Yup, it tends to happen. I am out here trying to insert a side of the story to my script Engonos and also the script to Vitam Exhaurire and as it happens I suddenly have another idea. I am working on three scripts at the moment (the third will be on the back burner for a little while) there is no way I am starting another script. I’ll end up with a dozen of scripts and only one finished. Still, the idea has merit. So perhaps I can give it to Matt Damon. He might be busy, but it could help the students involved in Project Greenlight, an American documentary television series focusing on first-time filmmakers being given the chance to direct a feature film. Perhaps it would be useful for them. On the other hand, first time film makers tend to have their ideas on a rope, as such. I am not sure if it would be of any help. I’m thinking that any idea that hits a director (or visionary) who sees the idea might think that he (or she) could make something of this and I was never unwilling to give assistance to the creative mind. Beside that I am already working on projects 2 and 3 (4 comes later) and in that instance this idea would be redundant in my mind as I am focussing on something else.
The Idea The idea is surrounding Euripides, the Greek writer and a Greek tragedian of classical Athens. He lived between 480 BC and 406 BC and is said to have voiced over 90 plays and several were made into movies (after he died). So I got to thinking. What is this movie is about Euripides. Starting as a young Greek (around 455 BC) and from there we get to see two settings. The first is his daily life and set this in an authentic looking life (at that time) and in between he goes on dream quests and envisions some of his works like Orestes and how he envisions how the Furies to be. We see him thinking through grief in Hecuba and how he sees the unfold through grief over the death of her daughter Polyxena and the revenge she takes for the murder of her youngest son, Polydorus. We see him shape Children of Heracles and how he opposes war. And in that setting and these plays he shapes tragedy as we know it to be now. You see, we see his plays and the versions that made it to the movies, but we don’t ever see Euripides himself and how this darkness is shaped into the massive hit it is now and has been for over 2000 years. There is also the thought that he might have been a doom sayer, brought to the surface in his plays and how it shapes him and darkens his soul. He died at an age over 70, in those days a real rarity. As such, the end of the movie should include The Bacchae which was published after he died, yet that part is ‘performed’ in the movie whilst we see Euripides as a ghost between the people watching his work lighting his should up. As we see The Dionysus in Euripides’ tale is a young god, angry that his mortal family, the royal house of Cadmus, has denied him a place of honor as a deity. His mortal mother, Semele, was a mistress of Zeus; and while pregnant, was tricked by a jealous Hera to request Zeus to come to her in his true form. But in the movie Dionysus is the ghost of Euripides, showing him angered by the people who mocked him in his life. And he is taken by three women Clotho (the spinner), Lachesis (the allotter), and Atropos (the inevitable, a metaphor for death) telling him that his work will survive thousands of years and he did well and Zeus will congratulate his efforts and the inspiration he was to greeks until time ends.
This was the idea I had an hour ago. The plays are a bit open, but The Bacchae is essential to be at the end as it was published after he died.
So that one is for Matt Damon to use in Project Greenlight.
Well, that is my creatively created $0.02, not bad for a 02:00 piece of work. Time to catch some snores as I prepare for the day ahead which starts in 3 hours. Have a great day.
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.
As I wrote 22 hours ago, I had an idea. To see this idea, I need to give you one of the few images I saw.
It is an image of Olympus. The intro of the game God of War 3 gives us a little more, as does the game. Yet in the intro stage my first thought (my day one of the game) how awesome it would be to actually walk there. So no doors, no hindrances just walking around Olympus like one of the servants, that sparked the idea.
Now we get to the ‘now’. You are a greek in the Byzantium empire. I made mention of these places yesterday. The stage is not merely that you are a person. You are shaped by your house gods and the game starts with an old woman. She is travelling and she passes near the village where you live and she sees you. She is an oracle of Dodona and she beckons you over. Then you get the questions on ho the house gods are. This decides where you end up, that field is close to that town. She hands you an old heirloom, it was always meant for you (the key to the game) and she ALWAYS tell you to go in NW direction (and it always leads to a small cavern). As you enter the cavern, there is a small alcove that opens due to the heirloom (but it could look very different game to game). And in that small opened niche leads to a small bronze mirror. With the heirloom that mirror turns into a gateway straight into Olympus.
Now this is where things changes. That mirror is always in the same place. Some atrium for servants and beyond that it is all dark and silent. You can wonder for hours (Olympus is big) and you can start to make inventory of what you see and learn.
