Tag Archives: Hecate

October 18, 2025 · 23:21

Hidden claws

That is what happened to me, suddenly as I was rewatching ‘the last Witchhunter’ something woke up. It started after I played Oblivion on the Xbox360 for the first time. An idea awoke and I placed part of this as an idea on a gaming website. The idea however never completely died and it remained within me too. You see to take the Olympians into account, there is no way that the worlds of Hecate were innocent and docile and Hecate knew that. Balance is real, it cannot be maintained in the settings we see. Balance of light is still imbalance. In one of the books books of Star Trek there was a expression “Bless the world of shadows, because when the last sunsets fades, they too will die” and that stuck with me over the decades. So what about arch mage Traven? That was the setting I had in mind at that point and the setting war re-awakened in the last Witchhunter. What if the world of Hecate is reimagined but in a more balanced way? What happens when we accept the light and the dark? As such the worlds of Meridia and Namira? In the gaming world they are on opposite sides, but what is the thought that they aren’t truly opposite, what if they are merely apart by a third. Consider a segmented pie chart, one segment light and one dark. But the Elder Scrolls doesn’t hold that as ‘real’ and shows the light as two thirds, whilst the dark side is a mere third and Namira is on the edge between the two worlds and shown as dark. But the largest dark side is ignored. So what about that so called balance? What happens if Hecate, the ancient Greek goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, crossroads, night, and the underworld becomes real in Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls? What happens when that balance is restored? Not to celebrate ‘evil’ but to celebrate the ‘reality’ of things. Without light and dark the shadows do not exist, merely what we personally conceive as light and dark. So what will we see when the larger setting is revealed? What do we do when the world of Hecate is given life renewed? Will we create a larger setting of Vampires, Werewolves and darkness? What will be the real dark places? Perhaps we get a funny side of life and the true world of politicians and false prophets will be revealed to us. It is not merely the setting of what is real, but where the true darkness is real is equally important. As such, as the designer of gaming IP I say good night to one of my my godmothers (and family member) Hecate. 

If gaming is delusion and we love our games, let us say good day to the reality that beckons us and in there we might see what we cannot see in real life. It is merely a point of view to behold.

Have a great day and did you enjoy your Shawarma in Riyadh today? 

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June 5, 2025 · 17:07

The snag we don’t see

That happens, we don’t always see the settings that open up to us. It is one of the stages of what some call the ‘Aha!’ erlebnis. It is actual intelligence and that is why artificial intelligence will fall short for a long time. Yesterday I had some time to relax and I used it to watch the final two episodes of the October Faction (Netflix). Apart from being totally awesome, I also found the dastardly news that it is a one season only setting. Too bad as it was really awesome. Yet, I digress. During one of these episodes I suddenly had a little brain strain and a few things came into full view. It brought me back to a story I wrote (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/01/15/it-was-this-simple/) called ‘It was this simple’ where I had the idea for a new game that was also (in part) educational. Yet last night I had an idea that I was going about it the wrong way. You see, the start isn’t one of the three gods (Hades, Poseidon or Zeus), it is a destination. The idea is to invert that stage and start with pone of the ‘smaller’ gods like Hecate. You see, as I see it Hecate gets its setting from the mortals and animals. So do the other ‘smaller’ gods. As do Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Hestia, Dionysus. And as we unlock their abilities, we will then get access to one of the three. Or I might am considering that Zeus is only unlocked when all others are unlocked. 

As I see it some gods connect to merely one of the three, some to two gods and some to all three. As I see it this game would need to be replayed three times to unlock it all, but in this game the second game already gives you the areas you unlocked in the first game and the second is not the same, merely a continuation of the first (makes for a challenging lore). And beyond that as I see it, the game will incorporate several gaming styles giving you a larger game and a more fulfilling gaming time. But I wanted more than a hack, slash and pretty picture.

You see, it is merely a setting to a game, but there we also see that we unlock educational parts. What is more enticing than gaining knowledge of classical works whilst gaming? Not the ‘essence’ of a classical work but the full text of people like Hesiod, Homer, Sappho, Alcaeus, Pindar and many many more. I still think that the Amazon Luna, with a link to the Kindle, or even now the Tencent console with a link to the the MatePad Pro or MatePad Air might be an alternative. A setting to see a more inclusive form of gaming and as such un-enabling those with the ‘turbo’ style of gaming trying to getting people in line to more advertising. Short term enabling and set gaming back on the track of a more enabling setting of gaming like Bethesda enabled for almost 2 decades. 

We are all do taken back by the turbo setting of games (especially the young) whilst the more complete setting of gaming is largely ignored and as I see it, there is more to gaming. You see we cannot (in good mind) waste the entire day gaming. I get that, but we can rotate that interest to give people a larger backstory. You see, according to classicist William Hansen: “the Greeks and Romans had all the genres of oral narrative known to us, even ghost stories and urban legends, but they also told all kinds that in most of the Western world no longer circulate orally, such as myths and fairytales.” I want to resettle that lost art. Some gamers have tried to do so in the lore they give us, but they fell short as they didn’t consider the larger stage. It was not their fault, until recently and the promise of the IoT (Internet of things) and the larger stage of Bluetooth we never considered where we could go and that is merely another setting the Microsoft failed to see (they are racking up a setting of missed opportunity) and Google cannot be given this failure as they basically dropped the Google Stadia, which was their right to do so and as I see it, Amazon and Tencent now have a larger stage to become the new heralded kings in gaming. It is not a smooth or even an easy ride, but as I see it they both missed out on gaining at least 50 million gamers. 

