat deities and, though Sekhmet is probably the easy answer, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the older and somewhat lesser known Mafdet. Bryan Hill, Ferreyra, and Joe Sabino continue to deliver one hell of a solid story with this series.

| Published by Marvel

Oberon #1 is off to a fantastic start with this tale from Ryan Parrott, Miloš Slavković, and Charles Pritchett. It strikes a nice balance between fantasy and the mundane as Bonnie finds out she, and the world, aren’t exactly what she thought. Gorgeous artwork from Slavković.

| Published by AfterShock

Old Man Quill #1 kicks off a Guardians tale set in the “Old Man” universe from Ethan Sacks, Robert Gill, Andres Mossa, and Joe Caramagna. I liked the recently concluded Sacks-penned Old Man Hawkeye series as well and Star-Lord appears to be taking on that same kind of beaten-down sardonicism of Clint.

| Published by Marvel

Prodigy #3 sees Crane and Agent Straks racing across the globe to find out information on the cult aiding the alternate dimension insurgents. The artwork from Rafael Albuquerque and Marcelo Maiolo continues to be the main attraction, delivering some amazing action sequences.

| Published by Image

Self/Made #3 gives us another twist as Rebecca and Amala attempt to take down Bryce for control of Amala’s code. This story continues to evolve in some very interesting ways, while including some of the toxicity inherent in some game development studios, with some beautiful artwork from Eduardo Ferigato and Marcelo Costa.

| Published by Image

Shadow Roads #6 returns with Brian Hurtt stepping in for the line art and it’s great to see him back illustrating within the Sixth Gun world. Really nice, weird designs for the Bone Plains and interesting hints as to what’s next for the new/old threats seeping back into the world.

| Published by Oni Press

Star Wars: Age of Republic - Anakin Skywalker #1 spotlights a moral quandary for Anakin from Jody Houser, Cory Smith, Wilton Santos, Walden Wong, Java Tartaglia, and Travis Lanham. It’s still interesting to see Anakin as “General Skywalker” during the Clone Wars and how different he was from what he’d become.

| Published by Marvel

These Savage Shores #3 is almost a perfect comic, actually it may well be a perfect comic. The craft and care that goes into creating this work is astounding. Ram V, Sumit Kumar, Vittorio Astone, and Aditya Bidikar are elevating the art form each issue. With the compelling intertwining of history and horror. With the epistolary narrative approach perfectly befitting the vampire sub-genre. With the attention to detail in how dialogue and narration are presented visually. With the variations on the 9-panel grid to guide pacing and keep the reader visually interested. With the consideration of the colour washes and tones to amplify the mood and atmosphere of the tale. This series is incredible.

| Published by Vault

United States vs. Murder Inc. #6 is kind of a weird conclusion to this series as the larger plot of the predicament the families currently find themselves in is left to the next series and, like last issue, we instead get more of Valentine’s family history. Great art, though, from Michael Avon Oeming and Taki Soma. The art really reminds me of some of Darwyn Cooke’s in his Parker adaptations.

| Published by DC Comics / Jinxworld

Vindication #1 is an interesting crime drama from MD Marie, Carlos Miko, Dema Jr., Thiago Goncalves, and Troy Peteri. I love the shades of grey and uncertainty in motivation and truth in this story.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Wasted Space #6 returns with all the humour, violence, and madness that Michael Moreci, Hayden Sherman, Jason Wordie, and Jim Campbell brought to the first arc. I love Sherman’s designs for the gods, they remind me a lot of Ted McKeever’s work.

| Published by Vault

The Wrong Earth #6 ends season one of the series with Dragonfly and Dragonflyman adapting somewhat each to their new Earths, showing a bit of equivocation of the characters as the environment changes them. This has been an interesting story from Tom Peyer, Jamal Igle, Juan Castro, Andy Troy, and Rob Steen and there’s ample threads to bring me back when the series resumes. 

