Latest Posts by justanotherblogger - Page 3
My friends,
🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸❤🤍💚🖤
I am doing what I can to provide a decent and safe life for my children and to provide for their basic needs in light of the poor living conditions we are living in due to the war of extermination, and I hope that you will continue to support me, whether by donating if possible, or by participating and urging friends to donate, as we are very close to half the goal, and there is less than 350€ left to reach it.
I hope to reach it today
I am Bilal from Gaza, displaced to Egypt after 150 days of great hardship. I came here with some of my family members, leaving behind most of our loved ones and places of memories.
Life in Egypt is full of challenges. We are here without a residence permit, and prices are very high, making it difficult to secure our basic needs. We try to adapt to the new circumstances, but every day we face new problems.
The longing for Gaza always hurts us. We think of our family and friends who are still there, and every contact with them deepens our sense of distance. Despite all these difficulties, we try to hold on to hope and look for ways to improve our situation.
If you can provide financial support, even if it is small, it will make a huge difference to us in these difficult times: [https://gofund.me/ba5b76e9]
🇵🇸 ‼️Hello, please share widely, Mohamed and family and children, my sister Amir Malak has been going through a particularly scary time recently even by the horrific standards of the past few months. I hope she is well. My name is Mohamed Atallah. I urgently need surgery on my left hand and to rebuild my home and my older sister Eman's home. I live with my parents, six sisters, a little girl called Malak and a little boy called Amir in northern Gaza. I have created this link to fund a bone graft on my left hand which was hit by an explosive bullet, to rebuild our destroyed home and to evacuate my family from Gaza to a safe place. And donate any amount for a safe life.. I would appreciate your help ❤️ Can you help in whatever way you can? Click all the buttons on my wall, I beg you to visit my page, view it and donate via the link in my bio 💔 Donate and share widely 🆘🆘 Every euro makes a difference 🙏 I urge you to donate. Even the smallest amount can make a huge difference. Not only does he need to be evacuated with his family, but he is in dire need of surgery! The IDF shot him in the arm with an explosive bullet. That’s not normal. It’s explosive. So he needs treatment right away! Otherwise, he’ll get an infection and possibly an amputation. We don’t want that to happen, do we? So contribute! Be sure to retweet and share his story if you can’t. Help my family. War is devastating. There’s nothing left to live for. No schools, no universities, no home, no dreams. All dreams are shattered. I hope you can help before it’s too late. @90-ghost reviewed Mohammed's identity documents and corresponded with him as well. So, in short: This is a brand new fundraiser that I can vouch for. Please share and contribute if you can. Feel free to repost on other platforms as well.🍉
A World Without Him
Chapter 14
Tang was uncomfortable in the taxi. The sun was barely above the horizon now, and he just felt plain awful from his apparently non-hallucinated “ghost of debatable deals”. He also noticed how Zach gave him nervous glances through the mirror, probably noticing how he had talked to himself and gave a wide variety of meaningless expressions to the empty seat.
The tension, for Tang at least, was so thick he could probably cut it with a butter knife. Zach had tried to make everything less weird; putting on music, rolling down the windows, and making small talk to name a few examples. Nothing really lifted the atmosphere though, leaving Tang to stew as Zach continued on that third option to fill the awkward silence.
“... but yeah, I don't get why her sister would up and leave with a guy she didn't know, right? I would obviously be pissed too if someone I cared about, even if we didn't talk much-” The car hitched up, causing the passengers to jump in their seats.
“OOF! Dang, another pothole. Gotta watch the road Zach… anyways, as I was saying, I don't blame Elsie for freaking out at her sister for what she did-” He had been going on for about half an hour at this point, rambling about some movie by a corporate overlord rat Tang didn't bother remembering the name of. He had been shocked out of his trance by the bump, making him refocus onto his surroundings as he started to hear the driver's talk again.
But as soon as he came out of it, he tried going back into that dull state of mind immediately. He hadn't been paying that much attention in the first place anyway, zoning in and out the entire ride as he tried to get his mind to blank. Zach didn't seem to mind. Tang just didn't like how many thoughts were swirling around his head at the moment.
Then his hands had started to twitch as he tried to zone out, needing something to do as a mindless distraction. He went to the bell around his wrist, examining it closely to see if it was still solid (and how maybe he was just imagining it all of this… a baseless wish).
It seemed to be made of some sort of metal based on the signs of rust inside of it. On a closer look, he saw there were intricate designs carved into the outside, so thin Tang wondered how it was even possible.
The images were mainly shapes; circles, diamonds, and waves were all around the outside. It seemed to have a dark color highlighting the markings, making them noticeable compared to the color of the bell.
He felt it in his hands; it was rough, chipped, and definitely aged from the amount of wear on its sides. He rolled it in his palm, unconsciously tuning back into what Zach was saying.
“... which is the most pointless reveal ever! There was almost no buildup, and nothing we could've seen to clue in that he was a villain! I know they probably wanted a twist villain to finally be impactful and unseen, but some clues in his behavior or what people could say about him with Anne would have been nice to clue in that he's not who he exactly seems!” Zach took a breath, readjusting his mirror, slowing down for a sharp turn, then going back to his rant.
“But noooooo. They had to resort to almost no clues whatsoever because the writing team couldn't think up anything clever or interesting!”
Tang nodded along to what Zach was talking about, even though he didn't understand much of it. He looked back out the window as Zach started to go on about unnecessary sequels, tuning the driver's voice out as he saw the last bit of orange trying to fight off the coming night. Tall pine trees covered the light's effort, gifting the road with long, fading shadows.
He closes his eyes again, letting the white noise lull him into a sense of peace as the bumpy road comforted him. He was actually going. Leaving and going to figure out how to fix himself.
The diminishing light covered the car in a soft golden hue. Zach paused his blabbering as he noticed the movement in the back seat ceased, then looking back and seeing Tang dozing off with his face squished against the window. A look of concern flitted across Zach's face briefly, but he only shook his head before looking back at the empty dirt road.
With the new silence, Zach looked around the back road and found he could see the mountain ranges around them: how they towered in the distance with trees all over until the top, which glistened with pure white snow. Fog had started to appear after Tang went to sleep, refracting the remaining light in all sorts of directions as it obscured the tops of the trees.
Zach didn't pay the thin fog much mind, turning on the headlights and continuing down the dirt road. This part of the Golden South province didn't have many towns or man-made settlements, mainly because of disputes with the unresponsive locals and zoning issues which in turn, let nature take its own course on the place most of the time.
Today, only some original settlements from before these disputes were littered near the middle of the place, making them basically shut out from the outside world except for each other. Zach couldn't remember what the names were as he didn't drive in the area often, but those quaint towns seemed to be doing alright as he’d seen people from those places more often lately. They seemed happy enough.
Zach smiles at the oncoming memory. I hope they’re doing alright. They seemed like a nice family. That girl ran all over the place with that poor man trying to run after her through the grocery aisles. I guess that's where the guy’s gray hairs came from. The old woman next to them kept talking with me until the other two came back and then they had left together. They looked at peace with each other.
He glanced back to Tang’s sleeping form leaning against the taxi window. Zach wondered if Tang had that same type of support, remembering how the guy seemed exhausted, falling over and mumbling stuff to himself. He probably needs that rest.
Looking back to the road, a deer suddenly jumped in front of the taxi, displacing the fog and staring the headlights down-
*SCREEEEEEEEECH*
The driver slammed on the brakes, his heart beating rapidly into his ears as his chest was slammed into his seat belt. The deer just continued to stare into the lights, almost looking Zach Right in the eyes. He quickly honked the horn once, startling the thing as it jumped back into the trees.
Looking to the back seat to check on his passenger, Zach saw how Tang was still fast asleep, just leaning forward onto his seat belt from the sudden stop. He saw the guy was breathing just fine, snoring quietly as he continued to hang over the seat belt. Zach sighed and decided not to do anything with that: now he knew the guy really needed that sleep.
He took a deep breath before continuing down the road, trying to get his heart to stop beating so fast. Zach saw how the fog had thickened quite a bit as he went deeper into the woods, the barest hint of light only creating shadows through the branches.
After he got his bearings, Zach realized he hadn't been on one of these back roads this late at night before. That deer was weird. It was unsettling him, and he started to drive a bit slower. The fog seemed to settle onto the floor, causing the ground to be shrouded in the cloud-like cover.
Only the headlights could help them see where to go now; the road was barely recognizable under the fog and the sun had finally set, leaving the woods in complete darkness. Cell service was basically non-existent out here, which is why he couldn't use any GPS in the first place, relying on his memory. Zach tightened his grip on the steering wheel as an uncomfortable feeling welled in his gut.
Tang only then started to stir as he pushed himself off of the taxi window, wiping the drool off of his mouth and sitting up straight. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, putting them back on a blinking a few times to refocus.
He looks at Zach. “How long was I asleep?” He asked, his voice heavy with exhaustion.
“Just about half an hour. I haven't been out here this late before, and I think all this fog is pretty neat, along with all those deer! If a bit creepy, heh…” Zach awkwardly replied, nervously sweating and avoiding eye contact.
“Uh huh.” Tang said with disinterest, looking back to his wrist and seeing the bell still securely stuck to it. He grimaced at his hand heavily.
A sudden stutter in the car has him snapping his head back up, seeing how the headlights began to flicker through the road, and eventually go out entirely. The inside lights were still on, with the engine running fine; only the headlights had shorted out.
Tang anxiously spoke up. “What just happened?”
Zach looked worried, sweat forming above his brow. “I don't know. This hasn't happened before. I'll get a flashlight and go check it out. You can stay in the car.”
Tang just nodded, a bit tense as Zach unbuckled and reached for the glove box, grabbing a small flashlight and getting out of the car. His steps displaced the thick fog on the floor, making a ghostly trail behind him as he looked at the front of the car.
Shining a flashlight onto the bulbs showed they were shattered; pieces of glass were rattling behind the plastic covers. A cold sweat ran down Zach's neck as he walked back and opened the driver's door, leaning his head in.
“The bulbs are shattered. Can't replace them unless you have any extra light bulbs in that backpack of yours.” He said lightly, trying to make sure Tang wouldn't freak out.
He reacted better than Zach expected. “Heh, just great. Well, these things happen, I guess. Is there anywhere nearby to pick up more; we can't go on without them, right?” Tang asked, wringing his hands together nervously.
Zach nodded. “Yeah, we kind of need them to get through the fog. Moonlight can't get through, so we're stuck here until we can get new bulbs or the fog clears. Now I'm totally gonna be late…” He mumbled. He started moving to get inside, hand on the door handle.