So could I be wrong?
Yes, of course that is possible, but what the ‘advertisement’ courtesans fail to see is that the people have had enough of advertisements and that is something they are in denial of as the money is too good. But as I see it, the one who does see it will get a larger setting of gaining the field advantage to this and that is basically Nintendo and Sony. It is the third place that becomes interesting when we see in January ‘Microsoft’s AI revenues up 175%, while Xbox’s results remain disappointing’ (before the builder.ai exposure) and ‘Microsoft’s Xbox Handheld Plans Reportedly Shelved; Company to Optimise Windows 11 Gaming Performance’ (last week) and I reckon that the spin will continue as Microsoft is scrambling to bury bad news as Nintendo is making larger strides into gaming. As such there is space for either Amazon or Tencent to gain the number three spot. This is not a given but massively likely, especially as other news sees my other solution grace the limelight in sight of some Hajj numbers I see roll be and an optional solution that roughly 900,000,000 million users are up for grabs (yet another space Microsoft missed). So as some will see “Asus’ Xbox branded handheld, codenamed Project Kennan, is reportedly on track to launch later this year”, I merely wonder when that changes from later this year to next year and after that it being silently cancelled (my personal speculation). You see Asus also sees the market and the knee-jerk actions from an tariff driven administration won’t last long, especially when Huawei is showing its MateBook Fold and that is making the filtered news. I personally don’t know how good it is, but the larger setting is that the world is watching and now that it is less than 1.2Kg and uses Harmony OS. The first and it is a banger. So when that system as well as Tencent takes the world by storm (which it is very likely to do) we see yet another loss for Microsoft and not merely that, Apple, Sony, Google, Samsung and even Nintendo will see its impact (Sony and Nintendo less so). This was the setting I expected to come about 6 years ago and it is here a little faster then expected. 

This is all important because the advertisers will start losing out and that will stop gamers in their track as their games are less fulfilling. You see ad break gaming is nice in a turbo setting, but when the gamer considers where they ended up being they will want (read: demand) a more compelling form of gaming. This is good for people like Bethesda, Ubisoft, Guerrilla Games (and several others), but (for example in the UK) the 1,801 independent and publisher-owned studios. These studios employ around 75,000 people. The number of studios has grown significantly, with 251 new studios founded between December 2021 and April 2023 it is not good news, because what we don’t see is that these developers are relying on advertisement to make some of their money and when that falls away, these developers will fish behind the net of revenue.

And as I see it, Ubisoft has options in these glasses devices and they could also launch on Sony and Nintendo, but others will have to streamline whatever they thought was an option and others will merely collapse. As I see it, we haven’t see the power of Harmony OS yet but it will come and as America shuns away from that (for the most obvious stupid reasons) Europe and others are very willing to give their economy a boost from what HarmonyOS brings and now that the hardware is out some people will finally get the thought “How can this benefit us?” And that will be the start of a lot more and as I see it, Amazon has the inside track to grow more business (outside of the US) and there lies the setting for them. As some might ‘speculate’ that Amazon would not be profitable without its cloud business. We also see that the shape of the cloud is about to change and that is where the larger money is, because cloud gaming is only gaming in name. It can be a lot more and as I see it, the solutions I gave will become massively and not merely this game (I put it online for a reason) it could start a much larger wave and that is where I see my surf time (perhaps literally so). I reckon that the ‘older’ quote “HarmonyOS, Huawei’s operating system, is designed to work with a wide range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, and PCs. While it’s not directly tied to Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the same way as Android or iOS, you can still use it to access AWS services and resources.” I reckon that Amazon sees that this lack is about to end, because they have a clear goal to increase their visibility and whilst others are taken back, Amazon is seemingly embracing the options it opens up to. As I see it, people will prefer that setting then feeling blue (read: Azure). Yet another field where Microsoft is falling short of soon enough. Their failures do seemingly seem to stack up, don’t they?

We can see the snags we think we fail to see, we can ignore them or we can find away to make it work for us. So have a great day and consider where you could be in 2026 or 2027, because thinking you get there in 2025 is nice, but largely set to economic turmoils of the days we expect them to be according to some media. Consider where some people will END the stage of their products and see where HarmonyOS is merely beginning at present. It makes for an interesting read. Consider that WPS Office (by Kingsoft) its here for HarmonyOS and also on Amazon Fire tablets. Merely two places and as I see it, as this is free software there is a larger stage where Microsoft will end up surrendering market share. So as I said, have a great day. 

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January 12, 2023 · 15:29

Me, myself and I make 4

It is the setting that started with ‘Two Stories’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/10/28/two-things/) the setting is given, but it was a mere top-line. 

