09 secend ago- Watch 2023 F1 Monaco Grand Prix live and free Broadcast On TV Channel On 28 May 2023. F1 Monaco Grand Prix: Free live stream, TV schedule, how to watch the race ================================================================= Tickets Available Watch From Home
​
Watch Link➡️►https://4k.megaeventlive.xyz/Monaco2k23/
Watch Link➡️►https://4k.megaeventlive.xyz/Monaco2k23/

It’s race day in Monte Carlo as we get set for one of the biggest dates on the F1 schedule. It’s the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix. Sunday’s race coverage will air on TV via ABC. Fans can watch Formula 1 racing for free by signing up for a free trial of fuboT
Reigning Formula 1 champ Max Verstappen remains the leader in the drivers’ championship, but his Red Bull teammate is close on his heels. Sergio Perez, who took home the win in the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix, has been giving Verstappen a run for his money this season. Meanwhile, the rest of the grid will be looking to shake up the standings. Monaco native Charles LeClerc will be looking to finally make a splash at his home race while stars like Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton try to make their way onto the podiums.
How to watch the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix (F1 race in Monte Carlo) What time does qualifying start? What TV channel will it air on? – Coverage will start at 7:30 a.m. EST at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco. The TV channel for Saturday’s coverage is ABC.
Live stream info: Sling fuboTV DirecTV – Fans who don’t have cable can also stream the matches via a la carte streaming services like DirecTV and fuboTV, which have free trials. Fans can also check out streaming services like Sling, which is one of the cheapest options on the market.
Fans who have cable can use login credentials from their TV provider to watch via WatchESPN or the ESPN app.
MONACO (AP) — World champion Max Verstappen considers Honda’s decision to team up with Aston Martin in 2026 “a bit of a shame” given its successful relationship with Red Bull.
Honda officially pulled out as a works program with Red Bull after 2021 — the year Verstappen won the first of his two world titles — and since then Honda has worked as a technical partner for Red Bull and its junior team AlphaTauri.
But the Japanese manufacturer announced its return as a factory F1 supplier with Aston Martin in 2026, when F1 introduces new engine regulations in a bid to become carbon neutral by 2030.
“I think from our side, of course, it’s a bit unfortunate how all of that turned out because a few years ago, they say ‘We’re gonna stop’, so then Red Bull sets up its own engine division,’” Verstappen said Thursday at the Monaco Grand Prix. “Unfortunately, once you’re already in the process of building a whole engine yourself, you can’t really work together anymore. We always have and had a really good relationship with them, and then seeing them go to Aston Martin is a bit of a shame.”
Honda was lured back into a more prominent role because of the upcoming new regulations starting in 2026 — when engines will have an engine/electric motor maximum power output ratio of 50/50 and use 100% sustainable fuel.
“For Aston Martin as well, it’s really good, they have a great engine, we all know that,” he said. “I love working with them (Honda), we’ve had a lot of success already, so of course I will be sad to see them go.”
Ford plans to return to F1 in 2026, with Red Bull.
“We are also very excited from our side from 2026 onwards to see what’s going to happen together,” said Verstappen, who won an F1 record 15 races last year and has 38 victories overall.
Despite being only 25 years old, he’s already won six more races than 41-year-old Fernando Alonso, who is Aston Martin’s star driver.
Two-time F1 champion Alonso is in exceptional form, despite his advancing years. He has four third-place finishes from five races this season and is third in the standings.
“I will lie if I tell you that I know right now. For sure, I feel fresh, I feel motivated, I feel sharp, still fast. If I keep enjoying I will love to keep racing,” he said. “I will be the first one to raise my hand and say, you know, maybe it’s time (to stop). So let’s see, I think it’s a long way until 2026.” zfgf

Hi all,
Does somebody have the production numbers of the BMW 1 series, F20 LCI/F20N and in particular the Urban Line edition, 2015-2019?
I happen to own one and I just came to the conclusion, that world wide, there are less than 200 F20 LCI Urban Line editions for sale. Around 100 petrol and 100 Diesel.
In my case, I can only find 11 for sale with my specs. Which is a 118i petrol with a manual manual transmission (disregarding the other options on it which makes it even rarer).
Thanks in advance!

09 secend ago- Watch 2023 F1 Monaco Grand Prix live and free Broadcast On TV Channel On 28 May 2023. F1 Monaco Grand Prix: Free live stream, TV schedule, how to watch the race

Tickets Available Watch From Home
​
Watch Link➡️►https://4k.megaeventlive.xyz/Monaco2k23/
Watch Link➡️►https://4k.megaeventlive.xyz/Monaco2k23/

It’s race day in Monte Carlo as we get set for one of the biggest dates on the F1 schedule. It’s the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix. Sunday’s race coverage will air on TV via ABC. Fans can watch Formula 1 racing for free by signing up for a free trial of fuboT
Reigning Formula 1 champ Max Verstappen remains the leader in the drivers’ championship, but his Red Bull teammate is close on his heels. Sergio Perez, who took home the win in the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix, has been giving Verstappen a run for his money this season. Meanwhile, the rest of the grid will be looking to shake up the standings. Monaco native Charles LeClerc will be looking to finally make a splash at his home race while stars like Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton try to make their way onto the podiums.
How to watch the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix (F1 race in Monte Carlo) What time does qualifying start? What TV channel will it air on? – Coverage will start at 7:30 a.m. EST at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco. The TV channel for Saturday’s coverage is ABC.
Live stream info: Sling fuboTV DirecTV – Fans who don’t have cable can also stream the matches via a la carte streaming services like DirecTV and fuboTV, which have free trials. Fans can also check out streaming services like Sling, which is one of the cheapest options on the market.
Fans who have cable can use login credentials from their TV provider to watch via WatchESPN or the ESPN app.
MONACO (AP) — World champion Max Verstappen considers Honda’s decision to team up with Aston Martin in 2026 “a bit of a shame” given its successful relationship with Red Bull.
Honda officially pulled out as a works program with Red Bull after 2021 — the year Verstappen won the first of his two world titles — and since then Honda has worked as a technical partner for Red Bull and its junior team AlphaTauri.
But the Japanese manufacturer announced its return as a factory F1 supplier with Aston Martin in 2026, when F1 introduces new engine regulations in a bid to become carbon neutral by 2030.
“I think from our side, of course, it’s a bit unfortunate how all of that turned out because a few years ago, they say ‘We’re gonna stop’, so then Red Bull sets up its own engine division,’” Verstappen said Thursday at the Monaco Grand Prix. “Unfortunately, once you’re already in the process of building a whole engine yourself, you can’t really work together anymore. We always have and had a really good relationship with them, and then seeing them go to Aston Martin is a bit of a shame.”
Honda was lured back into a more prominent role because of the upcoming new regulations starting in 2026 — when engines will have an engine/electric motor maximum power output ratio of 50/50 and use 100% sustainable fuel.
“For Aston Martin as well, it’s really good, they have a great engine, we all know that,” he said. “I love working with them (Honda), we’ve had a lot of success already, so of course I will be sad to see them go.”
Ford plans to return to F1 in 2026, with Red Bull.
“We are also very excited from our side from 2026 onwards to see what’s going to happen together,” said Verstappen, who won an F1 record 15 races last year and has 38 victories overall.
Despite being only 25 years old, he’s already won six more races than 41-year-old Fernando Alonso, who is Aston Martin’s star driver.
Two-time F1 champion Alonso is in exceptional form, despite his advancing years. He has four third-place finishes from five races this season and is third in the standings.
“I will lie if I tell you that I know right now. For sure, I feel fresh, I feel motivated, I feel sharp, still fast. If I keep enjoying I will love to keep racing,” he said. “I will be the first one to raise my hand and say, you know, maybe it’s time (to stop). So let’s see, I think it’s a long way until 2026.”

Fallout 1:
Pros:

• Best tone of any Fallout game. Perfect mix of light touches of dark comedy but a very serious vibe overall.
  