“But yeah, there isn't anywhere modern that close by, but there's one of those remote places past some of the trees that way. I think it was called something starting with a B-”
A shrill scream echoed through the woods as Zach was pulled violently out of the car, leaving the door he was about to close wide open. Tang quickly unbuckled his seat belt, scrambling to duck under the back seats on the floor next to his backpack.
The outside was unnaturally silent as Tang covered his mouth with his hands, trying to quiet down his erratic breathing. He was hunched over trying to hear anything else happening outside. The lights in the car went out after a few seconds, the car shutting off as it left Tang in the dark.
Then long, heavy footsteps sounded from the side of the car. Slow and deliberate, as if whatever was making them was looking for something- trying to find its prey. Tang continued his attempt at silencing his breathing, digging his nails into his cheeks in a panic.
Whatever was out there sniffed the air, growling something deep that shook Tang's resolve. The footsteps trailed off in his ears, almost like they were leaving… He carefully took his hands off of his face, looking up at a nearby window.
Fast steps suddenly bombarded his ears, growing louder as they got closer and closer. He had barely any time to react as something rammed into the side of the car, making it flip towards the wooded area.
He screamed as he was thrown about, his voice burning as it was already raw from before. His head hit the ceiling, then he landed on his right shoulder as he rolled and got thrown onto his back. It flipped again as he got his nose slammed into the side door, and then landed harshly onto his stomach as the car finally came to a stop, causing him to cough violently.
His glasses were hanging off of one ear, with his bag on top of one of his legs. He groaned in pain as he tried to push himself up by his elbows, making it to his knees before the thing ran into the car again, crumbling the two front seats as Tang stared in horror.
OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD, I CAN'T STAY IN HERE THAT MUCH LONGER-
He heard the thing start to back up again, leaving the area in complete, utter silence. Tang knew what would happen next as he scrambled to open his side door that was luckily unblocked from the crash. The door clicked and swung open after a few pulls; Tang quickly tried to run out but his leg got caught onto his backpack strap, making him tumble face first into the floor of fog, grass, and pine needles with his bag still hanging off his foot.
He was just in time too, as almost right after he fell he heard the fast footsteps again, and a deafening crash behind him from what he assumed was the rest of the taxi he was in. All he could hear was ringing in his ears as he grabbed his bag strap and his behind a nearby tree, begging to whoever listened that he wouldn't be found so fast.
He heard the thing's steps slow, stalking the area again presumably looking for him. His breathing was heavy and he felt something drip from his nose but he couldn't really think about those things right now. What is that thing!? Why am I being attacked!? How do I get out of here!? Is Zach okay?! Oh no oh no oh no-
He heard sniffing again, then heavy steps coming towards his hiding place. This stopped his spiraling as the world seemed to stop. The steps got closer as Tang's heart beat faster, trying to break out of his ribcage if he had to guess.
It crushed the dead leaves on the forest floor, walking through the trees loudly, as if to taunt him. Suddenly, he heard the steps grow a bit faster, heading in his direction. He was panicking as the sounds got closer and closer, not knowing what that thing would do if it found him.
He could feel the tremors coming from its direction, and he knew that he didn't have much time left to make a decision. He quickly rubbed his nose, blood now covering his scarf and hand as he saw his blood flow through the crevices of the bell on his wrist-
*Ding*
A small chime rang out, echoing through the trees. The bell started to glow as a huge gust of wind blew around him, picking up the fog and displacing it everywhere creating a smokescreen. Tang could only shield himself with his arms, scared of what was happening.
‘I see you've already gotten yourself into trouble’
Tang's head shot up (getting a bit dizzy in the process). “What the hell…?”
Cian stood in front of him, in all its golden glowing glory, leaning over Tang in a mocking manner. It stared into his eyes.
‘You don't have that much time. I have done what I could, but I can't help you anymore unless I lend you my strength.’ It explained briefly, grabbing Tang’s bell and lifting him up to his feet with ease.
Tang quickly spoke up in defense, shock and fear clearly on his face. “What?! I can't do that! I know that-”
A loud, furious growl interrupted him. It sounded dangerously close, as if it would jump out at him at any moment. He was right, yet again, as the fog suddenly parted. All he could catch were red eyes and black fur before it pounced. Tang dodged, tumbling out of the way as its claws got embedded into the tree he was hiding behind, struggling to get them out.
‘You know you won't make it out of this alive without me.’
Tang shook his head as he got up and started to run. He weaved through trees and fog as he heard a crunch from behind. Out of instinct, he looked back and only paled at what was looking straight back at him.
It stood on two legs. Long black hair cascaded from its head to its back as its red eyes stared Tang down, locking onto him as it flicked the remaining bark out of its claws.
Tang ran faster. His legs felt strained and his ankles felt like they were about to collapse but he had to run. Hide. Do anything to get away from that demon.
Cian just floated with Tang’s vision, hovering in front of him as he ran. ‘Just let me help you. You need to make it back to those friends of yours, right?’
He grunted angrily at Cian as he made it back to the road somehow, running across it, going into the opposite piece of woods and sliding to a stop back against another tree.
Putting a hand on his chest, his legs wobble as he doesn't think he can take anymore running on his ankles. The ringing in his ears hasn't stopped. He doesn't think he'll make it out of here in one piece.
He focussed back into reality as loud steps came closer and closer yet again, making Tang freeze in his hiding spot. The steps thankfully passed behind him, going further away as he slumped down for the moment, resting his legs.
“*cough**cough* Ugh…”
This isn't something from the demon. He quickly looked towards the noise, glancing anxiously past the tree to a nearby one. The fog obscured most of it, but he could see a vaguely human body slumped on a tree a few feet down.
It was Zach. It had to be Zach. Who else could it be? Tang didn't know what to do. Zach could be dead. Should he help? Will that get them both killed…?
He decides to risk it, trying to run over to Zach’s (hopefully) unconscious body. The demon immediately knew what he was doing, locking its eyes onto him and starting to run at full speed towards the open shot. It was faster than before, with Tang stumbling back as it caught up to him in seconds and aimed for his neck.
He raised his arms subconsciously, fortunately only costing him only some skin on a forearm instead of his limb as he fell back. The gash was still deep, though, causing blood to slowly drip through the ripped cloth as he landed on his side into the thick fog.
Tears ran hot down his face. He looked around frantically for a way out before the demon's next strike, seeing how it rolled its shoulders back, as if preparing a final blow before taking slow, heavy steps towards him.
‘You know this won't end well.’
Shut up.
Pure red looked deeply into his eyes as he scrambled backwards.
‘Just agree to my offer. I can help you break this pathetic worm in no time.’
No, no, stop talking.
Its slow steps echoed in the silence, continuing its pursuit even when its prey was already cornered.
‘LISTEN. If you die here, what was the point? In making your bonds, maintaining everything you have, trying to fix yourself?’
I can't change anything…
It started to move faster. A brisk pace as it snarled and dragged its claws through the fog. Agitation started to build in Tang’s gut.
‘You would leave everything behind without showing everyone who you could’ve become from this feeble failure that you insist on dying as.’
His breathing was too shallow. It was coming at him fast. 12 feet, 8 feet, 3 feet-
‘You could have been someone special. They could have DEPENDED on you, had you not selfishly given up. You could finally be someone worth living for.’
“FINE!” Tang screamed, shaking the trees and parting the fog around him.
This seemed to shock the demon out of its reverence, making it step back at the sudden noise and hold its ears in pain. It narrowed its eyes at Tang, who couldn't care less at the moment.
Blood and tears mixed onto Tang's scarf as he continued. “I accept! I will take this fucking deal if that's what you want! Just do whatever you like, because what's the point anyway! I'm a lost cause, MIGHT AS WELL DIE KICKING AND SCREAMING!”
The wind started to pick up as Tang's words became more heated, with the trees bending in all sorts of ways at the force and the fog colliding and becoming some sort of tornado around him, forcing the demon to stumble away further.
Orange light started to build up in the middle, growing brighter and brighter until it became blinding to anyone witnessing it. A beam of orange light shot into the sky, parting any fog, trees, or clouds in its way.
Then the light thinned almost immediately, clearing out the remaining fog as Tang's body fell to its knees. His hair was wild as it blew in the harsh winds whipping through the forest. Both the demon and Tang had regained their composure, Tang standing up tall as the demon went defensive, a sliver of fear in its eyes.
Rolling up his sleeves, Tang ran a hand through his hair, sporting an unnatural grin on his face as his forearm glowed orange in the wound. He laughed, cracking his knuckles before staring the demon down, now dawning pure white eyes.
“Now, let's finally get this started!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tang woke up sitting against a tree. His head was killing him, with his hands feeling like they were thrown into a blender overnight. He rubbed his temples and lazily looked to his side, seeing Zach in a similar position as him, with the crushed taxi in the distance.
Seeing those sprung Tang into action as he stumbled over to Zach, feeling that his pulse and breaths were steady. He did see a big bruise on the guy's back peeking through the shirt, but he couldn't really help with something like that at the moment.
He fell back against the tree in relief, seeing the moon high in the sky as it graced everything in soft shades of gray. Looking back at his hands through his dirty glasses, he saw the knuckles were bloody, with dirt and black blood covering his arms and hands.
He also saw the bell was still on his wrist, maybe it was a part of whatever deal he made… oh no.
He groaned heavily into his hands, remembering that he had made a deal with that pest he's still 15% sure is a hallucination. “Awwgh… just great.” He groaned, crossing his legs and leaning back. He is alive though, and that has to count for something, he guesses.
All he remembers was yelling at Cian, then agreeing panicked to that offer, then… nothing. He decides not to think too much about it, as Cian isn't here, that demon isn't here, and he has an unconscious body to take care of plus find somewhere to crash for the both of them.
He readjusted the backpack on his back before trying to wake Zach up. He yelled, hit, and shook the guy with everything he had. Apparently, that wasn't enough as Zach was still unconscious after all that effort. Sighing internally, Tang decided to lift him onto his shoulder, and start dragging.
As you probably expected, this wore him out. By a lot. He had to take breaks every 2 minutes just to be able to carry the guy again. But he still did so, as he didn't want that demon coming after him again and staying in the same place he was attacked was not good for that sort of thing.
He remembered Zach saying there was a place past a few trees over… that way, he guessed. So, now with direction, Tang began to drag this guy's body through the woods, hopefully going to find some help.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After what felt like hours maneuvering through the forest, getting lost, and then yelling at the sky that Zach was still unconscious, Tang finally found something other than trees and weird deer. It was a billboard next to a small dirt path. The writing was so faded that he couldn't make much out, but anything man-made here was a good sign.