Which I last ended with “I looked at the table. The glass was there and so was a text, in the glass ‘Ελάτε στην Ακρόπολη, πρέπει να μιλήσουμε’. I got that message loud and clear. So this was my grandfather? Time to learn more about the other branch of the family. I send a mental note to grandpa Hades. “Zeus summoned me, will update you later” I looked at Lucia “It seems I have to make a business trip”, she nodded. She did not understand what was going on, but I got the impression that she was eager to go into denial. “Break the table into small parts, keep the cat away and be careful. Get a new table please.” I walked into the bedroom and got a small bag and from the living room fruit bowl I got my keys, wallet and some small stuff. Time to see Athens again.”

The journey to Athens was quite positive, Air France definitely knows what it is doing. It was late in the evening when I got to Athens. I made way to the Acropolis Luxury Apartments and the key was already waiting. My assistant was quite resourceful. I walked into the room and decided to take a walk. The Acropolis was nearby, so the walk was not that long. When I got to the Beulé Gate I saw a guard nodding at me and gesturing I come to him. I walked over and the man spoke to me “My apologies, lord. Please follow me” And I did, we walked towards the Acropolis, by a road the tourists did not normally walk. And he looked around slightly nervous. When we got to the Acropolis, we were at the rear of the temple. Just outside of it. He gestured me to wait and I decided to comply. Clearly the man was nervous and he was aware of me, although I had no way of knowing how much he knew. It was a minute later when the man with the white beard appeared again. Still in a Victorian style suit. He looked at me and observed me. “Well, Well. So you are my grandson.” I looked at him and did not speak, confirming it seemed so trivial and to be honest, he never introduced himself. “My name is Zeus, or better stated I am what was once Zeus. I took the heavens and it made me strong, but pollution has diminished my powers. Yet we will get to that later. I see that Hades is regaining strength at a phenomenal rate. Yet Poseidon and I are not that lucky. Pollution has tempered our powers and that needs to be resolved. I saw how you chained Perses again and that was a lot more epic than you thought it was. I am surprised you lived this long, you also got powered by the Kraken and you got the attention of Oceanus. It is time to reveal a few facts. In the early days the fates came to me and Hades. They told me that unless your abilities were bound and cursed you would end like us and we would end. To completely sever you from the physical sides of the Olympians would be our salvation. And as such we did. Your powers would return to some degree. It was out intent for this to have happened a long time ago, but the fates stopped us, specifically it was Atropos who stopped us. She was right it took another 4 centuries when our powers started to unravel, except the powers of Hades, but Hades was also affected, we just did not know how.” I looked at Zeus, The fountains of Tartarus were never designed to take on that many souls, they were clogged. Heaphestus had a solution, but it needed a person to do this and I did. Hades is still recovering, but in the near future he will be the most powerful of all Olympians. Still we need to find balance, it is the only way to make this work. Zeus smiled. You learned the lessons of balance? I understand it to a larger degree, most people do, but the greed driven do not care. Zeus nodded, he looked at me and pondered what he had heard. I looked at Zeus. We need to wait for Hades to be more and more restored. Heaphestus needs to upgrade the fountains, that I essential and at that point we need to make harsh choices. Zeus looked at me. We will need the son of Apollo Asclepius to do the opposite, we need to indue sickness in the human population. Enough for over 90% of them to pass into the next passage. This planet is dying and thy are in denial, Poseidon lost over two thirds of his power and it will not return, the oceans are more and more lifeless. The worlds of Gaia needs restoration and the absence of people allows for that, but it will take centuries. Zeus nodded. I do not like it, we are their custodians, not their rulers. I nodded, but these children have lost view of reality, greed has consumed them. It is a lot worse then the rulers prying for carnage in the temple of Ares. In the age of christianity it only got worse, greed was rampant and this world suffered greatly. We need harsh actions, it is too late to be subtle. Still the oceans will repair to some degree, the fish that are now extinct will never return, as such part of the powers of Poseidon and Oceanus are gone forever. As the pollution in the air is restored, so will your powers. You will not get all the powers back, but a lot more than Poseidon has. Zeus nodded again, but not as much a Hades? No, Hades as he was pushed into Tartarus became the custodian of souls and they renew him, in the old days it was thousands of souls, now it is a million times more and soon that will set the balance of scales in a different stage. It is the result of short sighted human greed. Zeus pondered what I had told him. But we are their custodians, it is not right. Is it? I asked. What do you do to a child who runs through the house with a burning torch? Now it is not one child, it is a a group of hundreds of children, all running the same stupid route in houses all over cities, cities are burning down and time is now no longer a option we have. The christians have gone overboard. The Jews and Muslims made the same mistakes, but to a much lesser degree, the Hindu in the east are making the same mistake. They are now well over one fourth of the population. This is the only option, a disease that hits them all, it evolves over time and it will kill more and more all whilst their option of aging is removed, but we have time for that and when the population is diminished by 90% we can halt and see what they do next, all; whilst the seas can repair to some degree. Over the decades that follow we can take aim at the rest and see what is required, but for most it is now too late, it is them or the world, which still gets them killed in the end, but then the loss is 100%. 