| Published by Ahoy

Young Justice #2 continues the adventure in Gemworld in the present, while we get a focus on Wonder Girl in the past. There’s something weird going on here with time and continuity that still feels like a story beat more than Brian Michael Bendis just playing fast and loose with what he wants. Great art from Patrick Gleason, Emanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy, and Alejandro Sanchez.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Other Highlights: Asgardians of the Galaxy #6, Atomic Robo & The Dawn of a New Era #2, Battlestar Galactica: Twilight Command #1, Black AF: Devil’s Dye #2, Cemetery Beach #6, Curse Words #20, The Dreaming #6, Feathers, Gasolina #15, GI Joe: A Real American Hero #259, LaGuardia #3, Marvel Action: Avengers #2, Noble #15, Project Superpowers #6, Red Sonja #1, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5, Star Wars #61, Tony Stark: Iron Man #8, The Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion #5, Unnatural #7, Vampirella/Reanimator #2

Recommended Collections: Betrothed - Volume 1: Love or Die, Big Trouble in Little China: Old Man Jack - Volume 3, BPRD: The Devil You Know - Volume 2: Pandemonium, Ether - Volume 2: Copper Golems, Lowlifes, Noble - Volume 3: No One Man, Optimus Prime - Volume 5, TMNT: Bebop & Rocksteady Hit the Road

d. emerson eddy sometimes feels like his old bones should light out for the wastelands.

[ketonutraempire-blog]

The 30 Best GBA Games (Game Boy Advance 2021)

The 30 Best GBA Games (Game Boy Advance 2021)

The Star of Zelda: The Minish Limit shirts our collection for several reasons: Never-ending elegance, amazing overworld and dungeon layout, wise puzzles and perhaps more intelligent challenge technicians. The Minish Limit shared with the backstory of Vaati, the leading antagonist and essential shape in Three Swords. Soon after Vaati petrified Princess Zelda, Link rescued a wonder sentient head wear using a pet bird go that, when used, enables him decrease to a minute dimension similar to the Minish, the small critters which have worked well tirelessly to aid get rid of darkness from your society. The cap, the game’s middle quirk, designed looking at Hyrule a far diverse {Buzrush.com}knowledge than prior to. It showed new locations and provided new viewpoints, lighting how majestic the industry of Hyrule truly is. The Minish Limit got every one of the notable highlights of a successful Zelda video game, from exceptional dungeons to unique townspeople to the pure satisfaction offered when opening up a treasure chest area. And are you aware The Minish Cap began by Capcom, not Nintendo? It is still the most effective Zelda online games ever.

Camelot Program Planning, recognized for Shining Drive and Mario sporting events titles, stunned everyone with 2001’s Gold Direct sun light, a valiant attempt at offering a genuine Closing Dream-variety encounter to your handheld system. And son, have Camelot previously be successful. Golden Sunshine starred Isaac and several other adventurers in their quest to help save the industry of Weyard. It obtained each of the trappings of any Finalized Imagination game - a conserve-the-society storyline, randomly flip-based struggles, and summons - additionally it had a respectable selection of overworld puzzles and a lot greater narrative owing to a great deal of dialogue and exposition. Its sequel, Gold Sunlight: The Misplaced Era, shared with the history {Buzrush.com}via the perspective with the antagonists. The original is not only the best GBA RPG ever; it’s one of the best turn-based RPGs released to this day, even though both games are excellent in their own right. If you missed out on Golden Sun, find a way to play it, such as through the Wii U. A sequel identified as Glowing Sun: Dark Dawn also came to DS, as well, if you want even more Golden Sun in your life.

The final and third GBA Castlevania activity, Aria of Sorrow showed that it turned out nonetheless feasible for the selection to achieve the level of achievement displayed in Symphony with the Night. That is appropriate. First, we said Metroid Fusion was better than Super Metroid, and now we’re putting Aria of Sorrow on the same pedestal as Symphony of the Night. As opposed to its predecessors, Aria of Sorrow needed the vampiric series on the long term, placing consumers in the shoes of Soma Cruz, a teenage with occult power who could result in the reincarnation of Dracula. Aria of Sorrow offers the low-linear research of SotN, substantial RPG aspects, a handful of cool weaponry, and some difficult but incredible supervisor battles. Include the Tactical Souls mechanic{Buzrush.com}, which adjustments gameplay and stats by defeating foes, and Aria of Sorrow was the wealthiest access during the series thus far. It still appears today as the very best Castlevania game titles, and then for a taste of the similar type activity, try out Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night on Move.