Quickly taking a breath before throwing Zach over his shoulder again, he started going along the dirt trail, hoping to find literally anyone with something to at least wake the driver up.
After a couple of minutes, Tang saw smoke rising in the distance. He immediately brightened, going faster than his usual pace. His face was definitely red with exertion at this point, but he really didn't care as he got closer and closer to the smoke, seeing light through the branches.
When he finally emerged, he saw houses, people, and campfires littered everywhere. He collapsed almost immediately after getting there, with his ankles and upper body strength suffering at the sudden use. He could hear people stand up and crowd around them, but farther than Tang would usually think of crowding. Raising his head, he saw everyone there was at least 6 feet away from him, whispering to each other.
When he tried to sit up after a few seconds, everyone went deathly silent, he only got to his knees when every single person drew a gun on him and Zach, some with lasers even aiming at their heads.
He was shocked at the response, looking around the area trying to make sense of the harsh treatment when he saw a wooden sign behind some of the crowd. A very familiar sign, he might add. it said “Welcome to Bellfield: part of the 4TA!” in a loopy font.
His face dropped immediately, shooting daggers at the sign as fell (slowly, don't wanna get shot here) back onto the floor, trying to erase that stupid sign from memory.
“Of course, it had to be Bellfield…”
Previous | Next | Start
Hello friends!
I am Lina from Gaza🇵🇸🍉
I have two children, one of them was born in the genocide. Please, I need a donation of 20 or 25 euros. I know that my request for help is unusual for me, but I really need you. The donation link is in my bio. Every small donation makes a difference. Help my children and my family. We lost everything and we need this money urgently
https://gofund.me/4f077ab2
To all the supporters of Palestine 🙏
We still need less than 1350€ to reach our short term goal of 50% ‼️
Your donations are important for our survival
Please help me reach our goal as soon as possible 🙏
We appreciate your help ❤️🙏
https://gofund.me/f489e577 Hello, how are you? I hope you are well. I am Celine from Gaza. I started this campaign to raise money to help me rebuild my family's life after losing everything in Gaza😥. All that remains of our house is the rubble and our memories that have turned to ash💔. My family and I barely escaped with our lives, leaving behind everything we owned. Now, we are in Egypt, struggling to rebuild our lives from scratch. The war left us with nothing but the clothes we wear and the painful memories of what we lost. We need your help to find a safe place to live, to provide for our children, and to start over. With your support, we can restore our hope and rebuild our family's future. Please consider donating to our campaign🙏🏻. Your generosity can make a huge difference in our lives.🙌🏻❤️
Hi 🌟,
I hope you’re doing well. We’ve raised very little so far to support me and my family during these challenging times due to the conflict in Gaza. We’re still working to reach our goal and would greatly appreciate your help. 🙏
If you can’t donate, could you please share or reblog my pinned post? Your support in spreading the word would mean a lot to us. 💪
Pinned post: https://www.tumblr.com/ahmedharara/757031731268386816/weve-been-able-to-raise-only-120-so-far?source=share
Donation link: https://gofund.me/f751a38a
Thank you so much for your kindness and support! ❤️
A World Without Him
Chapter 13
He's back yet again. You must already know what he's talking about. His void, his dreamscape, his personal hell hole. Call it what you want.
Although, it hasn't changed from the last time he remembered coming here. He can still feel the warmth that encompassed him when he was caught. How the tension the original place held seemed to melt into the new atmosphere.
It was kind of overwhelming; the drastic change probably overcompensates for something else he was worried to even think about.
So, he pushes those paranoid thoughts to the back of his mind, embracing the surroundings. He even feels nice enough to open his eyes, still wincing at the bold, solid color. However, it was dimmed compared to his first time here: manageable.
He lets his eyes adjust before looking around, only seeing a burnt orange as far as his eyes could show him.
He could move his limbs, too, almost like swimming through water, but he didn't really need to go anywhere at the moment. Everything stayed that simple color no matter where he looked.
So he waited, slowly spinning in the weightlessness that filled this place. Tang had almost become bored at the endless silence. Everything was just so quiet. He couldn't even hear himself… he didn't know if that was a good thing.
Something saved him the chance to ponder on it longer, though, as the sound of grating metal reached his ears. It made him jump, the sudden sound raging through the original silence.
He couldn't tell where it was coming from, the noise seemingly coming from all over. He couldn't even tell which way was up at this point; everything stayed the same exact color.
It grew more intense as he frantically looked around the endless space, finding nothing as the sound only grew closer.
Then the grating stopped abruptly, letting the dreamscape fall back into complete silence. Tang was sure if he could hear himself at the moment, his erratic breathing would have been enough to drown out the whole void.
The new bout of silence didn't last long.
‘Hello again.’
The smooth voice sounded from behind. Tang could suddenly hear himself again, his breaths heavy with grinding teeth and a fast heartbeat drowning out the sudden noise. Tang whipped his head around to the foreign sounds source.
It was a person. Or, well, something that looked like one. It had an average human-ish figure, along with the right amount of arms, heads, and legs to assume.
But that was where most similarities ended. It glowed a faint orange hue all over its body, highlighting its translucent, golden skin. The limbs he could see were covered in many undecipherable symbols, with what seemed like steel rings on its wrists and ankles.
It had light, loose clothing covering its body, baggy pants and half of a robe to name some, with multiple pieces of hanging jewelry all over. Its hair was short with bright highlights and a wavy texture, floating around its head as the hair seemingly went by its own rules. Its eyes were pure white, giving away little to what it was thinking.
It smiled, huffing out a laugh that echoed in the void. ‘My apologies. I didn't expect you to be this… jumpy. I even made all of this more digestible for you.” It sounded out, almost condescendingly.
Tang stared wide-eyed at the newcomer, staying strikingly still even as he floated. “Wh-who are you!?” He nervously shouted at the unknown threat.
The being lolled its head to one side, looking Tang up and down. After a second, it seemed satisfied with what it found, giving Tang a wolfish grin. ‘You may call me Cian.’
Tang seemed shocked at getting an answer. He hasn't had an actual conversation in his dreams for months, so he expected to be thrown away or woken up by now.
Okay. This is weird. It seems familiar… But this is fine. It's just a dream. Everything here is your head mashing together memories. Tang weakly thought as he curled in on himself. His stomach flipped uncomfortably as he tried to reason with what was happening.
The being- erm, Cian, frowned. ‘I expected better than those foolish excuses. Is this not enough for you?’
Tang quickly looked back at it, surprise clearly on his face. It only sighed at the reaction, seemingly annoyed with its predicament.
Its body then seemed to adhere to gravity, landing on a platform Tang couldn't see, and walking towards the scholar with a new tactic in mind.
‘I know how much you’ve struggled. Pain, suffering, loss: those are things you have wanted to avoid so badly, yet keep finding throughout your life.’
Tang tried to back away, but he couldn't seem to find a grip as he kept floating in place, the feeling around him changing from being underwater to something more like being stuck in space.
‘You are WEAK. You have been thrown around from birth, treated as less than based on what you have failed to provide. How you failed to do anything meaningful.’
Cian’s voice shook the area, making sure that Tang couldn't ignore it as it drew closer.
‘But it doesn't have to stay that way. I can help you, little cicada. I can gift your body the strength to give back what those demons have done to you and those you cared about.’
It's right in front of him now; its eyes seem to stare into his soul as it talks. Tang tries to look away, but it grabs his chin and roughly turns his head to face it.
‘Just let me in; I have what you need. Stop fighting what you know you’ve been searching for.’
Tang didn't know what it was talking about. It looked sharply into his eyes, and it looked for a long time, trying to see something Tang couldn't fathom.
Small hairline fractures appeared in the colorful void in Tang's peripheral vision, but Cian didn't seem to care at the moment. It frowned in the end, letting Tang's face go as it stepped back, wisps of hair floating into its face.
‘I suppose this isn't working. I'll give you a token for now.’ It grumbled, yanking off a string around its neck that held a small bell as its charm.
Tang froze at Cian's actions, feeling uneasy at the behavior as he was worried the figure would snap at any moment. He stayed that way even as it walked closer, reaching towards his wrist to tie the bell around it.
‘There.’ It said softly, stepping back in front of Tang after finishing the knot. Tang lifted the hand to his face, trying to inspect what he was just given.
A sudden shake interrupts the moment, causing larger cracks to form in the color surrounding them. Cian looked up at the fractures, glaring at them as its body seemed to flicker in and out of existence.
“What's happening?!” Tang gasped, seeing the cracks grow larger and Cian’s body starting to fade away.
‘Those damned snakes.’ It spat to itself, turning slowly to Tang's panicked form as its body kept fading more and more.
‘We will see each other again. Keep that bell on you at all times. Just wait for me…’ Its voice faded out, becoming background noise as its body finally disappeared and the cracks overcame the color.
Pieces of color began to crumble down, revealing a familiar black void underneath. Tang couldn't hear himself after Cian vanished, so he could only feel himself screaming as he was sucked downwards by a sudden pull, taking him away from the warmth and stability.
Now everything was cold. Pieces of the former void changed to blend into the new one, giving Tang only darkness as he slowly started to lose himself. He closed his eyes and he continued to fall. He flailed his limbs as he did so, screaming at the top of his lungs to no result except silence; nothing caught him this time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tang wakes up on the hardwood floor. His limbs felt numb to sensation, as he could only feel prickles as he came to realize he was awake. He couldn't remember much from his dream…
After staying in place for a good couple of minutes, he regained some feeling, but only the soreness in his arms and legs. It felt like the time he tried training with Sandy: like his muscles would fall off at any attempt to move them.
Still, he groans as he raises his head, trying to look at where he ended up this time. He was on his bedroom floor (again. Maybe that's why he felt so sore) near the open window, one arm hanging outside, almost as if he was trying to climb out in his sleep. The sky was dim, and he could feel the early breeze outside, causing a shiver to run up his spine.
He quickly pulled his arm out of the window, letting it fall to the floor when the prickly sensation became too much to continue. Staring at the ceiling was the only thing he could do at the moment when his body was out of commission, so he did just that.
Waiting for the exhaustion in his limbs to go away seemed to take forever. He could hear how more and more people began to go outside as it turned from dawn to morning. He saw how sunlight entered his bedroom, shining onto his torso as he laid still. The warmth was nice, he supposed.
He only tried to move after he saw his whole room lit up with the sun's rays, with a shadow suddenly blocking some of the light, most likely a cloud, then moving out of the way for light to come back with a vengeance on his face. He squinted, annoyed at the light now trying to blind his already crap eyes.