Zeus looked at me, he saw the logic, even in the complete madness, the almost frantic levels of insanity, there was a logic that was undeniable. Zeus nodded. How will you progress? First I will need to wait for Hades to regain much more of his strength. Then I will need to talk to Asclepius and see what he can do and perhaps what he can brew, but I do not know if he will accept my thoughts. His focus is healing, not taking lives, but he could do it much more…ehh humane than any of our other solutions. Zeus nodded, he knew what was next, but he did not speak his mind. I continued, Lord Hades will accept my thoughts. Better to go on with less people then not go on at all. He still wins in the end and we will have to accept that the seats of power will move to Tartarus with Hades at the head of that table. Zeus nodded again. You come a long way in the longest travel possible, you see what needs to be done. Clotho told me, but I did not believe her. Yet you prove to be true to the Olympian mindset and that will be acknowledged. When will this start? I cannot start this in the next 5 years, tomorrow would be best, but the larger settings are not ready and the only thing we will unleash is chaos, chaos that will get too many killed. This must be done carefully and not before Asclepius is back with us. Zeus looked at me. He waived me away. I must think on this. No final actions are allowed until I agree to this. I bowed to him. He suddenly turned his hand around, I felt a piecing discomfort in my arm and suddenly Psychofagos was in his hand. He looked at the weapon and nodded approvingly.  His hand went over the bident and he handed it back to me. Psychofagos hd changed ever so slightly, there was a yellow gleam coming from the metal. I stared at the meta and it was like there was a Layer under the layer showing lightning rods. Like a fractal weave under the weave. Zeus looked at me and pointed at the bident. It now has the power of teleportation. Do not use it rash as it relies on your energy levels to do so. I nodded. The power can be used as long as you have energy and any energy lost will take a little time to restore. Jut be aware of that. I nodded, bowed and walked away. 

I walked back to the hotel I was staying at. I would fly back, no reason to alert the authorities regarding a ticket not used. I had to contemplate a lot more today and over the next few days, more important to see where ever Asclepius was now, because that was one element I had not found an answer too, but I would report to Hades and he could have some answers there.

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October 22, 2022 · 09:50

Two contemplations

My mind was considering ‘The rut of the game’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/10/18/the-rut-of-the-game/), I made two larger contemplations. The stage of Keno Diastima is (for) now complete. I cannot improve it at present with more tales and it is three seasons. This approach would allow for both a sequel and a prequel and perhaps my mind will set to writing that in some near future. From season one where I described the arrival, the center console, Iconography, food, drinks, seafloor and the path leading to the window. Then we entered season two where it was more and we get to journey on some of these on how they got where they are now we learned more about languages and talking through icons and there we see the first issues of individual stress. I moved through the setting of the window and the larger stage of why. I left why in the middle and touched on it but never dug into it, I dug a little deeper now. It all comes to a stage where we get to ‘the room’, and we learn more on the food preferences in the two seasons. Season three takes a much larger issue and there are two teams now, they are separated by time so communications is a much larger issue, they stressed to a much larger extent and the people are wondering how to get home. We see more on an evolutionary stage and the stage of invasion, but I do not want to write too much about this here. One loses control and decided to end it all, and makes the moves to do so and whilst doing that he discovers a lot more than he bargained for and the image he gets then will set the premise of what is going on and there the story ends. It allows for a prequel as well as a sequel and in no way can we tell what is what but only fear what is here. OK, that rhymed a little more than I expected.

In the Greek story it was about new methods. Then I realised that these people would be worth almost anything to a government, their isolation makes sense now. Yet the arrival of a new player (the main character) set a few things in motion. As such the corrupt politician and his entourage ploy makes sense. Then I added the fuel of ‘sort of’ sibling rivalry. As such I can now consider stories and reasoning of uncle Zagreus. One more player comes in (keeping it a secret) and as the main character gets more powerful the envy becomes an optional stage to introduce Nemesis, and with these players added we get a new turmoil and we see more issues and I want to stage a larger setting to the laws of Zeus. It is an idea that came from the movie Immortals, but that would make sense in this day and age and with Zeus limited in powers, as is Poseidon, now with Hades regaining strength he becomes the most powerful of the three gods and he seemingly has plans too (I imply in the stories without committing to it) and now with daddy being the biggest and baddest god of all Zagreus wants his share as a son of Hades. And these settings come the foundation in seasons two and three when big bad daddy comes into his own right the main character gets to see what a bastard he is and how soothing mommy is, he has the power of both which I need to use somehow, but I am still working on that part. Optionally giving more insight into the one stone. These two contemplations are on the mark and they are as important as any IP I have. If my creativity comes from and through stories I need to fuel both as they optionally could lead to more IP.