• Rich with all juice from the RPG golden era of the late 90s and early 00s.
  
• Fantastic writing and worldbuilding. Really top class.
  
• Believable and well-thought out world. Stands up to scrutiny.
  

Cons:

• Dated and clunky.
  
• Poorly balanced in many ways. Some skills are useless. Others are near mandatory.
  

Fallout 2:
Pros:

• Similar to Fallout 1 in many ways but expanded.
  
• Some of the most interesting quests and locations in all of Fallout. New Reno, Vault City, etc.
  
• The first half of the game is peak Fallout.
  

Cons:

• Too whimsical and jokey in many ways compared to the first. The tone is not as good.
  
• The final act of the game is kind of weak.
  
• Shares same issues with being dated and clunky as FO1.
  

Fallout 3:
Pros:

• Great fun to explore. Basically built as a post-apocalyptic theme park to get lost in.
  
• More modern and inclusive design which is nice for some. Interesting to see Fallout in 3D.
  
• Cool setpieces and atmospheric storytelling is top tier.
  
• Put Fallout into the mainstream.
  

Cons:

• The world doesn't make much sense. All logic of the world breaks if you stop to think about it even for a second. The famous example is the lack of food but everything that this question represents is an issue.
  
• Overall poor to mediocre writing.
  
• Buggy (mods are near mandatory).
  
• Can come off a bit juvenile with the binary morality and with the tone in general.
  
• Arguably disappointing reimagining of previously complex factions. BOS generic good guys. Super mutants mindless orcs with guns, etc.
  

Fallout New Vegas:
Pros:

• Good mix of 3D Fallout and old Fallout RPG design.
  
• Great writing and quest design.
  
• Highly ambitious game.
  
• Rich worldbuilding. A lot of effort has clearly been spent on imagining how a realistic world would look under this premise and which issues would plague such a world.
  
• Complex dilemmas and interesting concepts. Overall quite sophisticated.
  

Cons:

• Less fun to explore for many. Less of a "go have an adventure" game than Fallout 3.
  
• In the same vein: dungeon design is often boring.
  
• Buggy (mods are near mandatory).
  
• Feels undercooked in some areas. It's clear that Obsidian didn't flesh out everything they wanted to. This is the downside of the "Highly ambitious game" point. Caesar's Legion for instance is a clear example of a faction that needed more development.
  
• Balancing issues in some ways. Speech is way too good for example.
  

Fallout 4:
Pros:

• Much improved combat. Best in the series.
  
• Many technical improvements.
  
• Fully fledged out crafting system.
  
• The "pick a direction, go on an adventure and explore" theme park strength of Fallout 3 remains.
  
• Much better companions than Fallout 3.
  

Cons:

• Departure from RPG to instead move into more of an open world adventure game / RPG hybrid. An improvement to some, a big step back for me.
  
• Very strange design choices: Voiced protagonist, 4 wheel dialogue system, etc.
  
• Little to no smaller settlements. Basically every location is a somewhat generic enemy spawn.
  
• Weak main quest.
  
• Very big departure from the original tone of Fallout.
  

1. Allow Starter access users to play TMWT maps. This is a really annoying issue because once you achieve gold in ranked, you simply can't play anymore because you don't know the maps. You can train them in live rounds or practice them in hotseat/offline, which is not very comfortable. People end up learning the maps in live games, which ruins the experience for everybody else. I understand that $10 doesn't seem like a lot of money when you enjoy the game, but at this point, it feels like the game is forcing you to pay. Not to mention that there are countries where $10 is a significant amount of money, or buying standard access is impossible at all.
   
2. Let players choose which maps they want to play. There are obviously maps in the campaign that have unpredictable parts or are just difficult to play for some people. It would be nice to have the option to choose the maps you want to play in ranked. The concept is simple: if you feel comfortable with a map, you should be able to choose it, and if you don't, you can do the opposite. I think this will improve the quality of the matches since everyone will know what they're playing.
   
3. Make adjustments to the points system. Let's imagine a situation: some top 10 TM players decided to play ranked, but they have never played it before. Since they are "new", their opponents will likely be in bronze or silver and most likely not very skilled. These not so skilled players will lose points in a game where they had close to zero chances to win. One possible solution is to consider not only a player's rank in ranked when calculating points but also their position in the world rankings. Another example is something that recently happened to me: I was playing in silver, and on the opposite team, there was a player with the #2 time in the world on a map. I was trying my best, but I always came in second place and team was not very good, so I lost 40 points. That means, even if you are the second-best player on the server, you will still lose points, and in some cases, a significant number of them. One possible solution to this is to deduct fewer points from players who perform well on a map but still lose the match.
   
4. Add additional modes to ranked (5v5, 2v2, 1v1). I can't say much about it, but it feels like this feature should have been available from the first day of ranked.
   

I would be glad to hear your opinion about my suggestions or even your own suggestions in the comments. Let's work together to make this game better! 😄
P.S. Sorry for a lot of text <3

Hello fellow Knicks fans. Last year I had a lot of fun writing up reviews for each player, and I decided I’ll make it a yearly thing. Format will be a little different to keep it fresh but same goals; evaluate players based on how they looked, their numbers, advanced stats, team stats, and an eye to next year. I will go player by player until I cover all major players on the Knicks roster. Enjoy! If you wanna check out Grimes and previous write up, click here.
Player Profile: Obadiah Toppin
Age: 25
Contract Remaining: 1 year at $6.8M, extension eligible
Last Seasons “Room for Improvement for Next Season”: “...closed the year hot from 3, but his outside shooting needs to become far more consistent. ..learn to be a better help defender, as he was often the player too late on rotating throughout the season... continue to improve his handles, as he showed some solid ability as a passer.”
Well one big improvement that Obi made from last year was that he certainly shot the ball way better from 3, hitting a career high 34% of his threes and doing so on double the volume he had in the past. Unfortunately, of the other aspects I personally listed, Obi did not do much more to improve his game, especially on the defensive end. Let’s take a deeper look
2022-23 Season 76 GP, 5GS, 15.7MPG
7.4PTS, 2.4REB, 1AST, .3STL, .2BLK, .6TOV per game.
44%/34%/80% Shooting splits
There’s no stoppin’ Obi Toppin! Except for, well, Obi Toppin. A popular refrain is that Thibs quick hook is the reason why Toppin never gets a chance to show his stuff. After three full years in the league, I think it’s quite clear; Obi Toppin doesn’t stay on the floor for long stretches because he is just an awkward NBA player. The ONE thing I will say in his defense is that Thibs offense is the worst one possible for him, ISO heavy and slow pace. But outside of that, Obi does not do himself any favors. He’s athletic, but he’s not bulky enough to bang with other front court players. He has an improved outside shot but he’s not good enough to manipulate off the dribble to get to the basket. He’s got length but no post game. Despite his incredible athletic tools his defense is shoddy and despite big hops barely blocks any shots. He’s the most classic “tweener” specimen one could have. None of his abilities matchup with his physical gifts. You would think with the way he looks and plays that he could have some low end Shawn Marion 2.0 in him, but he just doesn’t. Even despite the much improved outside shooting, Obi just could not stay on the floor. The only time he got extended run was the end of the year silly season minutes and just like last year, he showed that he’s a great AAAA player, capable of beating up on other regular NBA scrubs. The fact that his minutes went down despite Hartenstein being the only front court help the Knicks brought in is a problem and red flag.
Advanced Stats: VORP: .4 WS/48: .095 PER: 13.6 TS%: 56
Well, the advanced stats are stoppin’ Obi Toppin as well. Obi took steps backwards in every single advanced statistic from last year. That’s despite playing more or less the same role/level of minutes. His win share rate, PER, true shooting % and VORP all went down, indicating that Obi without a doubt went backwards. The biggest problem is that his DPM was in the red, the first time it has happened in its career. For all you wondering why Obi always got the “quick hook” from Thibs, it's simple, his defense absolutely sucks. Obi ranked roughly 70th in defensive rating of players that played at least 50 games and 15min per game, but like a broken record, that’s just one stat I use and by no means paints a full picture.
What’s interesting is that Obi appears in 4 of our top 10 defensive lineups, but in only 1 of our lowest 10 defensive lineups. I can only imagine this has more to do with who he is playing with than his individual performance. Obi also just doesn’t play a lot of minutes, so it creates a wider margin for error than a player that would be out there for 30min a night. I’m not saying Obi is incapable of defense, but between his numbers and the eye test, I just can’t bring myself to say he can do it. Feel free to prove me wrong though.
2023 Playoffs: 7PTS, 3.5REB, .6AST, .7STL, .3BLK, .7TOV per game
43%/30%/80% from the field
0.2 VORP WS/48 .115 PER 14.5
Obi was slightly better in the playoffs compared to his regular season self, but not by much. His defense was better and his offensive game was kept afloat by being the Knicks 5th best 3 point shooter in the playoffs at 30% (yeah, that’s not a good sign). Like the rest of the team, unless your name was Jalen Brunson, Obi struggled to score.
2023 Off season
Unfortunately Obi seems to be dogged by the same problems year after year. Again, part of that is fit, if he was playing on a Mike D’Antoni type team I have a feeling he would be a high flyer and putting up some decent numbers. But you need to do the best with what you got. Obi just needs to be a better scorer, period. His 3 point shot getting better is good, but with his subpar handles despite solid athleticism, he can’t take advantage of teams starting to respect his shooting more. But for Obi its really all about defense. He needs to add some type of defensive rigor to his game, whether it means bulking up a tad to take on more banging in the post or focusing down with better footwork to guard more wings on the perimeter.
Overall Grade for 2022-23 season: C-
It was nice to see Obi showcase a 3 point shot and as always he has highlight worthy dunks, but unfortunately the accolades mostly stop there. Obi is more or less where he was when the Knicks drafted him; stuck behind Julius Randle and doesn’t show enough on either side of the ball to warrant being on the court more. He is the most likely Knick to be traded this offseason in a package as I cannot imagine the team will hand him an extension.
More to come soon. Let’s go Knicks!