Moving forward, he pulled his arms in and pushed himself onto his elbows, then taking a knee as he pushed off from there. After grabbing the window ledge for stability, Tang was now fully standing!
That only helped so much as his limbs still felt like lead with everything else giving off prickling sensations, and his vision was blurry without his glasses. He sighed heavily, knowing he would have to get to his bedside table to have his sight back.
Slowly but surely, he wobbly stepped up to his bed, flopped on top of it, and rolled on his side, leading himself to the side table.
Mentally cringing that he had to do that, he quickly reached to where he put his glasses, and then put them on. He felt more secure when his vision returned.
Now with more stability, Tang slowly sat up, raising his hands to rub the drowsiness from his eyes. However, something snagged on his scarf as he did so, making him look down as his wrist confused.
It was a bell. A small, golden bell attached to a thin bracelet that was tied with a bow.
Wh-what… He thought, shocked at the piece of jewelry around his wrist. It was in my dream, how did it get here!? HOW IS IT REAL!?!?
In his panicked state, he tried everything to get rid of the thing. Pulling it off didn't work unless he wanted to dislocate his thumb. Ripping it off didn't work, as it only hurt his wrist in the process (it ripped off so easily earlier…).
Finally, cutting it off didn't work either, as Tang forced himself up to the kitchen, leaning on the counter, and then tried every sharp item he could grab to get it off. An assortment of knives: nope, but he did cut himself a few times, bleeding a bit onto the counter. Scissors: became crooked and useless after the attempt. Pizza cutter: couldn't even scratch the band.
Now tired and with a hurting wrist, he wobbled over to the living room, took off his glasses, now holding them in his hand, and flopped onto the couch face first. After a few seconds, he screamed into the cushions.
He wanted nothing to do with this. Whatever was messing with his dreams, and probably sanity, could go suck on a lemon for all he cared. He didn't want to put up with this anymore.
I want to leave. I'm going to leave. I'm going to go so far that whatever is affecting me can't chase me this time. So I can finally figure out what’s wrong with me. So I can get rid of it. So I can see my friends again…
He tilted his head to the side as he put on his glasses, seeing how his apartment looked like a hailstorm had run through it from his previous episode. All of his stuff was still thrown about; he could easily see everything that he had trashed around the room.
‘I can't ____ __em at ___.’
Tang quickly sat up, grabbing his head in frustration. Adrenaline rushed through his body as he stood up, grabbed the previously discarded backpack near his front door and started to rush around the apartment, grabbing anything useful. He's going to put this into action. He's not going to chicken out again.
A thermos left on the counter from his previous search along with a plastic water bottle and a small water filter get thrown in first. All of these items have signs of wear from continuous usage.
Then he walks towards a fallen pile, taking a pair of baggy black shorts and some t-shirt advertising a random acting troupe, extra socks and underwear, and a well worn sun hat from it and throwing most of the clothing into the front pocket, letting the sun hat hang from his neck.
‘Som___ing isn't _____ here, he ________ b_ ____.’
The voice was muffled, being drowned out by Tang's erratic movements, digging through the piles of junk looking for specific items.
He came up with one of his old journals, the leather binding making it seem older than it really was. He picked it up harshly, opening the strap and looking through the pages.
There was a big number 3 circled at the start of it. Tang used to number his journals when he just started writing, but he let up with it when he started to mainly doodle instead of write.
He looked further through the writing. It was his travel journal; it was something he kept as he went from place to place, writing about his days and interesting events that he saw or was involved in.
There were a good couple of pages left in the journal. He remembered he stopped writing in it when he came to Metrapolis in his 20's, getting an apartment and settling down in one place.
After a moment of thought, he took the journal and packed it into the main part of his backpack with the water bottle and thermos. He then grabbed a small umbrella on the floor near the pile, putting it into one of the water bottle pockets on the side.
He then walked briskly to the bathroom, ignoring the mirror and looking under the sink. He grabbed a small zipped up bag containing first aid equipment. Things like bandaids, antibacterial packets, tweezers, a small pack of sunscreen, bug bite patches, and other small aids were inside.
‘Why is __ __ing so ____ like th__?’
He ignored the voice again, harshly putting the first aid pouch in front of his backpack next to the clothes. He quickly goes back to the kitchen after leaving the bathroom, taking out as many non-perishables that he can fit into his bag. Things like chip bags, canned food, and some fruit strips plus granola bars.
After he finished, he seemed to just stare at the bag. Looking through its seams, almost like he was trying to reason something from the backpack. His breathing slowed as he did so, becoming deep and rhythmic as he continued to stare, letting his adrenaline drop.
He took the plastic water bottle out, then zipped up the bag. He quickly filled it up with water before putting it in the other pocket on the bag's side, matching the umbrella.
Taking some time to rest, he left the backpack on the counter and walked to his living room window, looking down at the people below.
Down on the street, he saw the grannies on their way to class together, walking past people in uniform serving the outside tables of a popular chain restaurant. Kids walked with their parents, and a hoverbike raced by above traffic causing some napkins to fly up and away in the daylight.
He felt the warmth of the sun through the window. This was all regular. This was all normal. No shocks, no loud noises, no orange. It helped him relax, letting the tension bleed from his limbs and shoulders.
Leaving the living room, he went back into his bedroom for his phone. Its screen was cracked like his glasses; he grabbed it off the bedside table (he tried to turn it on, but it was dead again) and put it into his pants back pocket.
He then opened the drawer under it, taking out a solar powered battery bank and his wallet. After wrapping the battery cord in his hands, he looked to the floor, seeing The Origins of JTTW open on the ground.
After a bit of hesitation, he crouched down and picked up the book. It was open to the page of the Great Monk, how he was involved in the original story and how he differed from the legends based on what remnants archeologists could find of him.
The Great Monk took up a few more pages after that, most of it being clear pictures of the scrolls and other items recovered proving his existence. Tang closed the book and tucked it under his arm, walking back to the kitchen and packing the book, letting the solar battery hang on a zipper like a keychain to charge as he walked.
He didn't really have anything else to do now. He leaned on the counter, glaring at the backpack, like it was the one who made him crazy. After a few moments, he bowed his head and sighed, walking back to the living room and looking at the mess.
There was nothing else he needed; nothing else jumped out at him to take it along with him. Well, that was until he saw something reflecting the sunlight from the window, buried under ripped paper and post-its.
Walking to the small pile, he brushed aside the pieces of paper, finding his old combat boots underneath. He didn't need to use them much when he first got them, as he mostly stayed in place as he read at his station.
They looked like they would still fit him; he deflated a bit as he noticed that he hasn't grown much since then. Slowly pulling them out of the scraps, he took them to the couch. As he changed from his new-ish flats to thin socks and his old combat boots, he thought how nice it was that he didn't have to shave his head to wear these again.
After tying up the laces and tucking the top of the boots under his embroidered pant cuffs, he stood to grab the bag from the counter and reached for his key ring near the door.
Leaving his apartment, he closed and locked the door softly, making sure he wouldn't be heard leaving. Putting his key ring in his other pants pocket, he went down the stairs towards the building entrance.
Standing in front of the double doors, Tang hesitated. Will this be alright? I'm not even sure that leaving will get rid of these voices… But what if I can find some answers? What if I can finally get better? I might as well try.
He steps out the doors determined. The white noise washes over him; discussions, multiple vehicles passing by, and nature blurred together in the community.
Tang starts to walk. He walks past familiar spots like Lazy Susan's, unfamiliar people that walk by just the same, and the new visuals popping up as all of this keeps changing with the times.
He walks, and walks, and walks. His ankles feel like you would give out, but he needed to keep walking to get away from the familiarity and sameness of Metrapolis. He won't find closure here: he needs to find answers elsewhere, and on his own.
Zoning back into his surroundings, he sees that his muscle memory has led him somewhere he recognized. He was right in front of Pigsy's Noodles, in all its glory.
He saw how the metal blinds were drawn and the sign signified it was closed. The entrance wasn't the same as the window, though, still open for anyone to waltz in if they like.
Sighing to himself, Tang checks inside the restaurant to make sure no one was looting the place, then reaches up and pulls down the metal entrance cover with a bit of effort, locking it at the bottom for Pigsy.
After shaking his arm at the slight effort (the bell on his wrist never rang out), he figured that he should probably let someone know where he was going so he wasn't plastered on a missing poster or something.
Remembering his dead phone, he grumbled as he reached into his bag, pulling out his journal and first aid kit, then ripping out a page and some medical tape. After putting the materials back in the bag, he took a small pen off of his key ring and wrote out a note for Pigsy.
Hey Pigsy, this is from Tang. I'm just letting you know that I'll be out of town for a bit. I probably won't have any cell service most of the time, so I'll message you when I can. Also, I closed the restaurant entrance for you, protecting it from any potential thieves! I think that my actions deserve a free bowl of noodles when I get back.
—Warm regards, Tang ♡
After finishing the note, he used the medical tape to secure it to the metal blinds over the window, mainly under its awning to protect the message from the elements.
Now someone knows I'm leaving. Maybe people will actually listen if he's the one to tell them. Tang thought as he walked away from the shop, not thinking about it too much longer for his remaining sanity.
He continued to walk, seeing the neon on the skyscrapers and tall buildings thin out to smaller houses next to small Mom and Pop shops. He sits on the edge of a cleaner sidewalk to take a small break, taking the solar battery off the zipper and plugging in his phone.
He checked the time on it when it was charged enough, seeing it was about 2:37 PM at the moment. That's probably why the sun is glaring down at him right now, making him put on the sun hat and take a drink from his water bottle.
After putting everything back into his bag, he rolled up his sleeves, put his phone into his pocket and continued his walk to the outskirts of Metrapolis.
The buildings seemed to dwindle as he went farther and farther out, only seeing a few houses spread across grassy fields as he came closer and closer to the exit.
After he walked for a few more minutes, he could see the exit sign (more like a billboard) in full. It said, “Now leaving Metrapolis, we hope to see you again soon!” In bright yellow, pink, and blue.
Tang huffed at the bright colors, looking past the sign at the road leading out of the city. No buildings filled the sides, no signs lit up the road, and no one seemed to be walking along its side like he was. Only a flat road led out of the city, showing how different the inside compared to the flat plains ahead.
This was it. He only needed to walk a bit further to be out of the Metrapolis. Away from his city and friends. He could finally start to figure out what was happening to him.