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September 25, 2022 · 21:06

Seasoning too

To be honest, it is actually all about season two, but I am typing this whilst I am hungry. My mind is calling for all kinds of images of lamb cutlets. I have no idea how many I can eat, but it is a lot and I is hungry. So whilst the season ended with finding of finding Hades alive, season two will start with the grandson (Nikolaos) experiencing Tartarus and growing in the process. As the fountains are brought back to life, we learn in the first episode why they stopped functioning. We also learn (after a while) that time stops in tartarus, as such there are portals to tartarus, but tartarus cannot be part of this world. There is an essential step here but I am avoiding it for now. What happens is about the setting of Hades and if we see that pollution weakens all, the fact that the dead fuel Hades, will make him seem the most powerful of the three gods, none of them realised that over 175,000 day every day last year alone. It is a rather larger stage and even as not all enter tartarus, the massive amount that do clogged the fountains, as the fountains are brought back, Hades will be getting more and more power and becomes the most powerful of the three main gods. The other two are diminished due to pollution. So there is the initial stage. Pollution is not going to stop, so this works for us as a story. So as Nikolaos comes out of Tartarus in episode three which gives an implied timespan of 3 weeks and he will learn that he only missed 10 minutes. Season two will set a larger stage with Hecate, it will also call the setting with his real mother (Macaria) and father (Ares). Both stayed away from him for reasons and we get to learn of one of those reasons. Ares will give us the next leg of the race. I need to see to a few items to find a reason why he would be in Yemen. Then we get a few more items that intertwine with the blood of helios and we see that there is more at play. In the meantime Hades is gaining strength. So I need to add a story of Nikolaos getting taught sweet death by his mom (Macaria). From there we are set in a stage where I need to adjust the view from the mortal to the immortal but I am still working on that. I reckon that season 2 will contain 8 episodes with a nice cliffhanger that will reveal a new challenge. 

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August 19, 2022 · 20:51

Heat is faster, you could catch cold

It was several hours later when I stopped walking around the lava pool. I had no idea what to do next. I had stared normally, I had stared with my Olympic vision and I had no clue what would be required next. It was like there was a door, but I had no idea what the key would be. I summoned my bident. I stared at the new collar, the words were in a language I did not know. Even as the symbols were clearly greek, the words made no sense. Perhaps Olympian was ancient Greek? I saw the writings around the gemstone sockets and they made even less sense to me. I was wondering what I was missing. I looked at the Lava pool and no idea came forward. As I walked another circle around the pool, I saw the small puddle next to the pool. It was next to the pool, but it was a mere 40 cm across. It was smooth as glass and the red hot lava was there. Should I try a finger, or a toe? The idea of scorching off a limb was not appealing, yet the puzzle had to be solved. I saw a darker stone in the small pool. Perhaps that was a hint? I moved towards the side and aimed the bident so that I could scoop up the stone. I was decently certain the bident could stand the heat, at least for a few seconds. And I pressed the bident to scoop the stone and something weird happened. As the bident hit the lava, the lava lost its hear remarkably fast, it turned dark and even as I was aiming for the stone, the entire puddle had turned to stone. I pulled the bident out and tried to touch the tine as fast as possible to test the heat. It was remarkably cold, I slowly did it again, but a little slower this time around. The bident was hardly warm. This was unforeseen and now the lava pool became a different challenge. I went to the side of the pool and pushes the Tynes in for merely a second. Not much happened, there was some darkening, and the Tynes were cold. I walked around the pond and did this again and again. When I was about a dozen stabs further, the lava did change. It turned to black stone and formed a small path towards the centre. I cautiously took a step, the heat from the lava was not felt on the black path, and as I walked on it, I stabbed the lava at the end of the path again and the path continued. I followed the path and now there was something different. The path went into the lava like a corkscrew, the rest of the lava was unchanged and did not move, but the path now went down into the lava. I followed the path and soon I was surrounded by lava following a path down slightly steeper now and still in a corkscrew motion. I walked faster not knowing what would happen when the path would resort to its natural state, I would not like that impact as such I hastened and  as I walked down I ended up in a new pool and that path took me to the side, I walked onto the new path, and looked around and then the path turned back to lava, the path up vanished too, now I was looking towards something that represented and hourglass made from lava. The centre lava pillar was not moving, but was now solid lava. It seemed that this puzzle was solved, so what would be next? 