The heirloom will only react to one place and that is where the first god comes in, one of the house gods. Male house gods will be seen through a ring or bracelet, female house gods through a necklace, bracelet or earring. It depends on the gender of the character you are playing.
In that room you get the first steps. The waters will always run, but the place still has some kind of protection (against intruders), the place has oil reserves (for lighting) and over time as you get a better grip of the place, you will learn about how Olympus ticks. As the first stage is completed Olympus comes alive. You will get to learn how you how to re-engage automatons and as you activate more automatons they get back to the job of repairing, cleaning and adjusting.
In the game you will learn about EVERY god on Olympus, but due to the house gods, not all paths are available to you. There is a Zeus, a Poseidon and a Hades part of Olympus. And the gods have chosen sides. There are fewer on the side of Hades, but he also adds additional parts to the game. In the game you will ‘recover’ art, you will recover books and writings and so on. It has RPG sides and a massive learning side. I am contemplating to add the setting of adding the ability to learn Ancient Greek in the game. When you consider all the elements you can dismiss it, or consider that this has never been done before. And with that we create history. The concept of learning through games is not new, but on this scale and in this way has never been attempted before. And consider that the God of War Franchise has sold over 66,000,000 copies. I feel certain that every gamer at some point considered walking on Olympus themselves. Now consider that we have one path, but when you finally get to Heaphestus you can unlock an additional path as well as the path to the sections of Hades and the gods aligned with him. I reckon it is meant for streaming systems, but I am not writing off the PS5. A game never seen before, would it work? Haters will say no and now considered how many new IP Microsoft made. I placed 3-4 in my blog, that is the second part of the equation. The haters and the pretenders all claim and do not deliver. I have been delivering ideas and concepts non-stop. Some will work, some will not, but the spark of creativity gave you all that was. What muses could they rely on? I am not sure which muse is watching over my back, but I will share what my mind sees. It is the only way to make progress. A lesson Microsoft never learned, that is why they will lose.
Enjoy the first day of the week, my second day is less than three hours away.
I decided to switch the setting, there is no real reason other than to reflect on some of these TV series that suddenly get another lease of character. The interview episode in the Rookie, the COPS episode in the X-Files and so on. Most TV series have gone through it and now so am I. In this I am reflecting on the script I to some degree (up to season 2) here called engonos. As such I have decided to have a little fun here, I hope you like it. Enjoy
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It was a decent day, as winter is settling n the southern hemisphere, the weather in Dubai was a temperate 36 degrees Celsius. I was looking at the marine, the people and watch people stroll in a relaxed fashion as I was enjoying a cup of coffee.
There was a scent in the air, it was a little off but it was distinct. Brimstone and sandalwood, there was only one person (if you can call him one) that would leave that scent. It was Al-Malik-Al-Aswad. It had been a little over 900 years, but it was the one scent that stays with you. He was not normal, no person had that level of power and he was here in Dubai. I preferred not to meet with him, for some reason he is always one card short of a full meltdown. He had seen it all as well and he was al old as any Olympian around. But there is something to be said for territory and for the most I have always respected his. Yet I was here out of necessity. I was not taking over his territory, I was more set to making sure that the next phase would include the Middle East and Asia. Europe was done. It was too corrupt and it needed to end and certain family members had been adamant about it. It wasn’t until recently that I started to see patterns, patterns that were as old as the hills. Lord Hades of Tartarus (the man I call grandfather) had found a new ploy to an old curse that he unleashed on a man named Sisyphus. The story was that Sisyphus first captured Thanatos, then he convinced my grandfather to return to make sure that pops would receive the proper offerings. The first I got, the second one I did not, it was almost too ego-centrical. As such the second was shame on him and that went not well in Tartarus, he was flaming fuming for decades. Still he used the ploy on Sisyphus to roll a boulder up a hill which slid back down when it was near the top and as fun would have it, Sisyphus was still at it after all these millennia. He had now a new goal and the setting was transformed. The Americans were all Sisyphus, the boulder was their own administration and the people were hopeless and pointless going from line to line trying to get the forms and as they were near completion the process, the forms would be adjusted and it started all over again. They would compete one line and get one form done and after that within a month they would be at it again. It was relentless and no one was seeing beyond the forms, beyond the lines and it had been going on for decades. All whilst their treasuries were having less and less to distribute. It was a failing of absolute certainty. Political wannabe leaders spending more and more on legal fees, less and less was about substance and it would continue as it was. A stage that had no solution for anyone and all the political wannabe’s were shouting things like ‘It is so complex now’ but that was for tomorrow. And now they were trying to cut up Amazon, the second bastion. First Google now Amazon. And the coffers would be depleted further as Amazon could movie its operations to Dubai for all Middle East operations and as they did that they could regain some of the Asian market. Xinhua Bookstore ruled in China, but with Dubai and Hyderabad India Amazon could regain some of that lost marketshare and as they grew in Europe the American shops would shutdown and the gap that remained could not be reset by anyone making the Americans dumber in the process. As such the Sisyphus routines were working and it was working on several levels.