FFX at this point has rather universal acclaim for its story, game play, soundtrack, and character development and has established itself as one of the highest ranked entries in the series.
Something I've never heard many people discuss is the amount real world issues that are woven into the narration. Just to name a few:
Religious Fundamentalism Racism Secularism Communalism/individualism Undemocratic Government authoritarian regimes

The black domes, they were pocket dimensions, which were completely detached from the material world. Bound to the stream of souls, flowing inside the ephemeral branches of the world tree, they presented a personal hell for each person cast into them. They are a limbo of regrets, the hell of one’s own making, places where the living meets the dead.
There’s only so many ways to elope them. One must either reconcile with the restless souls, or join them, succumbing to their rage and regret that they carried into their afterlife. After all, to even get there, one must possess unparalleled strength and resilience; and only those who had caused deaths and destruction on their path to greatness can even hope to get to this trial.
Freia, Flare, the First princess of Jioral. For some – a good friend, lover, and companion. For others – a nightmare embodied, a vessel of divine powers, a force to be reckoned with. She had many enemies: princes and princesses felled by her authority, treacherous servants and greedy nobles, the knights, who opposed her corruption, slavers and bandits, destroyed on her quest for redemption and restoration of herself… But there were more. Children she had burned, serving her kingdom, women who perished by the tides she conjured, men that had been torn apart by raging tornados of her making, elderly that were buried under the rubble she created…
And how did she oppose them?
“Flagella terram et vescere inimicis meis, o magnum tempestas ignis!” The sorceress chanted, spinning her staff above her head. Then, right before the raging mob reached her, she hid from them behind a vortex of fire. One move and this wave of heat would incinerate everything and everyone in this accursed realm. But…
“TRAITOR!”
“DON’T HIDE FROM US, FLA-A-A-ARE!”
“COME TO US, SISTER!”
“YOU WERE NEVER ONE OF US!”
“USURPER!”
“GIVE ME BACK MY MOM!””
“THE FALSE PRINCESS!”
“SUNNARI (die)!”
“THE DAUGHER OF A WHORE!”
“YOU SHOULD’VE ROT IN THE SLUMS!”
Curses and jealousy, bitterness and hatred. The chorus of tortured souls surrounding the fiery boundary couldn’t be silenced even by the roaring flame. There couldn’t be any redemption.
“I’m sorry for all of you, who unjustly died by my hand!..” And even though there were people deserving their apologies, those who had to perish in favor of Flare’s political ambitions, those she sacrificed to appease her tyrannical father…
“THEN JOIN US, FLARE!”
“PAPA! WHERE ARE YOU?! GIVE HIM BACK!”
“REPENT, BITCH! DISPELL YOUR WITCHCRAFT!!!”
“But I won’t give in to you!” The pink-haired woman exclaimed, absorbing mana into her staff. “Furthermore, there’re those of you I will never regret killing! And there are those, for whom I must live! I MUST GET OUT OF THIS PLACE!!!” Then, she slammed the lower tip of her weapon into the floor made of the absolute darkness. Instead of wailing, being consumed by fear, guilt, self-loathing, and, ultimately, perishing, Freia sundered this entire “world”. One magical strike from her, and cracks of white and gold covered the entire dome. The wall of fire faded, but when the vengeful spirits rushed forward to maul their prey, they crumbled into piles of black salt. “I’m so… so sorry!” The girl lamented, kneeling near the remains of children, whose future she stole. “But I… I must move forward. I must save…”
…
Sparks and crackling, whistle and dazzling – time and time again the surge of lightning breached through the veil of darkness.
“UO-O-O-O-O-O!!!” A guttural scream filled the oppressive silence under the dome. Eve Reese, so childish and bashful, so eager to prove herself, now wore a stone mask of indifference. “Nira-a-a (no-o-o)!!! Yuarmta (I won’t forgive you)!!!” Cornar yelled, held still by at least seven shadows, he had been tortured, killed, bruised, smitten by the raging element of lightning. No longer did the girl see him as a threat; no longer did she cower at the feet of her former husband. Maybe, Eve was condemned to getting back her memories as a means of punishment, something that would make her sympathize with this petty little tyrant…
“Yuarm yau (I don’t need your forgiveness).” The Me-ua kahul spoke, looking at her crackling right arm, trembling with power and guilt combined. Not for forsaking her would-be-spouse, not for becoming Panakea’s pawn…
These souls, these loyal shadows – turned out, she never called upon them… until the very end. Her subjects, her brethren… Eve feared that if she let them out, they would tear her tyrannical husband into little pieces.
“Haa… Haa…” And now, she had to choose. To turn around and let someone else fix her problem, or… “Haa… HAA!!! HAA!!! HAA!!! SUNI (I’ll kill you)!!!”
A Punch to the maw, to the chest, through the ribs, to the heart! He didn’t die! He couldn’t die here! This scumbag of a man, this monster just wouldn’t go away! No matter how much pain she caused him, no matter how many times she slit his throat, broke through his torso, shocked him with spells, cut him with magical light…
And what of Cornar?
“A-A-A-A-A!!! A-A-AGH!!! HA-HA-HA-A!!! NA SHENBATA, SETOAN (you can’t get rid of me, woman)!!!” The son of Hakuo never relented. He relished in his immortality, laughed through the hellish torments Eve inflicted upon him. The skinned lion spotted a weakness in Eve’s heart, and he pressed at it, as if breaking the girl would get him back to the world of the living…
No, he wanted to take Eve to the world of dead.
“Gha-a-a-a… Agh-h-h…” The queen-to-be grabbed her forehead, her rugged breath not only siphoned all the focus out of her, threatening to cast the girl into a pit of despair, it also deteriorated her control over the mana she wielded. Unlike the city of salt, there was enough ambient magic to harvest here, but doing so would require skills, precision, and, most importantly, personal discipline and control over one’s own mind.
“Praibi, orna Iblis (Drain yourself, my Iblis)!” The prince of Batnara shashu tribe provoked, feeling the grip of the shadows losing its strength. A little more, and he’d be free… A little more…
“Hm…” But Eve wouldn’t relent. She once again covered her arm in a coat of magical lightning. She would never surrender; the queen would never let anyone treat her like a slave ever again. Not after Keyaruga’s perseverance taught her a lesson of resilience. Not after his gentleness, however tainted by his wounds, showed her what true love should look like.
She took a swing, prepared to strike…
“…” But then, two winged shadows stopped her hand. Amda and Sana, they were barely recognizable in their spiritual forms… but Eve would never mistake her parents for anyone else. They couldn’t speak, yet they still communicated with their daughter through other means. Emotions, wishes, urges – they never wished such evil to befall their daughter, but what they hated even more – was to see their child descend into the same pit.
“I… I don’t… have to?..” They asked her to stop, to let them relieve her of that burden. “B-but!.. No! You will die!” The girl snarled, grabbing her parents in a hug. She knew what was to come – her mother, father – they wished to sacrifice themselves to drag Cornar back to the afterlife. But that… wouldn’t that mean she’d lose them all over again? Wouldn’t…
“…”
“Yes! You’re dead! So what?! What do I?..” The feeling of pain and powerlessness engulfed the verdant woman. Barely had she found the strength to stand before her fallen tribe, before those who she desired to see the most now left her.
“YOTJAR (finally)!!!” With Eve’s will getting weaker, so did the shadows of her ethereal court. Her tyrannical husband finally broke free, slamming and stomping her shadows, as they fruitlessly tried stopping him. Amda and Sana Reese hugged their child for the last time… and now they stood up to defend their precious daughter. That is… the least they could do.
…