The room had merely one exit and that was nothing less than mind-boggling. As I walked through that corridor I ended on some marble balcony. And looking down I saw what I assumed would be Perses. Like a person made of stone, veins of lava and his arms were shackled, his arms were in some sort of vambraces of a metal I could not recognise. The shackles were clasped around them and made of the same stuff. These shackles were tied around pillars of thick marble, like unfinished slabs 5 metres high and a circumference of about 3 meters, the shackles were wound well over a dozen times around each pillar. The legs were set in marble, or better stated someone has created a slab between the two legs and massive slabs around the outside of every leg. The were held together by an even larger slab with a deepening that went around all slabs. It seems to me that it made movement impossible. I had no idea how long this had been going on or even if this was Perses, but if it was, he would be extremely dangerous. I looked over the balcony and saw there was nothing but a 20 meter drop, I looked around to see if there was any hidden traps. I saw none and I used the bident to float down. Suddenly I got the feeling that Perses was aware of me. He was sniffing the air “Hades?” One word was all I heard. He was not doing anything, but he seemed massively defiant. Even ow, after millennia, he was still a power that would not ease up ever. He did not look up, the voice of him was everywhere, “Hades!” And waves of colours came from him, but these waves were not harmless, they were scorching hot. I held the bident in front of me and it stopped a lot of that heat, but not all heat. I suddenly had an idea. I rushed over and I was suddenly aware that Perses was rather large and these marble blocks were not there for decoration. I moved so that I kept almost behind him, but not completely. I pushed the bident on him, I tried to stab him with it, but his skin was not budging and my bident was not the bident of Hades, so it would be weaker, but something did happen. Whatever allowed him to push the waves out were now rushing into my bident and I suddenly noticed that the ruby was shining more brightly, more importantly it had grown, it was slightly larger than the other stones now, in addition to that some of the writing was a lot more distinct and some of the words were now purple, the were shining and it also had an effect on me. It was weird, I wanted to scream, but it was not pain, merely massive waves of discomfort. And as the discomfort passed I felt stronger, I felt that I was able to see more, or better stated I saw what I could not before. At the edge of the room were large statues, all broken, like soldiers no longer able to perform their function. The waves went through me and I suddenly felt aware of more. I walked towards one of the statues. I touched it with my bident, the statue formed back to its original setting. It was a greek hoplite, the statue moved and it bowed to me, it pushed its spear against Perses. Something similar happened, but not as strong as I had done. I did the same exercise and I reformed the second statue, it bowed too and did the same as the first, but from a different angle. I was able to restore the other two hoplites too. Now the image was complete. 4 hoplites were draining Perses, they must have done this for millennia. And as the 4 were draining Perses, I drained him a little more. I saw the lava veins turn darker. I stopped, because I had no idea what would happen if Perses died, for one Hecate would most likely become my sworn enemy and that is something I really did not need. I had no idea how she felt about Perses, but it was her daddy, so there would be a consequence. I waited for a few more hours, there were no further waves, more importantly Perses seemed a lot less defiant, a lot less powerful and the 4 hoplites had a stern look of duty, like they knew that something had happened and it could never happen again. I was looking at the balcony high above and I wondered how I could climb up, I was about to walk towards the sides, but now I started to float up, that was new! I floated up faster than I floated down before and in seconds I was where I never could go before. So that was my reward? I walked back and as I went back to the place I arrived, I touched the lava with my bident, and the path was more complete and shaped a lot faster. I moved up and I did so a lot faster, it seemed that my body had received a rather large input of energy. I was back in less than half the time and from there I moved back to the entrance. The rocks moved apart and I emerged from where I was. There was no one around. I started to walk back to the car when I saw a large pebble. I picked it up and as I did, the pebble crumbled between my fingers. I was a lot stronger than ever before. I looked around and I saw no one. I hit a piece of rock in the ground and it shattered. So there was a consequence, and this one was bothering me, this might happen unintentionally, so I had to take extra care not to get over enthusiastic. I walked back to the car and drove off, back to the house in California. 

To be Continued

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August 15, 2022 · 03:17

To the other side we go

The next day was one of highs and lows. The high was breakfast which was pretty much the best one I have had in several days and I was considering having a second one. I decided on another coffee and merely pondered the events of yesterday. The trip was not a concern, the new job awaiting me was not a concern either, but a nice change of steps. What was a concern was whatever was in California. I was aware of Perses, but only in a limiting way. He was with Asteria the parents of Hecate, but that was about all I knew. Hesiod had written something, but I had forgotten it, I needed to reread those works, or ask someone I knew. But that did not seem like a good idea at present. I went back to Iraklion airport and flew to Paris, it was the earliest flight I could get. De Gaulle to LAX was simple enough and I only had to wait 4 hours. The nice part was that I had a first class ticket, which meant that the lounges were open to me. 

As expected, these French were proud of their culinary achievements, and Air France was willing to share that experience. If breakfast in Crete was great, the snacks and drinks in De Gaulle were nothing short of amazing. The 4 hours and being armed with a few magazines went rather fast. There was an announcement and I walked to the gate to get on the plane. Getting there and on board was easy enough. The smiling flight attendant was a nice bonus and as I went into first class, the idea of sinking into my seat and getting some more sleep was a rather nice idea. I was certain that I wouldn’t be getting any in California.

Part 1
The arrival t LAX was interesting. It was my first time and as I was about to seek a taxi when I noticed a man with an EIB plate. I walked up to the man, he was holding an iPhone and looking like he was comparing it. He showed the image, a picture 3-4 years old. I nodded. His hand gestured to follow him. He walked in a stern stride, not too fast, not too slow. We walked out and towards a large dark Lincoln. He opened the back door for me, I got in. He pointed to the left side “Ouzo and raki”, he pointed to the right of the door “Ice water and orange juice”. He slowly and cautiously closed the door. I grabbed a glass of ice water. The car drove off into the late morning, towards wherever I was going to go. 

It was almost 2 hours later when we stopped at a gate, the gate opened and we entered the driveway. The house was amazing, like nothing I had ever seen before. There was a man waiting at the door. “Good morning Sir, I am the Major Domo. I hope you will keep me on?” I nodded. “Very well sir.” He went on explaining the house and showing the spaces. The office took me by surprise, very spartan, just the way I like it. There was some art on the walls, not really my kind of stuff, but still decent. The nude n the master bedroom however was exquisite. It was an oil painting of a girl standing in front of a window. Her transparent gown down to her hip and her back was turned to the observer. It made me stare at the sea she was staring at through a white window. It was lovely. I could not decipher the autograph. I wonder if the previous owner ever knew the woman. 