But it wasn’t about that, it was not about what my grandfather was doing. It was about how it was being done. I have no idea what my other grandfather was doing. You see Zeus (no other grandfather) had lost a lot of his powers, as did my great-uncle Poseidon. They lost it to air pollution and water pollution. Lord Hades was however all powerful, he had more strength then the two others combined. A millennia of growth and death made that so. In the first century there were about 150,000,000 people, by 1500 it was 500 million and now we are at eight billion and a chunk of that ends up nowhere, as such they end up at the edges of Tartarus and a lot of them end in Tartarus making Lord Hades stronger and stronger. But today was about a new border, a new stage. Yet for that I needed the Djinn, not one, but several and the stage was not to undermine my grandfather, but to ensure the decent people had a way out. China was a separate issue and it was already on route, but the Middle East was more direct and there the one person I had not seen in 900 years comes in. He knows where one of the Zabaniyah resides. I had no clue what its name was or where it was, but that was the problem. Knowing the name of a Zabaniyah gives you power over it and they are not in the market of relinquishing power. But that was the game and that was where Al-Malik-Al-Aswad came in. Convincing him that I was on the level was a whole new problem and I had an idea, but it was a dangerous one, especially if he didn’t believe me. I took another sip of coffee and looked over the marina. There was that smell again and I looked around. Then I saw the man, an elderly man. He was standing there yet no one seem to take notice of him. Strong beard. I was certain that all; the garden gnomes in Dubai were jealous of his beard and there was a strange orange aura around him. I stood up and walked towards him.
He looked at me, I think he was sizing me up. As I got within 3 meters I stopped and suddenly noticed that no one was noticing me either. It was an interesting skill.
He held up my ring, it was on the left index finger and he took notice of the symbol on it. I spoke to him ‘I am Lavrenti of the house of Hades of Tartarus’ I seek an audience with you as things are about to happen that could impact your region and I want to make sure that the Middle East is protected. Not merely for me, but for all the good people in the world. He looked at me and pondered my words. ‘So what do you need?’ I looked at me and I responded. I have an idea to push the west into a lot of escalations, but to do that I need access to a Zabaniyah and you might know one. It is my only option at present.
He looked at me and pondered the question. “In the way you approached me, I can help. He is in Egypt, he resides in one of the pyramids. If you can see you can directly spot which one. His name is Sentatayil. This is all you need. I will expect repayment for the courtesy I just showed you and he was gone. I was standing in the street alone and suddenly some people noticed me, yet they shook it off like it was a weird trickle. I walked away, it was time to see the pyramids. I had not seen them in person for over 2100 years. When I visited them, pretending to be a greek writer visiting the court of Ptolemy IX Soter, as such the place might have evolved a bit, time would tell. As such I was on route to Dubai international airport, places to go, people to address.
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Yes this was a story and this was all my imagination, but I was kind enough to lace it with reality. You need to wonder about a few things and I reckon that every story needs a bit of spice, if only to confuse the avid reader on where reality stops. We all have an evil demon on our shoulders and mine resides on my right shoulder, the one on the left shoulder is an angelic pussy.
This continues from ‘Me, myself and I make 4’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/01/12/me-myself-and-i-make-4/) a week ago. In the mean time. I decided on a name for this. The series is called ‘Engonos’ which is Greek for grandson. Last week it all ended with a meeting in Athens with Lord Zeus himself and the crazy notion that I left with him. It is time to mull that over.