He took a deep breath, focussing on the path ahead, and stepped past the sign.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sun had barely started to set when Tang arrived at his first destination. It was a small gas station, a piece of the city between the rolling hills and fields around them.
A car that looked like a taxi was parked near one of the pumps, with a person no older than 25 seeming to be having trouble with it as he kept kicking the pump near the taxi.
Ignoring the person, Tang walked inside the gas station to refill his water bottle. He exchanged pleasantries with the cashier before exiting again, seeing the presumed taxi driver still going ham on the pump, seemingly not letting up since Tang saw him last.
Sighing internally, Tang tried to walk past the unfortunate driver, but was stopped when the kid started to shout at him. “Hey! Hey you! Can you help me out here? This stulid pump ate my card, and I have a time limit to make it back!”
Tang looked back suspiciously, trying to see if he was about to get kidnapped or not. The person looked decent, short shaggy brown hair with a navy button down along with gray leggings and white tennis shoes with a panicked expression: not that suspicious. He also saw the cashier had a clear view of this specific pump, and some cameras were sprinkled around the gas station, so Tang was willing to risk it.
As he got closer, he saw the card was too far in the reader to get it out with your fingers. Tang nodded his head in sympathy. “Erm, sure. Just give me a second.” He pulled out his first aid kit and took the tweezers out, starting to try and pull the thing out of the reader.
The driver talked his ear off as he did so. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I tried to do a long drive for someone down at the Golden South province all the way to Metrapolis, but I ran out of gas on my way back. I got a lot of tip money from it, but now I might not make it back in time to turn in the taxi. I don't want to have to pay the late fee again: my boss racks it up depending on how many times it's been turned in late, and I've already been late 6 official times-”
“Here you go.” Tang interrupts, shoving the now free card into the driver's face. The driver lit up at receiving his card back, pocketing it and unlocking the taxi, getting in after pulling the pump out. Tang goes to wipe the tweezers down before putting them back in his bag.
Then before Tang could leave, the driver rolled down the taxi window, poking his head out. “By the way, do you need to go anywhere? I'm just going back to Open Border, but I can drop you off anywhere along the way, free of charge! I can even take a shortcut for you if need be.”
Tang debated his options. He did need to get to Golden South as it had one of his old colleagues there that he could consult with, and getting there purely on foot would take a while. It was also that Tang didn't really want to waste any time in getting rid of his problem. The driver seemed nice enough, no big dents or scratches on the car and no oddities as far as Tang could see.
He decided to accept on a whim. It's not like there were any nearby hotels anyways, and he didn't want to sleep outside this time, especially with what's been going on. “Oh, sure. Just drop me when you stop in Golden South; I'll find my way from there.” Tang accepted, opening the door and getting into the back seat.
“That sounds good to me! I'll let you out before I turn in the taxi. By the way, my name is Zach.” Zach introduced after getting back into the driver's seat and rolling up the window.
“Nice to meet you. You can call me Tang” Tang replied from the back seat, quickly taking off his backpack and putting it on the car floor.
“Will do Tang!” Zach then put the car out of park and into drive, pulling out of the gas Station, and then driving down the smooth road away from Metrapolis.
Tang looked out the back window,seeing more and more of the city fading from view. He looked away after some moments, going to look out his side window, out at the grass and setting sun. He closes his eyes.
‘Are you done?’
Tang shoots his eyes open, trying not to freak out when someone else is currently in the car. He attempts to look around discreetly, but he already knows it won't result in anything meaningful.
Just ignore it. It's not like it'll talk to you again. Just let it babble along and fade away. He reasoned, going back to looking out the window.
‘Are we really doing this?’
Tang didn't react, ignoring the voice and letting himself disassociate.
‘You are making this difficult.’
Tang didn't reply. The hands on his lap held onto his pants with a death grip.
The voice sighed heavily, then let the car ride fall into silence yet again. Tang sighed in relief, sagging into his seat…
A huge flash of light suddenly came from the seat beside Tang, causing him to jump at the blast. “You okay back there?” Zach asked concerned, stopped at a traffic light.
Tang took a second to respond. “Oh! Oh, yeah, I'm completely fine. Don't worry about it!” Zach looked unconvinced, but returned his eyes to the road when the traffic light turned green.
Tang quickly looked to the empty seat beside him, jaw dropping at the figure now sitting there, jogging the foggy memory from his dreams. It was Cian.
‘Will you converse with me now?’ Cian asked, a bit smug.
Wh-what the hell?! How is this happening?! Tang thought, panicking internally.
Cian scoffed at the question. ‘Do I have to spell everything out for you? I’m projecting my body through the token I gave you. Only you can see and hear me as you're the one wearing it.’
Tang started to spiral. Token? Does it mean the stuped bell?! Have I finally snapped…
Cian seemed like it was about to snap itself, deeply frowning at Tang. Suddenly, it reached out to grab Tang's wrist, physically pulling on the bell he woke up with. Tang fell onto his side at the sudden pull, alerting Zach again. “Are you sure you're okay? You're completely fine if you have motion sickness! I can pull over if you want.”
Tang quickly refutes. “No, no, it's alright. I just dropped something.” He sat up slowly, rubbing the now sore wrist from the pull.
‘Will you acknowledge me now?’
Tang grimaced, staring at his feet as he scooted as far away from Cian as he could. You're real. How are you real? Were you the one messing with my dreams for some sort of sick amusement?
Cian sighed, getting closer and lifting Tang's wrist up by the bracelet. ‘To answer the last question, no. How I'm here is because I'm connected with you through our shared abilities. I was once able to harness the same power you used against the Lady Bone Demon.’
Cian then let his wrist go, letting it fall onto the car seat. ‘But now you have them. So I think it's only my duty to help you before those flares get out of control. They mainly affect your perception of reality, which is why you've been experiencing more and more visions as time went on.’
Tang took a deep breath, still staring at his feet. Then how can I get rid of them? The visions, voices, whatever's affecting me.
Cian leaned back and looked out the window. ‘They stop once you get control over your powers. However, you're too weak at the moment to even try overcoming anything by your own will.’
Tang laughed bitterly to himself as he ran a hand through his messy hair, dislodging his sunhat. That figures.
Cian grinned widely out of Tang's view at the scholars's response. ‘I do have a solution to help, though. I can offer my previous strength to help you overcome your weaknesses.’
Tang looked up to Cian, a condescending smile on his face. And why should I trust you? For all I know, you could be the one giving me these hellish visions in the first place, or I'm still hallucinating! It's not like I'm being coerced by a random voice that only I can see and speak to in my mind at the moment.
Cian didn't take the sarcasm lightly; loose dust and other debris floated up from the floor as it looked Tang in the eyes. ‘I can easily let you keep living your days alone and paranoid, plagued by visions. I am trying to give you an escape and some way to fight back. And you're judging me this quickly? What would those so-called friends of yours think when they find you huddled in your trashed apartment, trapped within the confines of your mind and reliving the worst moments of your life over and over? You would become useless to them. They wouldn't give you a second glance before leaving you in your filth.’
Tang didn't grace Cian with an answer, keeping a white-knuckled grip on his pants.
Before either could break the new silence, Zach spoke ahead. “I'm going to take a small back road if that's okay. Be warned, it's a little bumpy as it's mainly gravel and dirt.”
Tang just gave a hum of affirmation, looking back out his window at the dimming sky and the trees now blocking his view as the car detoured to the back road.
Cian didn't speak again after that, disappearing from view. The dust dropped abruptly as it did so, letting Tang continue his car ride with some semblance of peace.
Previous | Next | Start
Lovely supporter, I hope this message finds you and your family in good health and high spirits.
This is Eman Zaqout a Biotechnologist and PhD student from Gaza. I've started a fundraising campaign and urgently need your help to spread it to the world, after losing my house and my job in the genocide in Gaza and living in a life that you can't bear watch it behind screens.
I hope you can take a look at my campaign on the pinned post on my profile, and help us by donating or sharing our campaign to reach the largest number of supporters.
Thank you for your continuous help for the Palestinian cause until freedom is achieved.
Please know that our campaign is verified by @90-ghost, @aces-and-angels
Hi .. i hope you are doing well and your beloved ones ..
I am motaz a nurse from doomed gaza .. struggling to live with my little 3 sons .. and my wife fedaa who works as a pediatrican .. we lost every thing in this war trying just to stay alive .. and facing death every sinle minute .. living in a tent and relocating every few days .. searching for a safe place .. !
me and my wife are working for more than 10 months without any payement .. but we keep helping injured and sick persons ..
If you want to give us some hope you can donate and support us ..
Every donation you give means life to us ..
Thanx for every thing .. every honest feeling with our suffering ..
donate and shares widely 🆘🆘 1100 SEK = 100 dollars each (55 sek =5$) will make a difference🙏🍉
be the one who saves us
Vetted by 90-ghost
My family in Gaza lives under indescribable difficult conditions. The home that was once our safe haven is now a source of anxiety and fear. My father used to work hard to provide for us, but the war stopped everything, leaving us facing hardships without support. My younger siblings dream of living a normal life, playing and studying without fear of the future. Every help we receive means life, means hope for a better tomorrow. We need a hand to reach out to us, to light our way and ease this pain. Your donation is not just money, it is hope and an opportunity for a dignified lifehttps://gofund.me/ba5b76e9
Hello dears ! I am asking you to support my campaign to help me to reach my goal. I am now in bad need to your support to help me stay alive and safe. Gaza is a very dangerous place either on the level of livelihood or on the level of souls. I need your monetary support to ensble me to get the basic needs for my family till Rafah crossing point reopens to move my family to safety and peace.Pleasd help a family be alive through your small donations or througn your shares to others.Thank you so much for your stand beside people in need .
Here our donation link 🔗 :
https://www.tumblr.com/momenalstaz/758462129588273152?source=share
Hello, I would be grateful if you could help me and my children to save our lives from this war and the danger of death. We lost my husband in this damned war and no one is helping me. Please help me by donating and participating so that we can escape out of Gaza to safety.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-kifah-and-her-children-in-gaza-crisis
Hello,🖐️
I hope you are well 🌷.
I am reaching out with a heartfelt request for your support in a critical fundraising campaign that could change our lives. We have launched a GoFundMe❤️ campaign to gather the necessary funds to save my family and enable us to travel✈️ to Egypt. We are in urgent need of these resources to relocate and live safely.
Any donation🙏🏼, no matter how small, will have a profound impact and bring us closer to achieving this dream.
If you are unable to donate, please help us by sharing the campaign with your friends and family to expand our support network.