I walked back into the living room and into the kitchen. I checked the fridge. “More fruit-juices and ice water please” Patrick the major domo nodded. I looked at the rest, it as all predictable and it was all I had seen before. “I am resting in the office” “Very well Sir” I walked away. There were things to consider. The fires were on the news, but they were all over the place. More than 30,000 fires over millions of acres. It would take time to figure out where to go next, but there was time for that, the TV in the office was big and very sharp. I watched CBS2 and KCAL9 most of the time, they gave me more of the fire information. I had to look into the fire brigade. To find one place in over 30,000 was going to take some time and a lot of effort. But that was for later. I had to learn a lot more on Perses and more important, how he was fuelling the fires in the first place.

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April 4, 2022 · 21:56

And a little more

Part 2
Back in London was weird, it all felt the same, but it was not, he could not put his finger on it, but there was something different about London. The city seemed a little more bleak than usual, colours seemed a little faded and he could not understand why. But he had the scroll, and it gave him the elements he needed, and there was a truth there too. He had heard of the Amanita Caesarea, but he had never seen one, they were told to be very rare indeed and essential to the potion. It would take some time to find these. It was then that the mirror seemed to shine different. He walked to the mirror and saw a face that was unknown to him. “I am Hypnos, Hades asks that you find the chest that held the gem you found. It will be under water. It is an important chest. In addition, a deal made with a afreet cannot be broken, you must comply with the request given to you” the image faded as the mirror turned back to normal. As such he would be on route to Crete soon enough. But first he needed to find the materials and set the stage to create the potion he needed. Then he saw the stage that was unfolding. The book was related to it all, but how was unclear to him. 

Part 3
Elounda was nice, pleasant and sunny. He looked over the waters and saw an island. It was Spinalonga, a plague island. He was watching the water and using his Olympian gaze to inspect the waters. He was sitting there for minutes and then he saw the sparkle. A sparkle of darkness and he knew he had found what he was looking for. He saw no one around there and he contemplated to go into the water, but refrained. The sun would go under in less than an hour. He went to a taverna near the water, ordered moussaka, Greek wine and an Ouzo. He ate, he drank and he relaxed. It was 2 hours later when he silently went into the water, he looked around him and no one was looking, he swam to the point and took a dive, he sank to the bottom like a rock. He saw the dark sparkle and saw that it emanated from a box, he took the box and went back to the shore. He looked around and he was still not noticed. He walked back to the hotel and put on some dry clothes. He looked at the box and saw inscriptions that were unfamiliar to him and when he was done looking at it, he put it in the safe spot, where all the other things were. He went to bed and fell asleep quite quickly. Tomorrow he would return to London, but something stopped him from contemplating events. Things did not add up and he needed time to assess all the things he had done. The cogs were not aligned and he saw the first stage of a clock so large that it kept records on a lot more than the hours, the days, the moon and the planets. For a second he saw a clock massive in size, a clock with a dozen arms but he could not tell what some of the arms represented. He had to think it over and consider what he was becoming part of.

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March 2, 2022 · 05:59

Another episode

I had no real idea what happened when I initially wrote ‘Mr. S. King resigned’ on February 8th 2022 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/02/08/mr-s-king-resigned/), yet just now my mind created another episode. It plays in London no less. The main character is buying stuff at Fortnum and Mason. Tea, Jam, Marmalade and a few other knick knacks. He is shopping and looking at the isles of what is available and what he needs to fill up his kitchen, and just as he is grabbing a tin of shortbread an employee approaches him.

“Sir, you will have to leave”. The man looked puzzled, looks at his watch then looks at the employee. “Have I done something wrong?” The man answered. The man looks puzzled and the employee suddenly looks uncomfortable. “One of the ladies here stated that you harassed her”. The man looked perplexed. “I just walked in” pointing at the door behind him. Just a minute ago and he pointed at the security guard. He might have noticed as he pointed at the slender man wearing a security outfit. The employee waled over and talked softly to him, the security guard nodded. The employee walked back “I am so terribly sorry”, perhaps she pointed at the wrong man. “OK, the man said. So where do I find the tea strainers? The employee took the basket from the man. Please follow me, I will assist you personally. The man followed him, and soon they found all they needed to have. The man was guided to the cash register and he packed everything and charged him. Then he added another tin of cookies. “On the house, sir. I hope you do not feel offended”, the man did not yet suddenly there was this feeling, it made the hairs stand up in the back of his neck. He looked around but there was nothing to see. He left and slowly walked down Piccadilly towards Ellington Arch and his house. He was home not 10 minutes later. He was about to unpack the back when he noticed movement, he cautiously took the tin away when he saw them. Two small Ottoman vipers, their poison was rather deadly, but not to him. He raised his hand and focussed, the vipers turned to ash and he got an unusual jolt. He was used to life force feeding him, but this was a lot more and he looked at the ash again. It was over the jars, but as he blew the ash faded to smaller particles and faded from sight. The food and everything was sealed. Yet this puzzled him. He then saw the stones on his brass mirror change and he moved towards the mirror, two eyes glowing blue appeared. You are a lot stronger, not in natural ways. What happened? The man explained the events. It is not a natural thing, but you must explore what transgressed. He sat down and focussed on his visit to the shop. He focussed on the people and saw nothing specific. Then he saw a fly and focussed on the fly. Suddenly he saw more, he saw scents and also a spot of darkness, the fly stayed away from it, so he looked at it with normal eyes again. He noticed a young man, he also saw that the man observed him in fear, but he knew not why. Then the man walked away to another exit and the shop faded. He had seen the man, so he knew what to look for, but London is big, so he decided to spend time drinking tea in the Ritz ad the Gentlemen Baristas, keeping one eye and his third eye on the street. It did not take long. Saturday he saw the man, with on his arm an elderly lady, his nana he gathered. He looked and saw something perplexing, her aura was an overwhelming shade of jade, dark and powerful. The lady shivered, and said something to the man, she panicked and went the other way dragging the man with her. He saw the panic in her, but did not see the why she was afraid. The man looked around but apparently did not know where to look. They quickly left and now the ma followed from a safe distance. He was on the other side of the street and even as his normal eyes could not see them, his third eye could and that is how he slowly followed them, increasing the distance, slowly but surely and a minute later the lady seemingly calmed down. They went into an apartment on Dover street, he followed and got a little closer, but he did keep his distance. His third eye looked at the house. Nothing seemed weird, all normal, the man looked normal too, but the woman was still unearthly jade and with that he walked away.