Freia broke inside another dome. From the outside, they looked like bright constellations of stars, formed on the points of a massive, galactic-scaled pentagram. The personal chamber for each of the contenders. One was broken from the inside, collapsing inwards, into a black hole with an orange halo – this was Freia’s dome. There were four more. Two were dimmed, two still shone brightly. The Hero of Magic travelled through this empty space, lit by numerous distant stars. In her current form, things like speed, form, and time – none of them mattered, aside from her destination. And now, she had to choose one of the two luminous chambers.
…
What is true power? Does one determine this abstract concept by the weight one can lift with their muscles? Maybe it was the charisma necessary to lead the masses? Enough money to influence others? Authority earned or inherited?
“Well-well-well…” Whatever the answer truly was, Ellen had none of it right now. No strength to fight, no troops to hide behind, and certainly – those who opposed her now had little if any need of whatever amount of gold she now carried.
“WENCH!”
“TANOUTUR (murderer)!”
“NEZAH (why)?!”
“MERA RIVARO (my life)!..”
“YAU MA (how dare you)!”
“YOU’LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE, BITCH!!!”
Oh, they came for Norn. There were hundreds, if not thousands of them, some she could recall from her Murian and Teuteccain campaigns – the series of expansions past the great wall; others were the court warlords she and John unseated in her ascension; rebellious villagers too came to exact their revenge on the younger princess, after her demons decimated them; and there were the victims of Buranikka’s carnage. This was the mountain of corpses Norn Clatalissa Jioral used to climb onto the very peak of political power…
“Now then, what do you want from me? An apology? Maybe my penance?” Even now, surrounded by countless dead souls, whose entire being now revolved around their grudge, the girl wouldn’t let herself be crushed by their rage. Not mentally, at least.
“DIE!”
“MAN WOR YAKSI (give me your eyes)!”
“SUFFER, YOU MONSTER!”
“I JUST WANTED TO LIVE!!!”
And so, hundreds of voices began howling in unison. So passionate, so eager to share their hardships and aspirations, that Ellen actually started pitying them a little. So many words, so much pain in them.
“Haa… I guess, that something like this was bound to happen someday. Well…” Instead of listening to the rest of the traumatizing nonsense and wailing, the crimson-headed cutie just began… to simply undress. “I don’t have the power to struggle, I can’t break out of here, and all of you came here for me. So go on. Rape me, maul me, kill me, do whatever you want. I’ve already done everything I wanted.” Ellen, now naked and completely defenseless, stretched out on the ethereal black floor, looking into the endless black void above her. The raging souls now came closer and closer, dozens of faces now loomed above her, as their hands reached out to grab the fallen warlady and tear her apart. This… was the end.
Keyaruga, Setsuna, sister… I hope you won’t miss me too much.
And so, she closed her eyes. Time to finally die.
…
…
…
There was no pain, nobody dragged the girl around, not even a single blow fell upon her. Ellen was… safe?
“A-A-A-A!!!”
“UGH-H-H!!!”
“YOLA-A-A-A-A (it hu-u-u-urts)!!!”
Slice and dicing, the ripping of flesh and clattered bones, “death” of a sort, dealt to the undying, torment for the tormented who themselves wished to inflict suffering upon her – someone kept the restless souls away from the princess. Someone precise, fast, and masterful with his tools of mayhem.
“Haa, is that you, Organ?” Ellen asked sullenly. Denied her excruciating retribution once more, she could only cover her tightly shut eyes with her palms.
“How did you know, Your Highness?” Indeed, it was him. As brutal as he was gallant, the deceased demigod was the only one out of these dead souls, who spoke to her, and not wailed at her like some sort of a beast.
“I know only two men, who’d come for me here, and the other isn’t so discreet, you moron.” The young general replied, opening her eyelids. The first thing she saw was the Champion of Jioral, covered in black blood. His prized amber eyes were no more, only black gaping holes were there instead. “Why’re you here? Do you want a piece of me for yourself?” The girl asked, still unwilling to stand up. Honestly, she felt robbed at this moment. This would be such a fitting end for her, but no! “Don’t tell me you’ve just barged in here to… Pff! PROTECT… me.” The second princess spat these words through her painfully clenched teeth.
“First things first, Lady Norn, I suggest you cover your shame and cease this indecency.” The warrior spoke, piercing and slashing the mob with his sword, impaling them with his hidden blade, tossing them back with his kicks. He was far from his prime form, and so, wounds and sores, cuts and lesions were left on him, as he, alone, overpowered dozens of raging men and women, keeping them away from the girl he swore to protect. Indeed… “Forgive me, princess, but I made a vow to your mother, and death is hardly a valid reason to…”
“YAKS… (giv…) A-A-A-A!!!”
“…to renounce my…”
“DOKI-I-I (step away)!!!”
“…loyalty to her!”
Despite everything, no matter the odds, Hawkeye continued to push back the angry spirits. He couldn’t dodge, as every missed blow could land on the lady, he couldn’t step back, as she needed protection more than any time in her life, and, certainly, sustained by this oppressive dimension, he couldn’t die. He couldn’t kill anyone, as they just rose anew from their own black blood, but the man couldn’t retreat.
“He-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh…” The princess chuckled, curling her torso in order to sit up. It hurt her stomach, but the girl persevered nonetheless. “Why am I always surrounded by stupid stubborn men, who just can’t help but dingle their balls before me? Seriously, a dead man, upholding a promise to a dead woman, how much more ridiculous can this get?” The girl scoffed, pulling back her panties, bra, and whatever she left lying around, back on. After all, why even bother now? “Be honest, idiot! What do you want from me?”
“I came here…”
Slash, backflip, tackle, toss – Organ Trist twirled around his commander, pushing back everyone, who came too close to his prized princess.
“…to ask you, Lady Norn!..”
Shoulder slam, side-kick, a flurry of bloodshed embodied in the son of Artemis!
“…to save my…”
Stabbing enemies with that hidden blade, crushing their skulls with the handle of his blade, ripping their eyes out and tossing them away – however useless this double-sided brutality may seem, Hawkeye had purpose, skill, and, most of all, conviction, that allowed him to push the mob away.
“…daughter! Save Marianna!”
After all, what can be stronger, than a father, eager to protect his dear child?
“And you think keeping me alive will help you with that? You, moron, this bloated pigeon trapped me here! I have only one way out – fucking death!” The second princess, now properly clothed again, yelled however loud she could. Unable to comprehend the reasoning behind this idiocy, the girl just stood there, pulling her crimson hair. “Also, you’re severely mistaken! I’m not Norn! Norn’s dead! My name is…”
“…Elly! Elly-y-y!!!” Barely had the princess opened her mouth; before the dome had been breached from the outside. The Hero of Magic emerged above the ground. She levitated, using magical blue flames; she secured her sister by forming a wall around her, a barricade made from powerful ice spears. The sorceress even went so far as to send one into the undead Champion, it was one he easily avoided, though. “Step away from my sister, Organ!!!” The raging magician demanded, pulling her sibling towards her with a gust of mystical wind.
“Ghh! Oh, hey there, Friea!” The fallen warlady spoke, bracing herself against the dizziness her brief flight had caused. Still, this didn’t look good. The last time those two met, Hawkeye severely injured the pink-haired girl, and she just wouldn’t live through it again, unless two gods appeared to help her. This time, though, it was her turn to be a deity-savior.
“Get away! You’ve bested me once, but this time, I can crash this entire realm down onto your head!” The Hero of Magic promised, putting her staff between her sister and her enemy.