It is no great surprise Metroid Combination was created from the exact same staff that produced Ultra Metroid. Combination practically sensed like an unrelated sequel if it started in 2002. Fusion presented a in the same way long available-community to discover, making athletes scour and expose secrets and ways frontward at their own rate. They at Nintendo RAndD1 highly processed the fight from Extremely Metroid{Buzrush.com} and unveiled quite a few new potential-mechanics and ups in the act. Metroid Fusion is not just one of the best games on GBA; it’s the best 2D Metroid ever made, even though it may be blasphemous to say.

Very little needs to be claimed regarding a Connect to days gone by, the common top rated-down Zelda journey for the SNES. The GBA slot brought the enchanting Dark and Light Worlds of Hyrule to hand held correctly. The harbour also introduced a different characteristic, nevertheless, named A number of Swords. {Buzrush.com}This cooperative function allows two to four gamers team approximately solve defeat and puzzles baddies in dungeons. However the key marketing campaign is the thing that in the long run earns A Website Link on the Recent a high place about this record, adding Several Swords designed the GBA variation the ultimate way to participate in one of the best online games ever, even when compared to Nintendo Switch On-line version available using a subscription.

Clever Solutions, the business right behind Blaze Logo, was also associated with the greatest change-structured approach video game on GBA: Upfront Conflicts. The premise was very simple: A azure army confronts away in opposition to a green army, each individual comprised of tanks, infantrymen, and artillery. Offering challenging proper game play, an in-depth strategy, as well as a road map designer, Move forward Competitions experienced all the things a technique fanatic could want. Like{Buzrush.com} Blaze Emblem, Progress Conflicts came from a Japanese exceptional collection called Famicon Battles, so we are very fortunate to get it America. The GBA also acquired a sequel in Advance Wars 2: Dark-colored Gap Growing. As well as good, it felt more like add more-on articles due to its currently robust forerunner, and also the DS sequels weren’t quite as vintage because the authentic. For a similar experience, take a look at Wargroove on Nintendo Move.

What can you receive when you merge the atmosphere and nostalgia of your initial Metroid with current aspects? Properly, a darn high-quality game. Metroid: Absolutely nothing Mission, a reimagining with the 1986 classic, retold the storyplot of Samus Aran’s initial venture with the sophisticated fight observed in Ultra Metroid and Metroid Fusion. Stunning to think about as well as preferable to participate in, No Vision manufactured going back to Environment Zebes feel absolutely unique once again.

Establishing off of the stressful “microgame” method of WarioWare, Inc.: Super Microgames! , WarioWare: Twisted! additional drive responses - certainly one of only two GBA games to achieve the element - and also a gyro detector. The end result? An experience not like every other for the hand held. Microgames necessary participants to perform fast-fire activities within minutes. All of them entertained, even though none of the games were particularly complex. Also the plan, which concerned Wario receiving{Buzrush.com} angry for a online game on GBA and flinging the hand-held in the walls, decreased flawlessly in accordance with the game’s irreverent strengthen. If you played it in public, ferociously twisting and turning your GBA like a madman, on a scale of sheer “fun value,” you’d be hard-pressed to find a more satisfying GBA game, especially. A few of the games can also be found during the 3DS relieve WarioWare Golden, together with microgames from all of those other range.

Mario And Luigi: Superstar Saga kicked away from certainly one of Nintendo’s very best Mario spinoff and games series. Though starting off during the common Mushroom Kingdom, the overall game speedily transitions to Beanbean Empire, a sizable world that this brothers should traverse to recoup Princess Peach’s voice. Split up to its key idea, Superstar Saga was really a flip-primarily based function-enjoying activity. But Nintendo and today-defunct developer AlphaDream layered the combat with the addition of timing-dependent maneuvers that nodded straight back to{Buzrush.com} Mario’s platforming origins. Controlling Luigi and Mario all at once also led to the game’s many entertaining spot puzzles. Superstar Saga sticks out nowadays among the GBA’s finest RPGs.

Closing Imagination VI didn’t come to Activity Child Upfront in America till 2007, more than 2 years once the Nintendo DS introduced. In many ways, it released as being a “thank you” to Game Boy fans for their extended-ranking help and support. As one of the best entries in the long-running role-playing series, Final Fantasy VI was a pitch-perfect port that brought the epic story, strategic gameplay, and wondrous soundtrack {Buzrush.com}to a handheld device for the first time. The GBA also received great ports of Final Fantasy I & II, Final Fantasy IV, and Final Fantasy V, but Final Fantasy VI rightfully earns a spot on our list. It’s basically among the finest RPGs ever made and one of several top notch Last Imagination video games for all time.