Over the next few days I travelled back to France, then to America to the mansion. I had to take these trips to gather my thoughts and moving with a starting point from a place where no one watches you is always better then from a place where everyone seems to notice most of your moves. I still had not teleported for two reasons. One this is something that requires skill and energy and that is easily restored in Tartarus, the second part is that Lord Hades needed an update of all that I had started. It is not something that was done lightly and there were still pawn on the board, or better stated there were pieces that were on the board and I made them pawns because their value were still undetermined. It is not the sam, it is not the best thing to do but it was how my mind worked. There were still a few things to sort out and Asclepius was not the first thing to sort out. There were issues and it was time to take another look at the Lamp of Helios, it was an idea, but I would have to master it a lot better and I know just the place where to test it a bit better. The first thing I did was return to Crete, to the place that could take me to Lord Hades, or grandad for short. I was about to start the arrangements when I noticed a small in the house. It was not a normal smell and it seemed stronger upstairs. I saw the staff looking disinterested, working on whatever they were doing and they were doing it well, the house was spotless. I followed the smell only to see that there was a new door in my room, the door was always there, and this door looked the same, but was not the same. I slowly touched the door with my fingers. The door looked like wood, but had the feel of ironwood. The hinges also looked a lot stronger and heavier. I opened the door, the bathroom was the same with one difference. The mirror on the right wall was new, It was some brass like frame with a slightly larger body sized mirror. It was a little over two meters high, it was around 120 centimetres wide and started about to inches of the floor. The mirror had a brass type shine. It was pretty but nothing I would ever want in a bathroom. The smell was a little stronger here. I shifted focus and the mirror was not entirely what it seemed. It phased and I saw the makings of a marble room. I fitted my hand into the mirror and let the rest of me follow. I was suddenly in a marble room, I looked out and I recognised the place immediately. It was a room in the palace of Lord Hades. I walked in and summoned my bident. I walked around and soon found the stairs down and into the reception area. A shade bowed to me and gestured towards the left. I gestured Psychofagos away and went there. Lord Hades looked at me. You found the mirror? Yes, thank you lord. I bowed to him with respect and every fibre of my being bowed in respect to him. I just met with Lord Zeus in Athens. I gave him the entire rundown on the meeting. Lord Hades looked at me. Why would I forgo my biggest source of energy? Because soon there is nothing left and then we end up being in a place that is dead, no life, nothing reborn and nothing restored. Even now we will end with less because so much life is now extinct. Restoring ill not bring them back, but we can return to a better place. Over time Lord Zeus will return most of his powers as his powers is the clean sky. Lord Poseidon will lose the most as so much life is gone from there and much of it cannot be saved. It is too late for that. But you my lord you will gain the most. Even as much of life will be removed, their life source will be yours. And we will return to healthier times and they will also feed you, but we need to act and we need to act larger than before. Can we replicate the machines without Heaphestus? Hades looked at me. Yes, they will be smaller, but they can be made. How many do you need? How many can you make? We need at least 999 more, especially if they are smaller and they need to be added to the system, we have a good engine, but we need a massive tank, the energy of almost 8 billion souls will be added. Even then we need to use a large part to reinvigorate you. You are being recharged, now we need to focus on restoring your younger self my lord.
Hades looked and nodded. You have done well Hades said. There is one more thing. Lord Zeus gave me the power of teleportation, it has been added to my bident. Hades held his hand up and I instantly knew what he meant. I summoned psychofagos and handed it to Hades. He stared at it. You need to practise this thing and be aware, whenever you teleport Zeus will instantly know where you came from and where you go to. I nodded, I was certain that there was a snag and this was it. Anything else? Hades seemed in thought, it seems that your state of mind will be visible to him for a moment. He does not accept duplicity, the mirror will help but if you teleport right after that, whatever you had in mind will be visible to him. I nodded. It changed a few things not too much, but I had to be careful. It also meant that I needed another way to get to Crete. Hades picked up on that. There is another mirror, one in Iraklion in the museum. They hung it as a mirror for the people. It is easy to get in and out of the museum. The other part of that mirror is over there and he pointed to a far wall. The passing is easy and anyone seeing you will instantly forget it, in the sphere of the mirror you are invisible for a short time as you move between realms. It is no more than 5 seconds, so doing this in the evening is the best. There is no camera there and you can go through the small window, you are on the 3rd floor, next to a window, but it is the roof access you need, you can easily get to anywhere from there.
I bowed and was about to walk away. Engonos, be weary of Asclepius. He will not accept your actions, he will try to stop you or make sure that you fail. I nodded. I had expected this. Asclepius reverence of life was almost legendary millennia ago, even now as people cause the death of so much, he would not act against them, not sure why but I had an alternative to consider. One that wasn’t the easiest, that was until the present of Lord Zeus came by.
