《Duality Dissonance》Chapter 4.5 Cats and Laser Pointers
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EV is quickly enveloped in the light-less tube. He slows his fall and illuminates his surroundings. The voice had been incessantly warning him not to come down here but he forced his mind closed to it, his curiosity getting the better of him. He extends his hand into the sheet of water, carving away an opening as if someone were turning the knobs on an Etch A Sketch. He sees the crawling lightning in the distance and pushes his way through the curtain. Is that electricity, he wonders. He holds his dagger out ahead of him as if carrying a lantern while gliding further out in the dark—an urge to continue being stronger than the urge to turn back.
He can’t see anything outside of his light sphere, aside from looking back towards the entrance. The opening there looked like ice sickles of light dangling over a vast nothing. He sails closer to a perimeter, the crawling electrical arcs showing up and reflecting from his widening eyes. It’s as if the chasm is something like a Faraday cage and an electromagnetic field continues to writhe around it. He extends his fingertips, reaching towards the surface, the electrical arcs reach back and he quickly withdraws his hand as they jump to his fingers.
Envy, says the voice, like a staticky radio signal that is just out of range. He shakes his head and the signal fades out again. He looks at his hand and smiles at the tingling sensation, not knowing what he was expecting.
He extends his hand again where the arcs eagerly approach to meet his touch. He smiles as he fully places his hand against the wall and the arcs, like puppies, continuously jump up, trying to climb onto the back of his fingers so that he can give them more attention. He dissolves his dagger to free his other hand and a blinding light pulses from a huge span of the wall. He has to look away and it takes several moments for his vision to return enough to see within his small sphere of light. He blinks and focuses on his hand as the arcs are back to leaping up on him again. What the heck was that? —Did it respond to me dissolving my weapon? —Some kind of reflex or something?
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He squints and slowly increases the light intensity of his bracers. The electrical arcs seem to bloom, flooding the area around his hand as more light expands across the wall. What’s going on here? He looks out across the wall and tries to imagine what could cause such a thing. He slowly rubs the wall and looks back over as the lighting chases after his hand. He turns and puts his other hand against it. He starts to descend again and the lighting streaks up away from him. He lets his speed increase and he laughs out loud as he descends, seeming something like a cat that had jumped onto a curtain while trying to get to a laser pointer. The curtain is tearing and the cat is sliding down as the fabric tears under its weight.
EV is lost in the moment but jumps back as a wave of shadow rushes back up the wall. He pulls his hand into his chest as he looks up at the now light-less wall.
Envy must get out of here, bellows the voice as it floods back into his thoughts.
EV recoils—something zipping past him. More zips and whistles pass nearby and he turns that direction, not finding anything.
Envy, go!
He finally gets moving again. His eyes grow wider as his gaze tries to penetrate the darkness outside of his light. His path becomes sporadic as he darts away from various sounds. It starts to rain and then a more concentrated jet of water sprays him from above. He spins away from it as he tries to make it back to the water curtain.
Envy, move left!
EV quickly looks left and pain lances through his right shoulder. He spins away from the attack and another stream of water forces him downwards. He rights himself and continues towards the former curtain. More debris falls through his sphere that he actually sees and he recoils from them each time. He flails as he reaches the curtain as if desperately trying to reach for a life preserver that is floating nearby. He spins into the cylinder, shedding the water before ascending again. The curtain of water then falls from around him. He looks down as it disappears below him and then looks back up, seeing more light shining through various new openings.
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“What’s happening,” he calls out.
Envy didn’t want to listen to this one before, the voice replies. Why should this one tell you anything now?
“I’m sorry! But I had to see this—”
Envy must get out of here before you are buried alive.
EV passes back through the opening and continues climbing higher in the sky while holding his shoulder. He turns to look back down, seeing the river almost completely drained. The boat is sitting on the river bed and he quickly glances around as he thinks about Gluttony and Sloth. He finds them waving from a nearby street. A loud rumbling causes him to look back down as Lust passes through the opening. The ground crumbles and EV’s breath catches as it begins to fall. It seems like an eternity as he watches the rubble collapse. The river bed drops away and three figures emerge from the center opening as if a magician had dropped a curtain to reveal a magic trick.
Relief floods through EV and he starts to feel the pain in his shoulder again. The ground continues to collapse around the area and he looks over to see Gluttony and Sloth having to move back further as more of the perimeter crumbles. A great portion of the street also collapses leaving an exposed opening of the channel running under it. The surrounding area continues to change, as rents open along other nearby streets. Some of the buildings fall into the crater while others only crack open, depositing various portions of themselves. When everything finally becomes still, EV surveys the area aghast. Is this because of us?
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The Return of Mr. Nobody
This is the story of a warrior that is the last of his kind that ends up in a new world and universe. What will happen when the elite fighter of a world far away ends up with a new start. What will he and the friends he has do to survive in a world so different from their own. Have fun as they take a wild ride through life.