Can you my pinned Post? On my account 😞
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your time and consideration. Your support means the world to us. 🙏❤️
Best regards,
A World Without Him
Chapter 12
-The day before, at 10:30 AM-
Pigsy’s Noodles was just opening shop, with the owner of said restaurant hauling up the metal door and blinds, then lighting up the store's sign to show it was in business.
Then he walked back into the kitchen to check all the appliances and heat up the broth, going into a sort of trance as he checked over everything in his kitchen. A friendly face came by a couple minutes after the official opening, helping to take down the chairs and putting them in the correct spots. After finishing up, the friend went over to the bar and started to chat with the chef.
“Hello Pigsy!” He offered with a grin, sitting down a bit uncomfortably onto one of the nearby stools. “Hey there, Sandy.” Pigsy answered absent-mindedly, focussing on his prep before finishing and walking towards the bar. This was the bit of free time Pigsy had before orders started showing up, so he had some time to talk.
“Do you think Mk will come by today?” Sandy asked, looking around the shop as if he expected Mk to pop out at any moment.
“Not exactly.” Pigsy grumbled. “He hasn't been by here for the past three days, not like he was even pretending to deliver noodles before.”
“Aw, don't be like that Pigsy! I know Mk has been out and about for the past few weeks, but it's only because he's been stopping demons left and right! We're his friends, so he wouldn't just leave without a reason to.” Sandy offered, leaning over the bar as if to make a point.
“I know, I know Sandy.” Pigsy says, waving off the blue giant before staring out onto the street, seemingly lost in his thoughts.
Sandy noticed the change in tone immediately. “What's on your mind, Pigsy? It's never good to bottle up your thoughts or emotions. You seem a little tense. Is this about Mk, or something else?”
Pigsy paused for a moment, thinking it over before sighing heavily. “It's about Tang” “What about him exactly?” Sandy asked.
“Well, ugh. It's just that he's worrying me. He's been cooped up in that apartment of his for the past couple weeks, which you know he only does when he's trying to ride something out on his own, and he's been especially weird after the whole library fight!
“You saw how he didn't answer his phone that day. When I went up to get him, I… his entire apartment was trashed. Things broken and thrown around the room sort of thing. He also looked like a complete mess, with his hair all over the place along with dust and other stuff covering his clothes. His glasses were even cracked!
“Then he brushed me off when I tried to get him to talk, saying how he'd been through a lot that day, dropping a bomb on how he was stuck under a building for hours, and then how he just needed some time alone. I let it go at the time, but staying alone after an event like that happened to him is worrying me about what actually happened at the library.
Pigsy pauses for a second before continuing, now a bit more solemn in his tone. “If he thought what happened at the library was something he could handle by himself, then I'm concerned for all the other stuff he thinks is better going through alone. I'm just wondering if there's something he's not telling me: something that he's been harboring at his apartment all this time.”
Sandy nodded along with Pigsy’s words, growing more and more concerned as Pigsy went on. “Have you tried asking him about this? Maybe checking in on him, too?”
Pigsy huffed, looking at the ground before turning back to Sandy. “I didn't know it had gotten this bad until I saw him yesterday. But I did tell him to come here at noon to talk about it, and that I would drag him here myself if he were late. I'm just hoping he'll actually come by himself instead of staying inside again.”
Sandy nodded, still looking concerned at what Pigsy had told him. “Does anyone else know this is going on?”
Pigsy looked to the side, a bit ashamed. “No one else needs to know the specifics yet. I wouldn't want to overwhelm Tang with that many people knowing. It's not like I have that many people I could tell anyways.”
Sandy looked like he wanted to say something, but he never got the chance when the bell on the shop door rang, taking Pigsy's attention away from the conversation.
“I'd better get to that order. We'll continue this later, Sandy.” Pigsy said, leaving Sandy at the bar to attend to the growing crowd.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pigsy was spread thin throughout his restaurant. He had to stop offering delivery at the moment when no one acceptable would apply for the job in Mk's stead, which definitely put a dent into his profits.
At the start, it was fine. People would often order out through his window instead of delivery, and all he needed to do was throw the noodles onto the shelf for people to grab.
Then more people would start to line up, and the pressure of making everything on time became overwhelming along with the struggle of waiting on everyone eating in.
All of this combined started to grate on Pigsy's nerves as more and more people started to complain about the wait time.
If they want their freaking noodles in 5 minutes, then why don't they COME IN AND MAKE IT THEMSELVES.
Pigsy might actually kiss Tang if he came by so he could finally get a break from all the complaints and passive aggressive comments, even if Tang is already way too late just for a slap on the wrist. Pigsy would go out there and drag him down himself if Tang didn't show up in the next few minutes-
*CRASH*
The sudden noise dragged Pigsy's focus away from the noodles he was preparing. He looked up rapidly and saw a mop of brown hair coming towards him at an alarming speed, knocking some chairs over in the process.
“Kid, what are you doing here?!” Pigsy yelled out, but it fell on deaf ears as he was grabbed by his elbow and pulled out of the kitchen.
“No time Pigsy. Something's up with Monkey King, the island has become a bit overwhelming and I need your guys's help stat!” The kid replied, going over to where Sandy was sitting and yanking him out of his stool. Sandy had to contort his body almost inhumanely just to keep the tea in his hands from spilling out.
But that work was for naught as the kid was suddenly getting ready to fly off again, only giving Pigsy a second to cut off the sign and drag down the blinds before the kid jumped off towards Flower Fruit Mountain. Sandy dropped his cup somewhere on the way.
When they landed in front of the waterfall entrance, they only had seconds to recover before all the duo could hear were the kid's ramblings. “I'm not sure what's wrong but he hasn't come out of the waterfall for a week and the sigil on it has been acting weird and I don't know what to do- wait, where's Mr Tang? I thought I grabbed everyone at the bar.”
The kid looked at them both, searching for a certain scholar, yet coming up with nothing other than the small monkeys hanging around the waterfall coming a bit closer to inspect the new visitors.
Pigsy, after recovering from the whiplash, cleared his throat. “Mk, Tang is probably at his apartment. He's going to be at the shop any minute to talk with me though, so I need to get back pretty soon.”
“Oh, I can wait for Mr Tang to get there for you! I just needed to get you all here to figure out how to get Monkey King out and ask him about the island. It wont take too long, right?” Mk asked with a nervous grin.
Pigsy sighed as he pinched his nose bridge. “I wanted to have some time to have a serious talk with Tang. Alone. I can't exactly put that off for whatever Monkey King has gotten himself into this time.”
Mk wouldn't back down at Pigsy's protest, though. “You can just have it here, then! Mei's already inside and all I need Tang to do is sort through all the mystic junk for anything useful and ask him what he thinks is wrong with the island and Monkey King. After that, all I need him to do is sit back and watch as we help Monkey King fix everything up-”
The ground suddenly shakes as the sigil on the waterfall started to glow, cracks in the surrounding stone growing before loose rock fell into the dense forest, knocking down some trees in the process. The monkeys around them jumped and started to run at the sounds, huddling together in fear.
Mei came running out of the waterfall at the commotion. “Another one already!? AUUUUGH, THIS BLOWS!” She yelled as she took a stance in front of the waterfall and shot up towards its sigil, using her family sword to stab it infused with the Samadhi Fire.
The sigil glowed sporadically, the shaking becoming more severe before it finally cracked under the pressure and started to dull, slightly softening the shaking.
Mk's expression became more tense as he yelled to Sandy and Pigsy. “Do you guys see what's happening now!? I need you to keep us safe from the falling rocks while I help Mei.”
Mk ran off before either of them could respond, leaving them in the path of all the debris with a job to do.
Sandy immediately jumped up and started to punch the rocks into bits before they could hit the ground and cause more damage, and after a few seconds of hesitation, Pigsy joined him.
This went on for what seemed like forever: the continuous tasks becoming tiresome for the both of them. But then, long after their knuckles became bloody and numb, the rocks finally stopped falling and the island became silent. When Pigsy and Sandy made it back to the waterfall entrance, they saw how the sigil had gained more small cracks compared to when they saw it before.
Then, looking towards the floor, they could see Mei and Mk laid out on the ground, both breathing heavily as Pigsy and Sandy approached.
“Are you both alright?” Sandy asked, crouching down near the duo to see if they were hurt.
“Nah, *huff* we're both *huff* fine. Just tired from the *huff* overuse.” Mei answered from the floor.
Pigsy sat down next to them. “What just happened back there? Is this why you snatched us out of the shop?”
Mk took a few moments to breathe, and then he finally answered after sitting up. “Yeah, this is why I went and got you. I just figured out this was happening after I hadn't heard from Monkey King in a while and went to check on him.”
Mk looked around the waterfall entrance, a pensive look forming on his face. “I'll tell you more inside. It'll be easier to show you there.” Mk said, standing up with some difficulty along with Mei before walking to the entrance.
Standing in front of the seal with everyone behind him, Mk put his palm up and onto the seal and waited.
It flickered, the image shorting in and out of everyone's view, before it dulled completely. Mk sighed in relief at that before stepping in. Mei, Sandy, and Pigsy followed in his stead.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They walked through hills of weapons, scrolls, and other junk Monkey King had piled in here over the years. Sandy knocked some of the stuff over in the process, and everyone almost tripped over the junk more than once.
They eventually made it to a clearing with a small, wooden hut in the middle of it. Mk looked past it and went towards some logs on the floor, sitting on the one with moss covering half of its side.
Mei sat beside him with Sandy and Pigsy choosing their own logs, looking at Mk expectantly.
Mk sighed heavily before speaking. “The seal has been acting completely overkill since I got here. I don't know what affected it, it's just been going crazy at random times and doing that to the surrounding area.”
Pigsy looked towards the wooden hut, and then back to Mk. “Then where's Monkey King? Shouldn't he be able to fix all this, as it’s his own waterfall seal or whatever?”
Mk grumbled to the floor, so Mei answered instead. “Mk's already looked into the shack with his golden vision. He now knows for sure Monkey King is in that hut right now, but no matter what we do, that monkey won't come out: I even played the Nyan Cat theme for an hour and a half straight! Nothing we do can even scratch what that shack is made of anyway, so breaking it open won't work either.”
This only made Pigsy more annoyed with the king. “So he won't even come out when his island is going to crap? Why is he hiding in the first place anyway?” Pigsy spat, clearly fed up with how Wukong had been handling everything.
Sandy gives Pigsy a pat on the shoulder. “I'm sure Monkey King has a reason for shutting himself away, and now that me and Pigsy are here, we can try and help as much as we can to get him out.” Sandy offered, trying to lessen the growing tension.