Part X
It was time to call the game and he walked into Fortnum and Mason again, this time around there were spiders all over the place, they seemed some form of Wolf spider, a little larger than  anything he had ever seen, it was early there were two customers, both ladies scared out of their mind, the staff was equally scared and it made no sense to them. The man was safe, it was like there was a circle of protection around him. The spiders came towards him and the woman suddenly stated “den boreís na me écheis” and things started to make sense. The man raised his hands and drained the spiders and got jolt after jolt, pleasurable but weird. The spiders turned to ash and faded with every breeze that got into the shop. Suddenly more snakes arrived almost from her hands, but they too turned to ash and faded. The mans looked confused. “What is happening?” He looked at the man, the man suddenly saw the ring on her hand and asked “Did you get your nana anything from Greece?” He pointed at the emerald ring. “That! On Elounda. It was only €15, I paid €20” the man thought for a moment. “I need you to sell it to me, I will pay you  £50”. The man nodded “OK”, the man took the ring from the ladies hand and gave a £50 bill to the man. The people around him (all 8) were still seeking cover from something that was no longer there. He looked at the ring and it made sense. His hands made gestures, first the sphere and the ring was cast in glass, then he made the gesture of an oval and a cylinder of pure light appeared and the sphere vanished. He then looked at the old lady, he saw the damage in her mind, the change of her life force and he slowly added what he received here, only part but he saw the healing, it would take time, but time is what she had. The lady became alert again. “Are you OK?” The man asked. The lady nodded. “Where is my grandson?” The man helped her up and the grandson was there. “Are you OK nana?” “Yes, but I feel so sleepy, can we go home now?” They left and after he removed the images from the other people he left, but not before he bought two small jars of olive leave tea. One he would keep himself. It was an hour or two later when he was back in Dover street. Both Auras now looked normal, one was in bed, the man was sitting in the living room. He saw a small pebble and through it at the window. The man startled and looked out the window. The man mere gestured with his index finger that the grandson had to come to him. He was fast and got there less than 30 seconds later. “What did you do?” the grandson asked. Well, I fixed things, you started them. What did they tell you what they were selling you? A ring they found in the sand at the shores. They guaranteed me that it was a real emerald. I did not believe them, but they were willing to part with it for the amount they offered. Nana loves green, I thought it would make a nice present. What was it? It was a cursed ring, with a real emerald no less, well curse is too big a word, but it drained your nana, let’s call it that. He handed the tea leaves. Give he this at least twice a week, the body will restore and repair itself normally, today you must give her one cup of tea. The grandson nodded. Also the events will have changed her a little. How old is she? Around 73 the grandson replied. Well she will soon feel 13 year younger at the very least, if it lasts, I cannot tell, so you better get into shape and ready for long walks. The grandson nodded. Take care kid. Where is the ring now, the grandson asked. At the incenter of mount Everest. Good luck finding it there. The grandson shook his head, I never want to see that thing again. Oh, and get your nana a similar ring but with a different metal and with a similar stone. It helps the fading of memories. And as she sees a different colour metal it will enforce the fading like a bad dream. The grandson nodded and the man walked away.

Part Z
The man gestured in front of the window and the light brought the sphere back, he tapped in a rhythm on the stones and the eyes appeared. This is unusual the voice spoke, you never call me. The man showed the ring in the sphere and the eyes became large and bright. “Where did you find that?” It was found on Elounda by a tourist he said. What is this? “It is Olympian, it is one of the rings of Hecate” The man explained all that happened and the eyes started to shine like the beacon of a lighthouse, it saw through the man in every way and then the voice spoke again “You are stronger, I will give new lessons soon, but for now keep the ring out of human hands and it is best you do not touch it either, Hecate has her own way with her abilities and that ring should not have been away from her. The sphere became a cylinder again and it vanished. The eyes faded and there was suddenly the ring of the doorbell. He opened the door and the postman was there. Here you are sir! And the man walked away. The man looked at the parcel, he opened it and there was a book inside. It was all leather and the pages seemed to be vellum. It merely had ‘Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια’ on the cover and when he opened it the pages were blank, but they did smell lovely. He reckoned it was the lesson he was supposed to get. Well, time to make some tea, have a piece of toast with marmalade and get to work.

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