“Aw shit, this just gets better and better…” The little genius lamented, nervously shaking her head. Not only was her glorified suicide rudely interrupted, but now this situation threatened to kill her sister as well. Still…
“Elly, Elly… Ellen? Ellen the Adopted?” Despite Freia’s expectations, Organ Trist was more interested in the new name she called Norn, rather than anything else, really. He already had his fair share of battles, after all. “Ho-ho-o! I guess, in the end, you really did become the better version of yourself! And the ‘brother’ in question – is that sir Keyaru?” The blinded man asked with the same smugness he once boasted with in his grandiose life.
“What’s the point of answering you now? Aren’t we just traitors to you?” The heroine replied with every bit of animosity she had in her. “Hold on, Elly, I’ll get you out of here.” Freia stated, charging her staff with the magic that shaped this entire “world”.
“Heh, aren’t you afraid of what that damn poisoned pigeon might do to you for breaking her rules?” The crimson-haired cutie scoffed, witnessing the entire black dome covering with cracks.
“I don’t care about her rules! All I want is to see you safe!” The sorceress spoke with even more defiance toward Caladrius than Norn ever had in her. If needed, she would challenge this feathered nightmare to a duel, anything, just to save her family.
“I see…” Hawkeye uttered, kneeling before the two girls. All that time, rather than monitoring Freia’s moves, his supernatural senses were aimed outside, to make sure no restless souls cross the fence of magic ice. But now… “I see your eyes, Princess Flare, they’re just like hers. I’m sure; you’ll make Lady Reeharoze proud of you yet.” Now, before he once again departs to the other side, there was one last thing to tell them. First praise, then a claim… “Lady Ellen, I beg of you. The life of Marianna now lies in your hands.” …and finally a plea. With all that said, Organ Trist crumbled, his body turned into black salt. And with it, the entire realm began to collapse in itself…
“Hold tight, Elly…”
…
And now, there was only one dark dome left. Arguably, the worst of them all, this particular world was to be the prison for Keyaruga… or his cemetery. No doorways to run into, no windows to jump from. He was alone, trapped with hundreds of those who were slain by his hand. Those poor bastards – the restless souls, their minds were so obsessed with hatred, and their grudge – powered by the sheer immortality of their ethereal blackened bodies. This was hell in its purest form. The question is – a hell for who, exactly?
“YE-E-E-E-E-EAH!!! IT’S HEALING TIME!!!” Keyaruga snarled and began splattering blood all over the place. Everyone who was touched by that substance became horribly mutated – their heads bloated, their muscles strained so much, they crushed their very bones! “WHAT’S WRONG?! KILL ME!!! KILL ME NOW!!!” The man demanded, dancing around his would-be tormentors with his blade, blessing his foes with the exquisite gift of perpetual agony! Saber in his right hand, Georgius on his left, one complementing another.
Despite what the lad asked, nobody could bring him down. His immortal flesh defied any blade, his bones healed in an instant, his mad frenzy alleviated any pain.
He thought he could kill his enemies for the second and final time, give them proper death in the most excruciating manner. He was wrong…
“DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! AGAIN! AND AGAIN! AND ALL OVER AGA-A-A-A-AIN!!!” The hero yelled chopping off heads and severing limbs! He killed so many, he couldn’t even count the slayings! He murdered the same people over and over, each time their agony being more exquisite then the last!
Kill a man once, he won’t even notice, his rage will only rise! Kill him thrice – he’d waver! Five – and the seeds of fear are sown. Ten – and he’s broken completely!
Keyaruga just couldn’t help himself, he hated these scum so much, he just couldn’t contain all his passionate hatred. It was so strong, that the feeling of pure, raw, primordial wrath transcended every possible modification he had put into himself.
“A-A-A-A-A!!! UGH-H-H-H-H!!!” A soldier was weeping, hugging his boot. “S-S-S-S-SPA-A-A-ARE ME-E-E!!!”
“YO-O-OU!!! I remember you!” The healer spoke, raising the cretin by his neck. “My first kill! You watched me being raped, drugged… BEATEN!!!” The man yawped, slicing off his upper face with one nimble slice. “AND YOU NEVER!!! EVER!!! EVER FUCKING HELPED ME!!!” The lad, tainted by black and red blood, slammed the sentry into the ‘floor’…
“A-A-A-A-A!!! PLE-E-E-EASE!!!” …and gleefully sliced off his arms, ignited sparked his left armored hand into a gauntlet of blazing heat!..
“GU-GHH-GUU!!! UA-A-A-A-A-A-A!!!” And finally, cauterized the wounds, just so that the retard wouldn’t die too soon.
“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!!!” The crazed avenger yelled, grabbing Leonard, so conveniently nearby, weeping. “YOU SAID, I’VE DONE NOTHING FOR THIS FUCKING KINGDOM?! I’LL SHOW YOU, WHAT I CAN DO NO-O-OW!!!”
And so he did, the madman rested his two fingers on the sadist’s forehead. A second passed, and a purple spark had announced the richest form of suffering.
“Oh… U-u… Uo-o-o-o-o-o… Khh…” Indeed, although it wasn’t as vocal as previous ones, Keyaruga was more than pleased with the result. He knew of a human having specific nerves, specifically for reacting to pain. And he just overloaded them. Toxic spiders, dangerous medusas, venomous snakes and scorpions – all of them could do that with their poisons. Hell, even Keyaruga could brew neurotoxins. But damn, this thing had one ultimate merit compared to all of those – the instant effect, so potent, in fact, that the victim can’t even cry out from the excruciating pain!
“He-e! That’s a neat trick.” The lad mumbled, approaching a maid, lying on the “floor” like an embryo. Flare’s bodyguard shivered and sucked her thumb, completely lost to this twisted world. Just one little touch… “Pam! You’re already dead!” Keyaruga sneered tapping his armored fingers by her temple.
“Uh… Uh… Ugh… W… Wha-?.. A-A-A-A-A-A-AGH-H-H!!!” The woman grabbed her skull, but it was too late. All the blood, bile, and even marrow now came into her brain, bloating it, up until it burst in a fountain of black blood and shining entrails.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!! I FUCKING LOVE IT!!!” The deranged healer laughed so loud, and his presence was so overwhelming now, that nobody even dared to come close to him, let alone attack, unless they wished to become a victim of a new twisted experiment. Oh, their fear, this agonizing panic! They’re giving me a fucking boner! I wanna fuck! I want a woman! Oh, this! This will do nicely!
And so, Keyaruga dropped his saber, unfastened his belt, ripped the dress, slapped that ass which he had found, grabbed it, pushed it in! The woman with a blackened tail was slowly dying of blood loss, but that barely concerned the lad. He grabbed her pelvis and began to move, so fast, so frantic, and so mindless, that no one could see a human in him. No-o, this was a wild beast, slamming his bulging cock into the defenseless female, too tired to react, let alone resist somehow. She wasn’t even tight, just barely warm, but even that was enough. A few minutes of such suffering inflicted on her, and he came, this was a brilliant orgasm, deeply perverted, and twisted to the very core…
Oh, that’s the fucking best! I love it so much!
Keyaruga grabbed her hand, wiped his penis with it, pull back his pants, and…
I don’t remember her. I wonder, who that is.
He pushed the body, rolling it to the back.
“Ha-a-a… Hello again, Kailia…” The mad lad recognized her instantly. An agent, sent to find and assist Eve Reese in her quest, hired by someone named Carol. But that alone wouldn’t be enough to get Keyaruga to brutally rape her. “You’ve killed my Norn, but I spared you. Heh, after Kali left, I tasked you to ward off whoever they sent after my Eve, but… It seems like you’ve failed. Really, really sad.” The healer spoke, resting his left hand on her dying flesh, recovering it in an instant. And just like that… “Oh, fuck!” She nearly stabbed him with a knife. Gods only knew where she got it from… “Sit still.” But then, Keyaruga just pressed his finger on her forehead, and completely shut down her limbs functions. He pitied her… but could do nothing for this miserable leopard woman.