I moved towards my room but then thought against it. It was morning in California, meaning it was early to mid evening in Greece. I walked to the mirror and stared at it. The museum came into view, it was empty and the window showed a streetlight, implying that the streets were already dark. I walked through the mirror, listening sharply for sounds. I heard clinging of keys, about 15 metres away. I looked around and saw the window, then I looked up and saw nothing. I slowly silently moved into the next room, there was a hatch there but it seemed locked. I moved back and stared, suddenly like the cave in Gladesville an open hatch appeared I jumped through and the ceiling turned back to solid ceiling. I walked silently over the roof, seeing the camera’s. They were all pointing towards the street, the building next to it also had camera’s, but I was out of their view at the moment. I saw a clean path out of their view and I jumped up the attached building. From there I could go anywhere and I slowly glided to the street that was empty and from there I went to the nearest decent Hotel I could find and booked a room. Tomorrow I would o more, now I would lay down on a bed and think things over I needed to make sure that I had all the elements clean and at hand, this was a one way trip and missing too many elements would cause too many other problems. The idea was still shaping, but I suddenly realised that mankind had a delete function, one that I was about to use for my own purpose. I merely had to push the right sanctimonious religious nut and this world had plenty of those, they were almost everywhere.
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.
They are not connected, not in any way, but the first part is too short to make a blog by itself as such I connected the two in separate parts.
Zeus Awakens
I have been brooding on the entry for Zeus, there is no way he can be omitted from the story, it is in one part as he is father to Ares, he is the other grandfather and he will emerge. In part that as our main character is gaining strength, the main character is now becoming a larger concern to the big three. As such I had to add Zeus to some degree and the second season was a decent moment to introduce him.
It was a nice summer day in France, Nice to be more exact (as it is a nice town). I was sitting on a balcony on the esplanade of Nice, looking at the sea a mere 122 metres to the south. I heard a woman’s voice in the back asking me if I wanted any tea. ‘Yes please Lucia’ I responded and a few minutes later she came with a pot of tea. I saw her shiver and I took a gaze at the thermometer to my left. It was odd, it was slowly going down from the 28 degrees it was a minute ago. In one minute it had cooled down to 19 degrees. Grab the cat I said, I started to close the windows inside, she came in with Charcoal who was clearly feeling the lack of warmth and we closed all the windows. I moved towards the gas heater and turned it on. I didn’t need it, but she would definitely need heat soon enough. I looked at a contraction in the cupboard. It had thermometers, barometers and they were all going nuts. Air pressure was down to 950 and the temperature had gone down to 9 degrees. I looked out and I saw people run for entries wherever they saw one. It was definitely a larger problem, but I had never seen anything like this. The clouds in the air were dissolving, the sky was deep blue and the thermometer was now at 6 degrees. The sea looked calm, the air was quiet and the thermometer kept on declining. Within a minute it was down to 1 degree and it seemed to stop there, in the two minutes that I looked outside, I saw people grab coats. I saw a shopkeeper hand sweaters to some women in bikini as well as to men wearing shorts and t-shirts. The cold was felt everywhere. I noticed that the cat was keeping his body against the heater, it as not used to the cold. Then Lucia screamed, I looked at her and she pointed to the room. A man with long silver hairs was standing there. He was wearing a Victorian suit and he looked at me. I had never seen him before. He raised his hand and sparks flew out of his fingers towards the glass table, he then vanished and the heat came back, I looked at Lucia in puzzlement. I smelled a distinct Ozone air and I looked outside. The heat was coming back and I turned the heater off. I looked outside and the sun was there, the heat came gushing in everywhere and within a minute the temperature was back to 20 degrees. 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.
Time squandered, time wasted
That was the first thought I had when I saw the Guardian article ‘Profits at world’s seven biggest oil firms soar to almost £150bn this year’. It is not their fault. The article is not what I am commenting on, not really. We get (at https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/oct/27/profits-at-worlds-seven-biggest-oil-firms-soar-to-almost-150bn-this-year-windfall-tax) “Mathew Lawrence, the director of Common Wealth, a think-tank, said Shell’s zero windfall tax bill for 2022 showed the levy introduced by Rishi Sunak when he was chancellor in May was “not fit for purpose” and needed significant change”, yes. That is how it starts and I am not saying that the comment is wrong, because that would require me to be an expert on taxation, and that is definitely not me. But consider that I wrote ‘Heating at what price?’ On December 3rd 2018, almost 4 years go (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2018/12/03/heating-at-what-price/).