Pigsy stood up quickly, shrugging off Sandy’s hand as he marched towards the hut. “If nothing you tried was able to get that stupid monkey to come out, then I'll have to resort to my Special Recipe to get him out of that stupid shack.” He mumbled with a sadistic grin, marching up the stairs to the hut’s main door.
Sandy just sighed and Mk winced in sympathy. “What's the big deal about it?” Mei asked curiously.
“You remember that one time I passed in my room from training for a day straight and was late for my job at Pigsy’s the next day?” Mk asked Mei, seeing Pigsy grab a whole thing of pots and pans out of somewhere.
“Yeah?” Mei responded, a bit more confused than before.
“Apparently, I was sleeping like a rock, and Pigsy couldn't shake me awake or do anything to get me conscious. So, instead, he grabbed the strongest smelling ingredients he had at the time, cooked them together, and shoved the finished product in my face. I was shocked awake so badly that I almost made a hole in my ceiling.” Mk laughed slightly at the end, looking back at Pigsy and seeing the chef giggling to himself as he added what seemed to be garlic and chilies.
“Ohhhhh! That's why you kept taking my scented hand sanitizer for like, a whole week that one time!” Mei remembered, poking at Mk’s cheek.
“Yeah, yeah. I wasn't even allowed to taste the dang thing he made either!” Mk complained a bit, shaking his hand in the air to Mei’s amusement as she chuckled with Sandy.
The story had lightened the mood, lifting a bit of stress off of everyone's shoulders. A few moments after, Pigsy finally finished whatever he was doing near the door and gestured rapidly for them to come up near the hut.
With a bit of hesitation, they walked towards the door and almost immediately gagged at the strong smell. Even Pigsy had a cloth over his face as he picked up the bowl emitting what they were smelling.
“Are we even sure that's gonna work? I don't want that lingering here longer than it has to.” Mei said, a bit muffled under the sleeve she used to block out the smell.
“Did I wave you over here to critique my methods? No, I got you over here to help me get Monkey King outside.” Pigsy rebutted.
“How are we even going to get that stuff inside piggy? Like I said, this shack is basically indestructible!” Mei complained, leaning on one of the wooden rails near the stairs as Pigsy covered the bowl from the complaint.
A moment of silence passed…
Sandy spoke up in a small voice, pointing somewhere at the hut. “Uh, maybe we could do something with that cracked window?”
Everyone followed Sandy's hand to a busted up, dirty looking window that had about an inch of a gap underneath it from being pushed to one side.
Mk spoke up in a chipper tone. “Oh! I didn't see that before… that could work!”
After all of them used almost too many attempts at lifting the window, (Mei trying to leverage it with her sword with Pigsy plus Sandy trying to lift it bare handed), Mk was able to open it by shrinking down his staff, putting it in the gap, and growing it big enough to shove the window open.
The staff went flying at the extra force, but it was luckily caught by Mk before it could hit Sandy square in the nose.
After everyone settled down, Mk volunteered to get the monkey as no one knew what Monkey King would do when he woke up if someone like Mk almost put a hole in his ceiling. Mk also had the highest chance of surviving whatever the king threw out at him.
“Okay, just be careful in there, kid.” Pigsy stated, handing the bowl (now with a cloth over the top) over for Mk to carry.
“Don't worry Pigsy, I'll be in and out no problem!” Mk then slinked in through the window, careful not to spill anything, before standing up in what seemed to be Monkey King's living room.
“Do you see him anywhere?” Sandy yelled through the window.
“Nah, just a bunch of Monkey King merch so far!” Mk yelled back, balancing the bowl in one hand as he lifted blankets with the king's face on it and looked through piles of video tapes.
When he put the bowl back in both hands, he finally activated his golden vision, looking through the walls for the king. He finally saw Monkey King at the end of the hallway, huddled up on a pile of blankets on the floor.
“Monkey King!” Mk called out, rushing over to the monkey's side.
The king looked worse-for-wear, fur matted and dirty along with how his brows were creased and sweaty. He looked like he was in a deep sleep: like he was having a nightmare.
Mk took no time in leaning down, taking off the cloth and shoving the bowl into Monkey King's face. The monkey's eyes shot open as he punched the nearest wall behind, causing a hole 2 feet leading outside wide to splinter into existence. The king also yanked to bowl out of Mk's hands and drank the whole thing as footsteps approached.
“WOAH- What was that?!” Pigsy yelled out, running to the punch site with Mei and Sandy in tow.
“It's ok, it's ok! Monkey King just woke up.” Mk reassured. Said Monkey was still on the ground, his breathing slowing down yet not becoming any less heavy.
Pigsy was about to say something else, but Monkey King quickly raised his hand to quiet him down. After a few more moments of catching his breath, Monkey King put down the bowl, finally stood up, and turned to Mk. “What are you doing here bud?”
Mk looked at Monkey King confused. “What do you mean “Why am I here”? I'm here because I haven't seen you all week and when I got here, the island was going crazy!”
Monkey King furrowed his brow, looking out of the hole he made. His eyes widened with a look of shock. Suddenly, gold mist filled the area as the king transformed into a bird and flew out of the house towards the waterfall entrance.
“Where is he going?!” Mei yelled, the rush of wind following the king making it hard to hear.
“I don't know, but we should probably follow him!” Mk shouted back, already speeding after the golden trail the monkey left behind with his own transformation.
Then everyone started running back through the junk piles and tunnels, trying to catch up to Monkey King and Mk as they sped off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monkey King flew over the island, staring down at the lines of fallen trees, the jagged rocks jutting out of the ground, and the cracks on his mountain he could clearly see below him.
He quickly de-transformed on one of the surrounding beaches, seeing everything in perspective with rocks double his size littering the sands.
He also noticed the sun had already set by the time he landed. The stars shone down onto the shore he stopped at, the waters uncharacteristically calm as they reflected the starlight.
He didn't know how all of this happened while he was… incapacitated. What got by him?
Mk finally caught up to him pretty quickly after his landing, going back into his regular form and running up to where the king was standing in the sand.
“Monkey King! *huff* Why'd you run off!?” Mk shouted out, still a good couple yards away.
“Oh, Mk! I'm sorry, I just… didn't expect everything to have gotten this bad. I had to check for myself, y'know” Monkey King answered nonchalantly, giving Mk a small grin.
Mk huffed at him when they finally stood side by side. “Well, you could've told us that before you ran off to who-knows-where. Everyone else is probably still behind-”
Right on cue, Mei, Sandy, and Pigsy came tumbling out of some of the nearby trees, clearly roughed up from trying to keep up with Mk and Monkey King.
“Did he finally stop???” Mei asked tiredly, immediately sitting down on the sand as Sandy sat with her and Pigsy moved past her.
“Oh hey guys! Yeah, I just needed to look over the damages. You didn't need to follow me though.” Monkey King stated with a shrug. Both Mei and Pigsy, obviously annoyed, were about to speak up before getting shushed by Monkey King.
“Shushushush, don't worry! I'll just bring you guys back to the entrance so you don't have to complain. Easy peasy!” He said cheerfully, grabbing them by the arms, even taking Mk by his tail, and summoning his cloud to ride back up to the waterfall.
“AHHHHHHH-” Everyone’s screams blurred together as Monkey King laughed and flew the cloud higher and higher.
When they finally arrived, he immediately poofed the cloud and let everyone fall to the floor. He casually walked up to the seal while everyone had to get their bearings, again, and looked over the dull image on the waterfall.
His grin fell a bit as he continued to look it over, turning to Mk, who was still on the floor. “So this is what’s making my island go crazy?”
“Oh? Yeah, I mean, I'm pretty sure. It glows whenever the mountain shakes, and when we attack it, it causes the tremors to stop.” Mk answered, a bit shakily as he stood up again, helping Mei and Pigsy up afterward with Sandy’s help.
“Huh… Well luckily, I know how to fix this! Probably.” Monkey King boasted, mumbling the last part under his breath.
“Wait REALLY?!” Everyone shouted in surprise.
“Well, yes, but I actually need a certain item to fix this, and it's inside.” Monkey King replied, kicking a pebble around while he did so.
Multiple groans sounded throughout the group. No one wanted to do more work after the day they all had.
Pigsy spoke up for the group, a bit exasperated. “Let's just do this tomorrow. The tremors aren't super often, right?”
“Yeah, they happen pretty randomly, and the latest one was the worst one so far. It usually just takes a hit from my staff to stop them completely, anyways.” Mk answers absent-mindedly, Mei nodding along.
“So let's just call it. Nothing good will come from doing all this now.” Pigsy continued, crossing his arms to make his stance clear.
“I agree with Pigsy. We've already exerted a lot of our energy, and trying to use any of our powers at the moment might not end well for us.” Sandy replied with a serious expression.
Monkey King looked pensive, but agreed nonetheless. “You guys are right. I have some extra blankets and stuff for you guys since getting back safely right now isn't exactly possible. Follow me.”
After waiting for the seal to unlock, Monkey King led the group back to the wood hut and went inside, leaving them standing outside.
And then, after a few minutes, he came back out with what seemed to be an excessive amount of sleeping bags, pillows and blankets stuffed in his hands.
“Here you are! I'm sorry this is the best I can do: there isn't much space in here now considering the hole in my wall. This space is protected from outside elements though, so don't worry about being rained on or something. Goodnight!” Monkey King said, throwing the items at the group and going back inside almost immediately.
Grumbling under his breath, Pigsy grabbed a Hello Kitty sleeping bag from the pile. Don't judge him too quickly, it was one of the only sleeping bags that didn't have Monkey King’s colors or face on it.
Sandy took most of the blankets and layered them on the floor for a more comfortable place to sleep. Mk took a sleeping bag with a yellow and red palette, thanked Sandy, and fell asleep almost immediately on the floor.
Mei followed soon after, taking a blanket with some lime patterns all over it with a matching pillow and falling asleep right next to Mk.
Then Sandy went a few minutes after her, taking his time to find the biggest blanket in the pile, a white blanket with a blue and yellow trim that couldn't reach Sandy's feet, before laying down near the edge of the softened ground.
And now Pigsy was the last on up, staring at some of the stars he could see past the configuration of the mountain. He couldn't fall asleep that easily, even though he was practically exhausted from the day like everyone else.
It took a couple more minutes, but he did end up falling asleep eventually, finally nodding off in his bright pink sleeping bag.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The shaking woke them up again. The sigil had apparently thought it was the best time to activate as everyone got a very violent wake up call, slightly throwing them around on the floor.
Mk got up first, rubbing his eyes as he walked up to the hut to get Monkey King to help. He knocked once: no one answered. He knocked twice: no answer again.