“Haa… Damn, it’s getting boring here.” The hero lamented, picking up his weapon of choice. At this point, he just put it back in its sheath. Only then did he spot a couple of new faces in the crowd of weeping bastards. “You there! You don’t look like you should be here. What’s… wait…”
“STAY AWAY FROM ME, MONSTER!!!” The woman cried, she was weeping into her man’s now tainted shirt.
“Heh! He-heh! No-no-no-o! Oh no-o-o!” Keyaruga frantically shook his head, unable to believe what he just saw. This was the worst. This… “Anna! Kurt! What… What’re you even doing here?! I… I avenged you! You shouldn’t have…” His parents were there, they stood among the thugs, slavers, robbers, bandits, zealots, murderers… But they… they weren’t one of them…
“You killed us, traitor. You raped my wife, after everything she’s done for you. You’re disgusting little shit!” The mighty harvester told him, pointing his war-scythe at the hero. The only thing that held him at bay, though, was his spouse, loudly crying with black tears pouring from her eyes.
“Heh… You… really think I’d…”
“No. But you’ve proven it.” Kurt spoke with the coldest possible rage in his voice. Keyaru’s cruelty couldn’t be doubted, after all. Not after everyone he maimed this day. “I don’t give a fuck, what the hell is wrong with you, but I’ll slice your guilty ass as many times as I need.” The older man spoke, pushing Anna aside. And then, he lunged.
Kurt struck as a true warrior – he was swift, accurate, precise – his war scythe – basically a reforged farming tool, grazed Keyaruga’s torso, cut his leg, he even stabbed his foster son through his chest. But… there was no blood.
“Calm down, you two.” The hero demanded, stoically taking hit after hit, like the heavy glaive-like blade was nothing. While Anna crumbled to her knees, lost in her weeping, Kurt wouldn’t stop attacking. “You can’t kill me, I’m immor-…” Barely did the lad say so; before his foster father grabbed the handle in a wide grip, and just swept his head off with one precise strike.
“NO-O-O-O-O-O-O!!!” Strangely enough, despite all of the delusions his parents had about him, Anna just couldn’t stand seeing her child being killed so brutally. “A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A!!! WHY-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y?!!!” As Keyaru’s head rolled on the ground, the thugs, at least those who weren’t affected by any of hero’s inventive afflictions, started to get rallied again.
“You had it coming, you ungrateful dipshit!” Kurt spat through tightly closed teeth. He couldn’t watch, couldn’t face what he had to do with his adopted prodigy. Even if he was a criminal. Even if…
“I really did…” But the bastards weren’t enjoying the show for too long. Right when the healer seemed to fall, a new body started to grow from his neck-stump, the clothes, the pouches, the weapons – everything turned into ash just to materialize again on the proudly standing conqueror of death itself.
“What devilry is this?” Kurt’s reaction was understandable. A mix of fear, anger, and disgust, was all over his tainted face. In turn…
“KEYARU-U-U-U!!!” Anna just dashed forward to hug her child. No matter, how disgustingly atrocious his resurrection was, without even looking at the beheaded body that now lied nearby, the woman just went ahead and embraced the lad. She… didn’t seem to be in her right mind, even for a dead soul.
“Anna, I… I…” The shivers began taking a hold of him. His hands, his knees – they trembled so much, this simple touch he though he lost forever, this… This was enough to make him cry. “I’m sorry… I’m so, so, so, so-o-o sorry!..”
“DIE, FUCKER!!!”
“THAT YOU HAVE TO SEE ME DOING THIS!!!” Keyaruga yelled, grabbing Leonard by his wrist. Just a little pressure – and he dropped his sword, the weapon faded into nothingness. Then, the man pushed Anna back, punched his foe in the gut, and proudly showed his captive to his family. “Haa… He-heh! He-e-e… This… This is Leonard, Flare’s… right hand…” The hero spoke, this time trying to maintain his sanity, as his parents now cautiously looked at him. “I… I came from the future! I had to rewind time’s flow itself… Because Flare was evil, and he…” Then, the man put his hand onto the barely struggling imbecile, thus transforming him into Keyaru, the motionless child, whose entire mobility, except for breathing, was shut down for the ease of what he was about to do. “I killed Flare! And he took my guilt. Then…” Afterwards, the healer went ahead and summoned raging flames upon his free hand. Kurt and Anna watched motionlessly, as he placed the magic-shrouded palm onto his ‘own’ face, burned it, scourged the blackened flesh with the sorcery he ‘learned’ from Flare… “My trick was revealed, and he headed out to our village, looking just like me. The rest… you know the rest.”
And finally, Keyaruga dropped the motionless doll, unable even to cry out from the excruciating pain the Hero of Healing inflicted upon it. He then faced his parents, still shocked by such a display of merciless brutality, they couldn’t even properly reply, this entire spectacle of bloodshed, mayhem, rape, torture, demonstration of immortality, and now – proofs of metamorphosis – all of that left them utterly silent.
“Kurt, Anna… I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you… But I can’t let you, or any one of these fuckers keep me here! I… I have a family! Freia, Setsuna, Ellen, Eve – I so wanted you to meet them… But you can’t now. You… might not believe me, and I understand that.” The red-eyed lad uttered, as his posture slouched more and more, along with his fading bravery. “This is what it’s like to be a man! I must be strong! I have to be ruthless now, so that nobody would challenge me in the future!” The man added, now turning his back to his foster parents. He stood straight, he stretched his shoulders, took a deep breath, and… “LISTEN HERE, YOU FUCKING MONSTERS!!! WHAT YOU’VE FELT NOW IS BUT A TINY BIT OF WHAT I’LL DO TO YOU, ONCE I’M FUCKING DEAD!!! NOW YOU WILL GO INTO THE DEEPEST PITS OF HELL, AND WHEN YOU’RE THERE, PRAY I DON’T FUCKING DIE ANYTIME SOON!!! BECAUSE WHEN I FINALLY KICK THIS SHITTY BUCKET, I’LL FIND EACH OF YOU, AND WE’LL BE PLAYING FOR THE WHOLE OF ETERNITY!!! BUT WHY WAIT, WHEN WE CAN HAVE SOME FUN NOW, HU-U-U-UH?!!!”
The speech was told, the impact made. His words were so zealous, so passionately intimidating, that the weeping fools now reached a whole new depth of despair.
“GET US OUT OF HERE!!!”
“SAVE ME-E-E-E!!!”
“HE’S THE DEVIL!!! DE-E-EVIL!!!”
“UA-A-A-A-A-A-A!!!”
“KUUNDA (I’m so scared)!!!”
“HE-E-E-E-E-ELP!!!”
And so, this entire crowd, this mob of immortal corpses, just ran away. Everyone, who could still stand on their feet, began fleeing in panic, trampling each other in the process. What they failed to notice, though, is that the dome is endless only for its main victim. Everyone else just came up against the invisible wall.
The Trial of Heart – its goal is twisted, to be certain. To pass it would mean releasing the dead souls from their grudge toward you. A saint would shift it to forgiveness, but the deranged avenger pumped so much fear in those criminals, that their hatred was replaced by the purest and most animalistic terror. Still, with the task done, the souls began to dissipate in a white light. They would finally be free…
“REMEMBER!!! YOU’VE NOT SEEN THE LAST OF ME!!! WE’LL MEET AGAIN, YOU FUCKING SHITBAGS!!!” Unfortunately for them, though, Keyaruga’s long shadow still loomed above them all. And such, even in relief, the crowd continued to cry, to sob, to wail, to…
“Keya… ru…” But not all left because of dread. When the avenger turned around, his foster mother, crumbling into white flakes, stood on her tiptoes to give him a last kiss on the cheek. “You’ve grown… so much…”
And so, she faded. Kurt quickly followed, although it wasn’t forgiveness or benevolence that filled his raging soul. No, it was an impotent acceptance. He saw Keyaruga as a mirror, in which he saw himself, before he deserted the royal guard and found himself in Alban.
“Someday… you’ll follow my path…” And this was what the man spoke at last, dropping his war-scythe to the ethereal ground. With no souls to redeem in the most twisted of ways, the dome of blackness quickly turned insufferably bright.
The Trial of Heart had been passed.