I mentioned tax overhauls before that, years before than and now we see the impact of inaction and I get that Shell is not wavering, because tax laws were never properly overhauled and now there is a problem. So in 2018 I wrote “It is the first time in history that a Middle Eastern nation has the ability to put the US and EU to shame with their lack of technological progress. They claim to have it, yet Saudi Arabia is making a move towards ‘showing to have it‘, changing the game for both the US and Europe. This is where we see the difference. China and Russia see this as an opportunity, whilst Europe and the US are seeing it as an inconvenience” and now it is no longer an inconvenience, now it is an actual problem and the UK, EU and US are not ready. I warned of these dangers 4 years ago, but they all knew better. How do you feel? Did they know better? Did they know more are were they merely playing stationary, optionally licking stamps. And the opportunity that Russia sees and the opportunity that China sees are different. Russia is out of the equation, but China is now fulfilling what I saw 4 years ago and it will get worse. As China has more and stronger ties with Saudi Arabia they can get more oil and America? They can play indecisive politician, play the pariah game a little more. The UK has its tea grannies (CAAT) messing things up and Europe has little options from the start. All things I wrote about in 2018. And the UN is useless in this case (as I see it). Two things can be seen in very different things, in different ploys. In players and receivers. In actions and lack thereof. Two things almost half a dozen times over and I made clear mention of it in 2018. So as I prepare to sell my IP, I can now see that the timing is near perfect. The players will overreact and by the time they figure out what they could have done I will be retiring. In this it will be either Google versus Amazon, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia versus all others. If one acts the other loses and it will be billions that they lose, if one accepts they will have billions in a direction they never considered before and as I see inaction upon inaction I am wondering if their inactions is why they never saw what they could have gotten. I know it I speculation, but when was the last time anyone left well over 5 billion a year on the floor? And it plays out in the same way that Shell and others are coaching their fortunes. The inactions of others is making them rich, I deeply hope that I get that same bonus, my retirement kinda depends on it.
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.
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.
It has been 6 months since I saw Poseidon and Oceanus. 6 months and a bit since the Kraken gave me additional powers and now I am reflecting on what was, what I was and what I am becoming. I could feel elements of my body, but not much. The moment the Kraken flooded me something happened, something the powers of Perses did not achieve. The power within me started modifying me and repairing me, even issues I was never aware of were repairing through the powers of the kraken. I reckon that this was in the first month when I started to feel whole, not Olympian, not a mere mortal but something in between. I still believe I can be killed, but it would take maximum effort (was that a quote Deadpool had?) to bring it about. The speed at which I healed was uncanny, that much I have experienced. In all this there was a shift in Psychofagos as well, it was a bit more than a bident now, and even if I looked at it, I felt fear within me and I wielded this bloody thing. But in 6 months a lot happened. My eye sight upgraded over time even more. It is hard to describe, I saw the old way, the olympic way and now I see even more, but is it my Olympian part? The views seamlessly overlapped and at a moments notice I saw one, the other or all. Like a simple switch in my brain, which gets me to the next part of it all, the thoughts from birth came flooding in, my brain now recollected ANYTHING that I had seen and the Olympic side could enhance it, like watching 3d TV in front of me, allowing me to reexamine the past as I saw fit. It was about three weeks after the initial event with Poseidon that I was walking the streets of Athens. There were all kind of people out there and some tried me but others held them back, almost like they knew that it was the worst idea ever. I walked down Faonos away from the park when my mind picked up on something. It was mild at first, then louder, almost like a shriek. I looked at the sky and made 360, there it was, it was the sign of Hades in the sky. A clear sign if there ever was one. I walked into its direction, a walk that took close to an hour. I ended up in front of a hotel named A for Athens. I walked in and asked for a room. The man looked sceptically at me. Another room sir? Is something wrong with your room? I slapped my head. Sorry, Raki. It was the best excuse I could find on short notice. The man smiled. He gave me my key and a letter. I made a puzzled look. The man smiled and pointed towards the corridor. Would you like som coffee brought to your room? Yes, please I responded and gave him a 20 euro bill, the man nodded. Right way sir. I went down the corridor and found the door that represented the number on the key and walked in. The room was empty, the bed was made and there was nothing that stood out. I wondered what this was about. I checked the room and saw nothing out of place in any view I took. I looked at the letter and I was about to open it when there was a knock on the door. The man had brought me a coffeepot filled with coffee, he poured a cup, placed it on the table and placed sugar and cream. There is enough for two more cups sir, enjoy the evening and he quickly left. I opened the letter. Hello, we have not met, we should. I will be at the Temple of Hephaestus at 10:00, I heard breakfast is at 07:00, the Sfakianopita is amazing in this place. See you at 10:00, please do not be late.