8 214Fate - Destiny
"This life is just a mere competition of power and authority. They will use that for you - to manipulate you... to enslave yourself in fear and terror - and that's why... I'll give them the taste of their own medicine." That was the most painful realization of the boy who used to be deterministic and tries his best just to prove himself to others that he isn't the boy they think he is. Meet Fate, a boy who had potential but lost it all. The boy who struggles to do his best just to prove himself to everyone, slowly realized a painful truth from the Teran Government - a truth so painful that it snapped him and slowly took his former self. As time pass, as he gain experience, and as he grow older, the fire of determination from his heart slowly faded to the point that he cannot even know who he really is. Fate only knew one thing, though... And it is to end the cycle of fear and manipulation...
8 73Psyche Reflection
In the universe, Year 20XX, there exists people who are able to enter the cognitive realms of others and alter their perceptions and emotions, for better or worse. These people are known as "Divers" for their ability to dive into the psyche of others in a process called the "Psyche Dive". The cognitive realm is unique to each individual, hence it's also named the "Reflected World". There, one's innermost emotions and beliefs are materialised when the balance between the id (source of psychodynamic energy, represented by our desires and individuality.) and the superego (represented by our conscience and need to conform to society) is disrupted, with the id overpowering the superego more often than not.As a result, the excess psychodynamic energy on either side results in the formation of Spectres, ghost-like beings that haunt the ego (an individual's personality) and push a person to ruin by clouding his perceptions of reality, influencing his decision making in the process. If left unchecked, Spectres would continue to grow in number and power, eventually consuming the ego completely to form Demons within the person's psyche. At this point, it is extremely difficult to restore a person's id to its original state, as Demons are often extremely powerful and well-protected by their army of Spectres. People who are possessed by Demons are often twisted individuals who commit the most heinous of crimes, as they have lost all of their conscience and morals, fuelled only by their desires. The Divers are the last hope for humanity against the Spectres and Demons. Armed with the power to use their cognition to fashion into effective weapons against these abominations, the Divers seek to cleanse the minds of victims from such insidious influences. 21 year old Lee Jin Kai became a Diver abruptly on his first day as a University student, after a chance meeting with a beautiful foreign exchange student by the name of Aiko Verde. Despite having different motivations, the pair must now stick together, as they traverse the psyches of various people while gathering comrades, resolving real-world issues in the process... Inspired by Persona 5.
8 189Casual Heroing
Chapters come out on Monday, Wednesday, Friday around 9PM CET A Slice-of-Life LitRPG that will make you laugh and, hopefully, warm your heart. "I have never read anything like this so far, and it's damn fu***** interesting" - Beta reader 1 (the excited one) "It is very funny and it will climb the ranking fast" - Beta reader 2 (the one with few words) "A good balance between satire and drama with a touch of action to keep the plot moving" - Beta reader 3 (the fair one) Synopsis: Why does everyone think that you have to become a hero if you get a supreme relic? TO HELL WITH THAT. I'm getting none of that adventuring bull. What do you say? Ranks? Tiers? Bronze, Silver, and Gold adventuring teams? Sure, keep it. It’s all yours. I'll be opening a lovely pastry shop and using Fireballs to cook creme brulée, for your information. And, oh, that’s so interesting, teleporting, you say? Yeah, sure, I'll teleport a cup of coffee on my nightstand in the morning, thank-you-very-much! Stop bothering me with your quests, legendary adventures, and all that nonsense! You either buy some pastry, or I’m going to report you to the watch for loitering! So, do you want to know what I’m going to do in this fantasy world? Well, I’m going to get a girlfriend, that’s what I’m going to do! No Pizzas Were Harmed in the Making of This Novel.
8 291Muna Miracle
Do you believe in Miracles? In 1980, a memorable moment in sports was during the XII Winter Olympics. Cold war tensions were high and the U.S Olympic hockey team found themselves against the indomitable Soviet Army Hockey team. The announcer, Al Michael posed a question that would forever be fixed in the minds of every man, woman, and child that ever wished for hope. That year, Soviets went home that year with the Olympic cup, soon followed by a nuclear warhead and the question would remain unanswered for many hundreds of years. Of course, a little ray of moonlight might change a few things.
8 179Ark
Kim Hyun Woo lived the life of the wealthy thanks to his parents. But one day, he received a phone call informing him of a traffic accident which involved his parents. His father had died and his mother was hospitalized in critical condition. The normal life he once knew, collapsed...They sold their house, cancelled various insurance plans, and moved to a one room apartment. And after a few years, Hyun Woo spends four to six hours tending to his mother and worked to pay for her medical bills.One day, one of his Instructors recommended him for position in a company called Global Exos, who made an announcement of making history with the newest technological invention..............................Volume 1 finishedVolume 2 finishedVolume 3 finished............................................Novel copyrights held by their respective authors. Translation by Japtem.
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