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Hi everyone, I am brand new to the series and to the community and I am looking forward to preorder FFXV but have mixed feeling if I should proceed blindly without any reviews not that they matter but due to recent games being released half baked I am a bit skeptical. I have never tried any Final Fantasy game before. So I have few questions: -Do I need to play any in the series? -If not are there videos that can help me catch up the series? -What are you speculations about the upcoming game? -Does it change gameplay from any of the previous games? -Does it add stuff that weren’t there?
Provided that I am into RPG, open world and action/adventure games just to name a few. (The Witcher, Assassin’s Creed, God of War)
Appreciate some input to a fellow gamer.
Thanks in advance. 😊

A man finds himself in a dark downwards cavern with a talking dog who converses with him about a life well lived.
Edwin found himself walking down a dark cave of sorts with a dog. He had nothing but his clothes on him, and he was walking barefoot over jagged stone. Blood was pouring from his feet, leaving stained red footprints with each step. The cave sloped downwards evenly, and down and down he was going. The dog walked slightly ahead, thin to the point where its skin hugged its ribs. It was covered in a coat of matted brown fur.
Edwin had no idea how he’d gotten here. Why was he in a dark cave? Why was he following a dog? A stray mutt. And why did the cave feel warm instead of cold?
The dog turned to look at him. Edwin stared back as they walked.
“Where am I?” He asked aloud. It made him feel stupid, but the silence was killing him.
“Deep.” The dog replied. It sounded human enough, a friendly but firm voice. Edwin blinked in surprise, yet he did not feel afraid.
“How long have we been walking?”
“Longer than you think.”
“Can I go home?”
“Is there a home to go back to?” The dog asked. “What do you remember of home?”
His mind was a haze. There was a bed, and tables. There was his mother hugging him. His brothers playing. Then choking smoke, glowing fires, and silent ash, leaving a charred skeleton of his home.
“I suppose not.”
“How do you view your life?” The dog asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Was it a life well-lived?”
Edwin racked his brains hard. He remembered the taste of delicious wine, gold bangles and jewellery hanging from his neck and limbs, the exhilaration of speeding cars, and sensual pleasures with more women than he could even recall.
“I enjoyed it, if that’s what you mean.”
The dog was silent, and they walked on. There was no way of keeping time, and the counting of his footsteps were lost into astronomical numbers.
“Why am I here?” He asked the dog.
“My good man, did you not see across your life, Heavenly messengers who reminded and instructed you?”
“I…I don’t remember meeting any such thing. But I’ve been a self-made man. I give my staff pay raises. I donate to my Church. I swear.” Edwin began to feel chills down his spine, despite the cave getting warmer and warmer as they walked.
“Have you seen in your life, a tender baby lying prone and helpless in its own excrement?” The dog asked.
Of course he had. Edwin nodded. Young beautiful Matthias, cradled in Jeanne’s arms. The birth of your child, what a miracle. Too bad it had gone so, so wrong. Young Matthias was afflicted and broken. Jeanne’s fault, and so he had left her with her own mistake.
They walked on in silence for even longer. The stones got warmer until they were like walking on heated floors.
“Have you seen in your life, a man or woman severely ill, racked with pain, vomiting, bleeding, crying, lifted up and laid down only by others?” The dog asked.
Of course he had. Edwin nodded. The sickly and gaunt and their crying parents and spouses, tugging at his sleeves and begging for their medicine. He’s granted this to one or two of them. You couldn’t make things free for everyone, you know.
“Can’t you?” The dog asked.
“I did what I could. It’s just how the world works, you know.”
Onwards they moved. The rocks became pointier, cutting and digging into his soft soles. It was like walking on heated coals now, and he yelped and cried out, but the dog said and did nothing about it.
“Have you seen in your life, a man or woman ninety or a hundred years old, bent over, hobbled on a cane, grey-haired, wrinkled, toothless, with blotchy skin?”
Of course he had. Edwin nodded. His own bedridden father, begging for more and more money. He was like a leech. He needed money for better TV programs and a newer caretaker, and a new wheelchair. Edwin had kindly forked over enough money to let him live, he wasn’t about to give him any more.
As they hiked on, Edwin was struck with the thought that he hadn’t felt hungry or thirsty or even tired. They must have been walking for ages now, that was bizarre.
Strange noises came from ahead. Edwin strained his ears, but it wasn’t until quite a while later that he realised it was voices. Many, many voices, all at once. The rush of a crowd perhaps, so many speaking loudly that you couldn’t hear what they were saying or what emotion was behind it.
The rocks beneath them were so hot now that Edwin could feel it like a hot poker jabbing into his feet with every step. His skin was red and raw, and he had sweated until there was no more water left to sweat. He begged for relief from the dog, who walked on like the cave was cool and windy.
“It hurts?”
“No shit!” He cried out. “It’s like walking on a fire pit.”
“This is the drop of water.”
“What the hell do you mean?”
“Ahead is the ocean.”
“Please…just tell me…this isn’t Hell, is it?” Edwin felt his hands shake. “I was devout. I was good. I repented.”
“Have you seen in your life, a man or woman dead, corpse rotting, oozing with fluids and blood?”
Edwin could see it. His mother unmoving on the kitchen floor, blood pooling all around her. The knife in his hands. The hatred in his head. Then the fear. Then the matches. And the smoke, fire, and silent, silent ash that betrayed no trust, confessed to nothing.
He didn’t nod. He didn’t need to.
“You saw all the Heavenly messengers.” The dog said in a tone akin to a teacher gently chiding a child. “Didn’t the thought occur to you, that you too were subject to birth, and had not gone beyond the miracle of life, that you should better do good with body, speech, and mind?”
“I-”
“Didn’t the thought occur to you, that you too were subject to illness, and had not gone beyond illness, that you should better do good with body, speech, and mind?”
“That’s not-”
“Didn’t the thought occur to you, that you too were subject to aging, and had not gone beyond growing old, that you should better do good with body, speech, and mind?” The dog’s tone changed. It became more pitiful.
“Please I…I didn’t break any laws.”
“Didn’t the thought occur to you, that you too were subject to death, and had not gone beyond death, that you should better do good with body, speech, and mind?”
“SHE DESERVED IT!” Edwin screamed.
“My good man, you did not do good with body, speech, and mind.” The dog spoke as if it did not hear him.
“She fucking deserved it! All of them deserved it! I built myself from nothing! They should too!”
“For that evil karma of yours was done neither by your mother, nor by your father, nor by your brothers, nor done by your friends, nor your companions, nor your kin, nor by the gods, nor done by strangers. The evil karma was done by you yourself, and you yourself will experience its result.”
“Please…I beg you.” Edwin could hear himself sobbing. “Have mercy. I-I only did what I had to.”
The dog remained silent and impassive, and from ahead, shadows on walls crawled closer, as if cast by some impossible shape that he could not see.
“Bring him down to Avici.” The dog said.
“Yes, Lord Yama.” The shadows hissed, sounding like a drill digging into his skull. They seized Edwin’s shadow, and he too felt their invisible grip on his real body. He screamed and trashed, and yelled for the dog. He cried for salvation, but they ignored him. The shadows hissed louder, and they laughed in his mind. Laughed because they knew what awaited him. The heat grew more and more intense and then there was