I took the message for what it was, an invitation, but an invitation by who? I set my phone alarm for 06:30 and I decided to sit in the chair and drink some coffee. It was better then I expected, always a nice surprise. And after that I laid on the bed and took a restful stance. I had learned that even as I did not sleep any longer, laying and relaxing still had a soothing influence on me. Even now I felt the energy of the Kraken drown every cell in my body and when that was done the energy reverted every cell in a combined powerpoint. There were thousands of PowerPoints within me at this time and they all screamed energy. A feeling that was relatively new to me and I rested. When I opened my eyes I looked at my phone. It was 06:29 and a few seconds the alarm went off. I switched off the alarm and I was getting pretty good at not breaking things. I got up and had a nice hot shower. And I was about to dry myself when I looked down and noticed something odd. It was bigger? That as definitely new. I looked at myself in the mirror and I looked better, stronger, more muscled. I was still no Schwarzenegger (thank you very much), but I was decently on par with any highly trained gymnast or athlete. I got down as the tables were still being set. Sir, breakfast will be ready in minutes. I nodded. He gestured me to the side where the tables were set and I nodded again and set at the table pointed out to me. What will you be having sir? I looked at him and voiced “I heard good things about your Sfakianopita, I will have that please. With coffee.” Yes sir was the response and the waiter walked to the kitchens.
The meal was served and it was indeed outstanding. I had a second coffee and it was close to 07:45 when I was done. I walked by the front desk and asked for a tourist map. I wanted to see the Temple of Hephaestus. Was it far away? As it turned out it was a mere 10 minute walk. I went back to my room and contemplated who I would meet and why there? I left the room a little over an hour later and walked to the Temple, it was 13 minutes later but I did stop twice so I was still half an hour early. As such I scoped out the place by walking around the temple. I saw nothing out of sorts and I also did not see anything Olympian, and so I walked into the temple.
Part 2 The Temple was like all the Greek temples. Empty and a little too elaborate. I walked through it in _under a minute. I stared at the building again, just to see if there was something hidden, but I could not spot anything. I was about to walk around the building again when a voice stopped me.
No matter Olympian, you cannot see what is there. You see Zeus decreed a long time ago that our temples are ours and ours alone. We can be near another temple, but until the person who it is for invites us, we cannot see or do anything. It is even more so that the invited person can only see what we allow that person to see. I looked at the man, he seemed to have similarities with Hesiod, his sculpture. His short silver and black hair, the style and the slim golden band around his head was different, but that was about it. He gestured me to follow. I had walked this empty corridor before. He then gestured to one of the columns. Follow me fast, you will drop a little but nothing an Olympian cannot handle. He walked into the column, I hesitated for a mere fracture of a second then I walked in. I fell and fell for about 10 seconds and landed on my feet. It was OK, there was no pain or anything but my mortal side would be quite dead, or at least with both legs shattered. The room was nicely lit, there were workbenches, a forge and troughs of liquid. There was some Roman style chair with a small table with fruits and I reckoned that it was a up with wine, that was what it smelled like, but a little stronger and more overwhelming. He grabbed another cup, he filled up his and a second one and handed me the second one. The drink smelled sweetening, a strong grape sense and I took a sip. It was like clusters of grapes exploded in my mouth. It had some fermentation, but it was strongly fruity and the overwhelming need to take another sip grabbed me hard. I took the second sip. I then looked at Hephaestus, he was sizing me up and grinning. Never had a bottle of Dionysus finest did you? I shook my head. Don’t worry it happened to all of us, the man is a wine marvel. Give me your bident! It was not a question. I summoned Psychofagos and handed him over. He looked at the bident and saw the shoulder part. Nicely done, not you though was it? Again I shook. I would think not, still it is a decent piece of work, even If I say so myself. He felt the shaft and started to examine it, he then looked at the end of the shaft. And the part attached to the tines of the bident. He then started to measure it with his fingers, like a carpenter of old times. He then started again and grabbed a piece of chalk. He put markers on the shaft and grabbed some kind of pruning knife and carved a path in the shaft, three paths about 7 inches long. He then grabbed some kind of gutter and took a little out of the middle of the shaft. He did this three times. He then walked to his workbench, looking all over the place, a second and third workbench were scrutinised and at the third He seemingly found what he was looking for. They were like beads of metal, he grabbed a small hand from one jar and a second