Mk was too tired to continue knocking, so he just decided to deal with it himself. “Hey everyone, *yawn* ehh, I'm just gonna deal with that real quick. I dont think it's too serious right now.”
Everyone gave various noises of agreement as Mk went to deal with the sigil.
Pigsy noticed some light was peaking through the ceiling, but he saw how everyone still felt tired to the core.
Sandy tried to go back to sleep, and Mei went on her phone. Pigsy heard short curses when she did so, so he assumed it didn't have much battery left.
Pigsy decided to do the same as he pulled out his own phone, a considerably older model than Mei's but still functional.
He checked the time and saw it was near 10:40 AM, which was a lot later than Pigsy had thought. Ignoring that for now, he checked on everything else on his phone, which wasn't much other than his messages and some social media that he scrolled for inspiration sometimes and to promote Pigsy's Noodles at Mei's request.
After looking through some mediocre recipes for pot pie and some weird throwback gelatin dinners, he goes and looks at his messages from the past few days.
The one at the top was Sandy, which wasn't a surprise as Sandy almost always sent him photos of the therapy cat's every day. The photo from yesterday was a calico cat curled up on Sandy's sofa, sucking in the sun from a nearby window.
Pigsy smiled at it before looking at his other messages, skipping a lot of spam he had built up, and then seeing a name that made his stomach drop a bit.
He saw his texts to Tang from that night under everything. This finally kicked in Pigsy's memory as he realized he had totally blown Tang off and how he had even threatened Tang to come by or else he would drag him there…
But before he could go and type out a huge apology text, he noticed how Tang hasn't texted him at all since that day at the library. There weren't any missed calls either, which put Pigsy a bit on edge. Maybe Tang didn't even know they were gone yet.
And now he was debating telling Tang everything that happened. He's wondering if Tang is okay, that if he dumped everything that happened at the mountain on Tang that it would put too much pressure on the scholar, and what he should text to make sure Tang wouldn't freak out and to show that him and everyone were ok and didn't just disappear.
He debated with himself for a long time, typing out words and then deleting them almost right away. He couldn't make up his mind as he didn't know what to say in the end.
Mk came back soon after, yawning and going straight back to sleep in his bag, encouraging Mei to do the same.
Now Pigsy was the last one up again, overthinking over what to text to reassure Tang everything is okay and that Pigsy wouldn't put him off again.
He just decided to wing it after his eyes started to become heavy, trying very hard not to give the scholar another thing to worry about. He already had enough on his plate.
Freeloader 📖🤎
10:46 AM
You: Hey Tang
Previous | Next | Start
Small Tang Ramble
Right now, I have started rewatching the entire Lego Monkie Kid series from the start while I wait to see the recent season 5 episodes (that I was suckerpunched with when scrolling through Tumblr and having some stuff spoiled whene I didnt even think a new season would come for at least a few more months).
Then, when I finally got to season 4, I noticed something interesting with how they handle Tang's powers.
At the start of the season, it's revealed that Tang's cheat sheet, given to him by Azure Lion, was something that supposedly should've been helpful to someone "mysticly powerful, comparable to the Great Monk, Tang Sanzang", then the sheet should be a piece of cake so to speak.
Then we see how Tang struggles and has a hard time finding where his friends are located, but then a Golden Cicada helps him to find Pigsy, which was the same one that flew around the Samadhi Fire ritual site when Mei had it reunited within her.
That's not my topic right now, though, so I'll just skip the "random destiny bugs" (name given to me by a friend), and keep going towards my main point.
Anyways, skipping a few episode to when the meet the Great Master (I forgot the guys name), we see how Tang got berated for his lack of courage and work ethic. Then Tang and the rest of the gang are put to train, and I'm not exactly sure on how long they were in training for, but I'm going to assume a few hours at the sky visibly got darker near the end of the montage.
(I'm pretty sure that something akin to a stop in time for them to train would have been stated in the show itself if that was an explanation for how long they have been training for, so I'm gonna rule out any sort of "checkpoint" or "rest stop" rules here, like when you can stay in a safe space for whatever amount of time and come out with little time passed afterwards.)
The reason why I'm talking about how long they've trained for, is because after (what I assume) is a few hours, Tang is able to teleport a WHOLE AIR BALLOON, RIGHT ON TOP OF WHERE THEY NEEDED TO BE, WITHOUT HIS STAFF NO LESS.
*ahem* We know Tang had struggled with the teleportation magic from the beginning, even with his staff along with only transporting 3 people, and the magic level required to do so is comparable to the Monk, who is very powerful considering what we've seen in how his training was revered by the great master for being extensive plus how the Monk focussed only on his studies, and in-show examples. (Ex. Releasing the heavenly seal put on monkey king singehandedly, sealing the Samadhi Fire along with three others, then also Sealing the Lady Bone Demon to where she can only escape through her self reflecting or a rare, mystical key, etc)
I'm just saying how it's very impressive how Tang could go from barely being able to teleport accurately with 3 people, the staff in hand, to figuring out how to teleport accurately, how to teleport something as big as an airship, and then gaining enough focus/mystic power to do the teleport without his staff for this first time shown in the show. And remember this: all of this growth was in, at most, half a day.
And we know how long the Great Monk had to study to get to where he was, "learning everything there was to learn" with him blocking out anything else to focus purely on his studies to get where he was, and yes, he probably studied more than just the teleportation magic in his time, but Azure said it himself, that someone "mysticly powerful, comparable to the Great Monk, Tang Sanzang" should be able to figure out the cheet sheet, or at least versed in the mystical topic.
I already showcased how much work is really needed through that comment, but then Azure showed it again in his comment of "if hes learned it in the mystical arts.." describing how this would have needed to be taught like how they gang were forced to with the Great Master. We already know how hard the training from the Great Master was to get even a fraction of Mk's power, and considering how heavily it's put on how the Monk only studied and studied when it was talked about, with the students in the flashback looking like the ones under the Great Master, I would assume learning the mystic arts takes a similar amount of time and effort.
And now that my points have been laid out, you guys get it when I was gobsmacked at how quickly Tang grew in the time with the Great Master, reiterating my point of how Tang was able to figure out HOW TO DO TELEPORT AND AIRSHIP WITHOUT THE CHEAT SHEET, WITH HIS BARE HANDS, IN A MATTER OF HOURS when it was heavily implied (from what interpreted) that doing something like this would take a considerable amount of time and training, even for the Monk as he was said to only focus on his studies to optimize his mystic abilities and to block any distractions.
And then to add to this, it was only ever shown in the show that Tang only read throughout the entire training session. Whenever we see him in the montage, it's him reading scrolls no matter what. We never see him practice, or even mimic any of the moves or exercise that I would assume would be on those scrolls for him to learn. Then, the first time he ever put those ideas he read about into practice after using the staff the entire time before and messing it up, he was able to make the transportation of the airship fast, accurate, and without the help of the staff entirely.
TLDR: Tang is either so good at cramming that he was able to shorten a good year of learning into a couple hours, or he's severely gifted in the mystic arts with the right training or examples. Either way, if you gave this man a week in the scroll library with some noodles and motivation from the Great Master, then I would assume he might actually become one of the most powerful characters LMK, given the time to do so. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Hello everyone
I am Nour from Gaza
.I need your help if you can
Please donate to save my life and the lives of my children
I'm asking for a small donation of $25 from each person. $35 will save my children from death and help me cover expenses and rebuild.
Through the link (please see my CV) https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-help-nour-and-his-family-escape-the-war-in-gaza
My account has been verified by @90-ghost
Hello my friend, I am sorry for the inconvenience. I'm trying to get my family out of the Gaza war. My father is sick and needs medical care, and the costs of treating this are high. Can you help me with this? I will be really grateful to you.
Hello
I hope my message finds you safe
I would be really grateful if you could help me by donating to save me and my family from the dangers of war and death in Gaza and escape to a safe place.
We can't bear this injustice and fear. We have endured 10 months of suffering, humiliation, destruction and escaping death. No one asks about us. We are dying here in public, and there is nothing now to survive.
Please share, repost or donate to my family 🙏
https://gofund.me/b60fb34d
Hello, I am Ahmed. The war destroyed my life. Can you help me? I need 3 things from you: Share, repost, and donate if you are able to donate. Thank you for listening to me
My post link 👇💕
https://www.tumblr.com/ahmed4palestine/756439898525974528/urgent
My GFM link 👇🔗
https://gofund.me/1d8bb3df
Hello my friends,
🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸❤🤍💚🖤
I am Mohammed Ayyad from Gaza Al-Shuja'iyya
,
I have sought refuge with you because of the devastating war that caused me to lose my home and my mother and we were displaced from one place to another and lost my children's future and there is a severe shortage of basic materials,
I have sought refuge with you so that I can provide a decent and safe life for me and my family consisting of my wife and my children Yasser, Omar, Maryam, Jana and Sarah, each of them has dreams but unfortunately they have lost hope and despair is controlling them,
I hope that you will stand by us either by donating if possible or sharing widely,
Thank you very much
🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸❤🤍💚🖤
noting that my son Omar has a Tumblr account under the name @m430235341 and it was checked and I had an account under the name @mohammadayyad and it was also checked but I was surprised today that it was banned so today I created a new account under the name @mohammadyaser1980, please check it and thank you 5, @mohammadayyad’s fundraiser. As of posting they’ve been able to raise €12,143 of their €35,000 goal.This fundraiser has been vetted by @/inthefaceofada
https://gofund.me/e7c7528a
Hi, I am Youssef from Gaza. I am 19 years old. I support a family of 5 people because my father is sick and cannot work. I work all day for $2 to provide a living for my family and medicine for my father. Our house in Khan Yunis was completely destroyed.I hope you can help me by donating via the link or posting my linkhttps://gofund.me/7e03951e My link has been verified✅
Please donate
Chapter 11 has been posted! This is the last one I can paste over, so the writing might take longer to post now.
Chapter 10 has been posted!
"Hello, I hope you and your family are well. Can you please help me recycle the post on my account? 🌺 And help rescue my family from the war in Gaza? 🙏 Thank you."
https://gofund.me/7a794018
Chapter 9 is now posted!
I forgot to post the chapters after chapter 4, so I'll just put the latest one here.
Hello, I hope you and your family are well. Can you please help me recycle the post on my account? 🌺 And help rescue my family from the war in Gaza? 🙏 Thank you.
https://gofund.me/1a1829cd
Hello, please share my story and donate if you can to protect my family and evacuate from Gaza 🥹💔💔🙏