Fire.

Roiling flames like those that had consumed his house.
There was nothing visible but fire. There was no smoke and ash, for where they would be was more fire. There was no wind or air for where they could be there was nothing but fire.
There were people there with him, but Edwin couldn’t see them, nor could anyone see him. They were lost in endless inferno, screaming and wailing into the deafening cacophony he had heard back in the cave.
Hell was an interesting concept that Edwin was no stranger to. There were images of demons with pitchforks, stabbing in motions. There was being dunked in boiling water and turned to ash, but in those there was the tiny reprieve of the pitchfork being pulled out or when they were reforming from ash.
In Avici, there was no such mercy. Knee deep in molten embers, Edwin’s skin blistered and fell off his leg, but each time he raised his leg he was magically whole again for the flames to feast upon.
He forgot his wife and child, and he forgot his family. He forgot his age and the dog, and even his own name, for his mind could only focus on pain. Pain as he ran on white-hot knives, and faced iron trees with razor blade leaves that rained down on him. Molten pewter flooding into his wounds. Iron hooks wrenched into his eye sockets as they dragged him up and down rivers of hot ash. Molten bronze gushed down his throat. Pain. Nothing but pain.
But it still remembered. It still remembered one thing. Its mother lying in her own blood. It had done that. And for that, it was here, suffering and screaming.
All down here are enveloped in the fires of their own evil. Thus, they wail.
 
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Sources taken from are: Genshin's Ojoyoshu. The Devaduta Sutta. Imagining Hell by Robert F. Rhodes.
I've wanted to write something about the Buddhist concept of Hell for a while. The cave is based on the Ojoyoshu's mention that people sentenced to Avici by Yama fall for 2000 years before reaching it, and their suffering in the fall is a drop of water next to the ocean of suffering that Avici is.
The title is taken from the Ojoyoshu as well
As the sinners approach this hell from the sky above, they wail with a great lamentation, quoting from the Scriptures these words: “Everything is nothing but flames. In the sky there is not a space without flames and the whole land in every direction is covered with them. The whole land is filled with evil doers and there is no room for me. I am alone and like an orphan without a friend. I am in a dark and evil place. I am enveloped in a great raging flame. I can see neither moon nor sun in the sky.” Thus they wail.

A lot of things have happened in our short marriage. My husband (23M) and I (23F) met senior year of high school and started fooling around as teenagers do. I went off to college an hour away after highschool and he stayed home and eventually left for the military (first red flag). The summer after my first year of college, he was coming back and forth from where he was doing training and I fell pregnant. We decided to get married and our little boy was born. After our son was born, he was stationed overseas when our son was just two weeks old. I spent a ton of time trying to get everything prepared to move overseas and we finally arrived just before our son's second birthday. So at this point, we had been married two years and not been physically together for basically any of it. We never lived together so I assumed there would be some growing pains with that, along with the transition of my husband going from essentially bachelor living (drinking with buddies and doing whatever he wants, another red flag), but I was not ready for the actual amount. I basically moved across the world to take care of another alcoholic kid. Then, the summer following me moving here, I found out he cheated on me multiple times while he was here partying and I was solo parenting in the states trying to get over here. I always said if he ever cheated I would leave him, but I decided to try and stay and work things out. Things were still not great, but better communication and more cooperation. Then all of the sudden, my husband comes home from a work trip acting weird and says he doesn't see us married long term and wants me to start going back to school and getting set up on my own. The more I think about it, the more angry I am. He put me through so much and I dropped everything and moved my whole life to follow him. But also, the more I think about it, I feel free. I feel free from a marriage where I'm basically alone, and taking care of another person I did not give birth to. I'm only really sad for my son, because with his dad being in the military he won't get to see him much, but we have so much family who loves him with all their heart, I know he'll be fine. I'm ready to move on with my life and find someone who won't treat me like dirt.

I'm not talking about the people mad at the team. I'm not even mad at the people slandering Jimmy or Bam. Be as mad as you want. I don't care.
But the people talking about "this series is over I would be surprised if we didn't get blown out" and people replying to hope posts calling them delusional are so fucking annoying.
If you think there's no chance we win game 7 then fucking leave until the off-season. I'm so tired of coming onto this sub after every loss all year and seeing fucking pussy ass losers doomerposting. How can you be a fan of the MIAMI HEAT of all teams and shit on people who have hope for the team? Exact same vibes as the people crying talking about they hoped we lose to the garbage bulls.
Literally this ENTIRE run was playing with house money ESPECIALLY after Herro and Oladipo got hurt. So why are we surprised when we lose a few games? It's so crazy I feel like some of you would've rather have gotten swept then to go to game 7 or potentially lose game 7. "B-but we're on the wrong side of history.....everyone is going to make fun of us!" Who gives a fuck. Grow a fucking spine. This is yet another deep playoff run by a team that is clearly capable. Acting as if we need to blow it up is genuinely asinine when all we need is some small roster adjustments and ANY non-injury luck to be a championship contender.
The amount of people who whine every damn day as if we aren't one of the most privileged fanbases in the NBA blows my fucking mind. You'd all quit basketball if you were a Philly fan or a Bulls fan or a Knicks fan or a Grizzlies fan or a fan of 90% OF THE TEAMS IN THE LEAGUE.
Keep the faith and look towards the future or fuck off. Or better yet, if the "Heat culture" you guys have is expressed by doomerposting every 5 seconds and acting as if a team that consistently does deep playoff teams is SO terrible then I'll just leave this cesspit myself.

Last night was definitely painful no doubt. I was at the game and I can honestly say that was probably the most painful way we could possibly lose that, I don’t even think Adam Silver could’ve wrote a better script for that game.
It seemed like everything went against us last night… Jimmy and Bam were not as good as they needed to be, they got outplayed by Brown and Tatum last night. Most of the other guys played well for us and picked up the slack. But the reality is if Jimmy and Bam lose that matchup by a large margin, it would take a miraculous effort for us to still win.
On top of that, the refs were definitely not calling the game both ways. It was so obvious I still can’t believe it. There are so many examples of inconsistencies last night, but i’m not going to traumatize anyone else by making them have to relive that.
I hate complaining about the refs but here’s the reality. Boston is a really good team, they don’t need the help from the refs to beat us. But they got it anyways and it is what it is. We still had enough to win.
All that being said, Im not feeling as bad as I initially was about a game 7 in Boston. In games 4 and 5, there really wasn’t any pressure on Boston. They played like they had nothing to lose and their backs were against the wall, but we never matched that intensity. Game 6 they had a lot of their way and it happens. But despite how bad jimmy and bam was for 3 quarters, we were right there.
Game 7 is the first game our backs are really against the wall, and we have to play like it. It’s also the first time in the series the pressure is really not on us, I don’t think there are many people out there betting we win game 7. If we play with a sense of urgency and Bam and Jimmy play with intention, everyone else will feed off of that.
We’re going to find out a lot about this team the next game. The last time I remember someone suffering a demoralizing loss like this was the Spurs in Game 6 after Ray Allen’s 3. It’s hard to bounce back next game after going through that. Even though the Spurs didn’t win Game 7, they played a great game and were in position to win. That’s what championship teams do. If we really are built like that, it’ll show on Monday, regardless of the outcome.