More Info-

https://www.buzrush.com/the-30-best-gba-games-game-boy-advance-of-all-time-2021/ 

https://sites.google.com/view/best-gba-games/home

[starsailorstories]

 @genderlessspacerock replied to your post

“Hey it’s nanowrimo eve and I really wanna talk about my book but can’t...”

4 and 5 asks the astronomer

@lando778 also asked for #5!

So here they are, finally:

4. Cosmologies:

To understand the mainstream view of the universe in the Cosmonist religion (and the older faiths that were eventually subsumed into it) you have to understand some stuff about astraea species and what they have in common:

All of their conscious mental processes AND “genetic”1 information are contained in the lights on their heads, which operate like mini-stars and follow stars’ life cycles

Before they had spoken language, they communicated by manipulating the beams of their lights, like a projector, and it’s still used by many species to indicate tone/expression rather than having a lot of auditory tone variation in their languages

Although it’s not super prominent in actual cosmonist teaching and practice anymore, the ancient equation of the stars and suns in the sky with the tiny “stars” that power astraea consciousness and biology is really important culturally, and light=life-force or light=spirit is an almost pan-galactic motif.

Because of all that, the light you emanate, your personal starshine as it were, is–both metaphorically and kinda literally–what you put out to the world while you’re in it. This is your praefulgeria–the effect of your soul on your current lifetime, which will be judged at your death.

Enter the Cosmic Prism.

A person’s praefulgeria is usually represented by a light beam. The universe is represented as a prism that scatters the light beam. The various points of the prism separate people into different species/positions/experiences based on the characteristics of their souls.

Prior to scientific advancements made about a generation before the story takes place, it was widely thought that the Andromeda galaxy lay in the center of the prism, and that the creator-goddess Orellistia had her home in the center of the galaxy. There are still those that cling to this idea but mainstream thinking has mostly shifted away from it (there’s no official word on the debate from the Aula so for now it’s free to shift where it may). Intergalactic sailors have been superstitiously honoring the Great Attractor as the locus of gravitational force (which is seen as the goddess’s will) for centuries, so eventually that may be accepted as the new “center”. But that really only matters if you’re, like, making an illuminated scripture anyhow.

The prism has five points in total: Excelsia, Limina, Ladiu, Longitu, and Altiu (those u’s are pronounced like schwas with tighter lips, think French).

Excelsia is the topmost point, and ideally your light bounces upward through your cycle of death and rebirth, presumably being freed from the cycle at the top--or at least, that’s the popular concept. The Levinoxian temples, when they existed, generally held that there’s no way to actually reach it before the reunion of the goddesses at the death of the universe, or else that the upward spiral is literally eternal--there’s always more to learn (although most believe some things are learned in other realms/dimensions after an enlightened-ish soul/praefulgeria has incarnated for the last time).

The lowermost point, Limina, is what it sounds like--a kind of limbo where souls that have fallen from grace with the cosmic order are judged and either healed or released to oblivion if they refuse to be. It’s not a place of punishment exactly, just sort of a...like...astral airport lobby where you’ve got nothing to do but think your shit out for an unimaginably long time. People with an agenda are fond of implying that ALL empty space in the universe is a part of Limina, and that as little as griping about your boss behind her back can land you there, but most folks who aren’t indoctrinated young dismiss that as utter raving b.s.--if not because they see the convenience of literally deifying the status quo, then because it’s just like, then what are all the other myriad possibilities for reincarnation for?

The other three points, as you might guess from their names, correspond to the axes of three dimensional space (now might be a good time to say that the “uppermost” and “lowermost” positioning of the first two is understood as not literal) and are places souls pass through to receive knowledge on their way to the next incarnation. It’s common in stories and myths for living characters to journey there too, in order to learn truths beyond normal understanding or confront something with effects beyond the current lifetime.

This isn’t the only traditional perception of the universe--the Caesurans, who settled on their planet very early (and being blue stars are shorter-lived than most astraeas), have depicted the universe as a circle centered around their solar system for thousands of generations. The Ashtivans, who just lived in space for most of their prehistory as a species, have pretty much always had a pretty accurate picture of at least the galaxy. They too regard the unknowns of empty vacuum and dark matter as the home of the unclaimed dead, though they tend to do absolutely everything they believe will keep their own dead from winding up there.2 But because of the reach of the Basillan attempt to unify all of Andromeda’s different religions, their cosmology is the most widespread.