hand from another jar, he then walked around looking for something. It was a much smaller jar and had some fine powder silver in colour and covered the beads with them. He walked to the forge and grabbed some stone jar. He threw the mix into it and placed it into the fire. The fire seemingly worked itself because the jar was glowing red in seconds. As that was happening, he walked back to the first workbench and grabbed some small pot, he took of the lid and grabbed a small piece of wood and placed them on small table. He grabbed the red hot jar with his hand and moved his hand in circular motion and placed it back on the fire. He then grabbed some clay tablet and the gutted and made a small line on it roughly 8 inches. He then put the tablet on a small cork and let it drift in the trough with water. He looked at it for a second and seemed satisfied. He then grabbed the jar and slowly poured the red hot liquid on the clay line. The clay tablet sank just ever so little. He put the jar back where it was in the beginning, by the forge. He then looked at the clay tablet and waited for a few seconds. He then grabbed his wine cup drank the wine, filled it with water and threw the water on the metal rod. The water sizzled and he stared at the result. He grabbed the newly created rod and measured it next to his pinky. He measured two parts of the phalanges and grabbed the end of that measurement and broke it with the nail of his thumb. He did that twice more and grabbed the three pieces. They fit the small guttered parts exactly. He then went to the table and dipped the piece of wood in whatever that was. He slowly dripped it into the wedge he had created, grabbed a piece of some kind of leather from his belt and tightened it as much as he could. He did that for all three parts. He then cautiously placed the bident on two support parts. He looked at me, do not touch it for now. He went back to the second bench and looked trough some baskets. He had found something. He also went to the third table and grabbed some sort of nail and then another one. He walked back and tried whatever he had found on the end of the bident, it did not fit. He threw the piece on the fire and in seconds it was hot, red hot. He used both pinky’s to widen the object. He looked at it and seemed pleased. He then fitted it on the shaft end and grabbed it with his hand to tighten the object. He was pleased and grabbed the nail. I now noticed that the second one was a fraction thicker. He pushed it into the shaft and removed it. The other nail was slimmer, but had small thickenings on it. He grabbed the branch again and smeared the liquid on the nail where the nail was thinner and then cautiously pushed the nail in, he then seemed to focus on the nail as he pushed harder, or so it seemed. He looked at me again, leave it for now, he walked into another room and got a chair out and placed it next to the other chair. He gestured I sat down. I did and got a large filling of Dionysus finest. He looked at me. The bident is now different. What it was it remains, I added an element that allows you to send shockwaves when the shaft end hits the ground. You will likely need it and more important, it can be used anywhere. I was not in favour of this, but you have proven yourself to be honourable, that was what Poseidon said to me, and that man does not ever talk much, not even before the issue with Oceanus started. But his word has value, as does the word of Zeus and Hades. Those two have been unheard of for much longer than Poseidon’s silence. “What happened?” I asked and he shook his head. Not my concern and not my interest. They leave me alone and that suits me just fine. I know where you are headed next, give them this from me. And he handed me a small package. I looked puzzled, how did he know? Do not worry, the action strands of Olympians are easily seen, you have centuries to learn that part. I put the parcel away. We spoke about all kinds of issues over the next few hours and it was at that point Hephaestus looked at the bident. He walked over and felt the shaft. He nodded and handed it over to me. “Do not put it away, examine it first and try it first” I did and he was right, something was different, not off, but out of balance, or better stated it was more balanced now, the metal parts had repaired the imbalance that the shoulder part had added.
I tried a few more movements and on a mere notion I hit the shaft end to the ground, something I still regret, the shockwave was enormous. Hephaestus was thrown straight through the room, I was untouched, but everything else was all over the place. “Put it away” he ordered. Now clean the mess you made, he was not a happy chappie. I had made a mess and I cleaned up the place as well as I could and then he gestured to the other side of the room which I ordered as well. He looked at me and said, well that improvement works. I nodded. He took me back how I got in and going up was no hassle at all, it was like gravity stopped for most of the trip. And it was not long thereafter that I was back where I started. He walked me to my hotel and gestured the manager. They obviously knew one another. I went back to my room with a cup of coffee, it was late in the evening, or so I thought, it was not until the next morning that I saw the papers, I had been away for three days.
Lawrence van Rijn - Law Lord to be 