5. Spacefarer Superstitions:

Obviously there’s a lot of them and they’re very diverse, but here’s a few that are mentioned in the book:

Tracing the positions of the Seven Suns (or the stars in whatever constellation most often guides you home--for central andromedans that’s usually Aviana’s Bow) with your finger over the airlocks when you close them is a ward for safe passage.

Luxmotes, which are little jellyfish-like creatures with a Light on them in a similar way to astraeas (and most animals in andromeda) that live in the vacuum, clustering around a ship are a good omen--they show the goddess of gravity’s favor on a mission.

That’s the one exemption to this controversial but extremely perennial one: it’s bad luck to bring any symbols of Orellistia or gravity into interstellar space. The reasoning is that it isn’t her domain, things float around willy nilly, if she wanted her stuff on her wife’s side of the material plane she’d have put some stars or planets there. As Levinoxia has become more of an oppositional/trickster figure it’s also said that symbols of gravity offend her and will cause her to play havoc with your ship’s systems, get you lost, and generally ruin your mission. This is a BIG problem for pious destigravitational cosmonists as symbols of gravity are kind of Their Thing, it’s like if you told a ship full of catholics it was bad luck to wear crosses. But most experienced sailors, especially older ones, swear by it. When artificial gravity systems started to be introduced it was common to overhear grizzled grey-haired captains, pilots, and boatswains, who’d come into their own in the solar-sailing days, in the public houses swearing up and down that they would NEVER contract to sail a ship with that newfangled fake-your-own-planet tech, it’s just ASKING for an instrument malfunction in black hole territory

Dark stars and neutron stars and their systems are dead, but still inhabited by the spirits of their solar goddesses and all the life that might once have been in that system in attendance to them. If a crew doesn’t maintain respectful silence while passing through, their ship might become uncontrollably trapped in the dead sun’s pull.

Signals that are transmitted too far out in the vacuum to reach a receiver are received directly by Levinoxia, goddess of the void and protector of sailors and travelers. At the midpoint between the last lighthouse on the Andromedan coast and the first on the Milky Way’s, pilots both religious and not so much have a tradition of praying the Dodecacet, a series of twelve short hymns to her, into their radios. For many working-class folks who were practically raised “at sea”, it’s the only prayer they know.

If any of your crewmates died while in space, you have to jettison everything they brought aboard personally--clothes, possessions, all of it. If not your bad luck is your fault.

Cadrian ingots stuck into the outside of your gravity ballast tank draw in treasure if that’s what you’re lookin’ for. Or something. Truthfully it’s just fun to drop them into the grooves they fit perfectly

Different planets have different beliefs about what kind of animals it’s lucky to have on board and this can become quite the debate among interstellar or intergalactic missions whose rates have only sailed between planets before because 90% of boatswains are going to be like “we can bring ONE”

1They actually still use the term “genetic” even though they don’t have genes--from their perspective, it comes from the Orellistian epithet “Genetris”. 

2They don’t have the reincarnation cycle concept that tends to be consistent closer to the dome--they think the spirits of their ancestors stay with their families, just beyond the veil. Ashtivans, like their sun, are small, slow-burning stars, and death tends to be a much more peaceful transition for them rather than a jarring nova, so it makes sense that they don’t have as much of a sense of separation. 

[alienatheart]

Reload Blast Ep 6 Reactionanalysis

Trying to catch up! Long post and Spoilers under cut

Summary: Confusion surrounds Goku’s sudden transformation into Seiten Taisei, but Li Touten takes command and orders him to be captured. This results in several gods brutally slaughtered while Kenren, Konzen, and Tenpou watch in horror. Li Touten throws Nataku’s body at Goku as a distraction but gets his eye clawed out anyway. Kenren is finally spurred to action, calling Goku to attack him instead, but Kanzeon intervenes, stating Kenren and the others won’t be able to handle him. Konzen asks if the diadem can be restored, but Kanzeon replies the only option is to kill Goku, and prepares to do just that. Konzen stops hir with a punch and gets kneed in the gut in return as Kanzeon admonishes him not to regret his choice. Konzen knows he won’t, even as Li Touten announces protecting Goku is the act of a traitor and calls for immediate execution. Kenren and Tenpou step up to defend Konzen and the unconscious Goku, announcing they stand with them.  Goujun tries to stop the fighting, but Tenpou sees his chance and takes Goujun hostage to secure their escape from the hall. 

In Tenpou’s quarters, as Konzen tends to feverish Goku, Goujun questions Konzen’s ability to fight or even survive the wrath they’ve incurred. Konzen knows he’s no warrior, but says he can’t back down anymore, even as Goku wakes up and attacks him, he won’t let go again. Somehow, he restores Goku’s diadem, and they go to speak to Kenren and Tenpou. Goku begs them not to leave like Nataku did, and Kenren shows him how to pinky swear. Tenpou says they’ll always be with him, and as they go to escape they resolve even if they get separated, to meet again under the cherry blossoms on Earth. As Li Touten sends his forces in, the rebels find a ventilation shaft that leads to high-tech corridors housing monstrous golden-eyed beasts. Tenpou concludes they were probably created with the same equipment used to make Nataku, and Kenren volunteers to stay behind and deal with the failed experiments as they attack. Tenpou gets Goku and Konzen most of the rest of the way, then draws off the majority of the remaining pursuers. 

Back in the lab, Goujun tracked down Kenren and tells him it’s not too late to surrender. Kenren won’t go down without a fight, but when they’ve got blade and gun at each other’s throats, Kenren gives up, claiming to be out of bullets. Just then, a bear-like Nataku that wasn’t quite dead attacks, gravely wounding Goujun. Kenren knocks him out of the way of a killing blow, down another shaft. Goujun tells Kenren to come along, but Kenren declines, instead egging on the bear Nataku to devour him whole.  As Tenpou cuts a bloody swath through hordes of attackers, he calmly narrates to himself until his final opponent manages a fatal wound. As he’s dying he imagines speaking to Kenren. One hall away from the dimension gate, Goku’s resolve is wavering, but Konzen tells him to never give up. They make it to the gate room, but Li Touten is waiting for them. He’s fascinated by Seiten Taisei’s potential to make Nataku stronger, and receives the report that Kenren and Tenpou were defeated. Goku is devastated by the news and suddenly the bear Nataku crashes through the ceiling. Goku and Konzen climb out of the rubble and open the gate, but Li Touten survived too and stabs Konzen. Konzen shrugs it off and runs towards the gate with Goku, knowing there’s no guarantee life on earth will be any better but determined to get Goku there no matter what. They run towards the gate. In a final act of spite, Li Touten starts the gate closing. Goku makes it through by Konzen bracing the door with his body. He tells Goku to go on, and promises next time he will reach out no matter what. He says it is truly Goku who is like the sun, just as he is crushed into dust by the dimension gate. 

Somewhere in Heaven, War Prince Nataku turns out to be alive, and whispers Goku’s name. After a few days, Kanzeon finds Goku where the dimension gate was, motionless. She urges him not to waste the hopes Konzen, Kenren, and Tenpou entrusted in him, and tells him they were glad they met him. He is to be punished with 500 years of solitude, and she must erase his memories of Heaven, but the memory of the name that Konzen gave him remains. After 500 years, Sanzo, who is Konzen reincarnated, releases Goku from the mountain prison. In the present day, Kanzeon finishes reminiscing, and concludes that with Nataku’s disappearance, something has been set in motion, and the Sanzo Party continues Westward.

The pinky promise always gets me, and Kenren’s speech to Bear Nataku, and Konzen’s last lines…and the shot where the Gaiden group transitions to the Sanzo Ikkou is beautiful. But overall I have mixed feelings about this episode. I knew from the pacing of the previous two this one would be super rushed, but I’m still shocked how much got left out. I can see the need to streamline events, and conserve the casting budget by eliminating minor characters and letting Tenpou give the exposition again, but I feel like some things happened too fast to have emotional impact. 

On the other hand, several of the skipped scenes resonated more strongly by their parallels to events in previous Saiyuki series, and this anime rightly wants to give the most impact it can to relevant events in Blast. Noting which extra plot elements are left out probably indicates they won’t be addressed or resolved in this series, which is good because it means less chance of a gecko ending. That said, I still feel like they should have at least mentioned Goujun surviving to report the truth of events, but maybe that will come up later…