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Thursday, November 20, 2025

Tales of the Sanctum: Era of the Spellbound - Episode 7: Nothing Sacred (Finished November 20, 2025 13:30 EST)


  [Spellbound - Siouxie And The Banshees] 


Do you like enigmatic characters, engrossing story, magic and the ever atemporal weave?

Play Baldur's Gate 3 [On Steam]


Chapters

  1. Broken Shackles (Finished November 17, 2025 15:30 EST)
  2. Purpose Anew (Finished November 20, 2025 13:30 EST)

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Please support education and information access where you can in addition to these charities:


Muscular Dystrophy Canada Muscular Dystrophy Association
Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s mission is to enhance the lives of those affected by neuromuscular disorders by continually working to provide ongoing support and resources while relentlessly searching for a cure through well-funded research.


The Heart And Stroke Foundation [This episode focuses on issues associated with heart health]
For over 60 years, Heart & Stroke has been dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Our work has saved thousands of lives and improved the lives of millions of others.


Humane Society International [This episode focuses on the allegiance of humans and animals]
The Humane Society protects the health, lives and rights of animals the world over, ensuring that they too have a voice in this world. We are interdependent upon the complex web of life this entire planet over for our mutual survival. This is a world wide charity.


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Creating a world of possibility for kids and youth with disabilities.


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The World Veterans Federation is a humanitarian organisation, a charity and a peace activist movement. The WVF maintains its consultative status with the United Nations since 1951 and was conferred the title of “Peace Messenger” in 1987.


I'd like to point out that it was the incredible Gary Sinese Foundation that brought the issue of Veteran's rights to my attention. I've always had little respect for those who'd forget the great contribution made by those who've risked life and limb to defend those values that so many of us espouse. Perhaps the true measure of one's principles are by that for which they'd risk their life.

"None can speak more eloquently for peace than those who have fought in war."

Ralph Bunche, Nobel Peace Prize 1950


The Reeve Foundation provides programs for research, uniting Scientists and Specialists from many different fields to find treatments for spinal cord injury translating them into therapies and support programs.


The ALS Society Of BC
ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) is a progressive neuromuscular disease in which nerve cells die and leave voluntary muscles paralyzed. The ALS society provides a variety of programs to combat this disease and help those with it to survive.


The Global Foodbanking Network
Ensuring that people the world over have enough food day to day in order to survive and lead healthy lives. In this challenging day and age services like this are becoming more and more essential. This is a world wide charity.


The Edgar Allan Poe Museum
Because Barris told me to put it here. If I didn't, he said he'd walk. Geez. Stardom really gets to some people's heads. Maybe I could kill him and bury his heart beneath the floor boards! Or I could encase him in behind a brick and mortar wall, for shaming my family name of Amantillado! 

In all truth, there's a good chance that thanks to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Jonathan Swift, Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, Herbert George Wells, Jules Verne, Dr. Seuss, Stephen King, Clive Barker and Pierre Burton (for The Secret World Of Og and his ground breaking interview of Bruce Lee) that all of us are literate. Actually that goes back much farther to the Phoenecians and their first 22 character system of symbols. Literacy is important. Really it is. Literally. It allows us to approach our employer at the end of the week (with a big club) and ask: where my money?! Math important too. It help us count our thirteen fingers and toes.


Wikipedia
The model for what may become the Encyclopedia Galactica, a complete reference and record of history, events and knowledge of humanity and its journey beyond. It is the encyclopedia of all that we know, what we surmise that we've known and will learn in the future. Yes, Wikipedia is a charitable organization of great importance. If you enjoy what I am doing here then please take the time to donate to Wikipedia. Surprisingly only 1% of Wikipedia's users donate yet the site serves pages to millions every day.


Humble Bundle
A video gaming storefront benefiting a vast variety of different Charities in the United States and United Kingdom (hopefully soon to be expanded to include other areas of the world?). By software their software bundles and choose which Charity your money benefits and how much of your money benefits that Charity. See? Gamers can do their part too.


Multiple Sclerosis is a degenerative disease currently affecting an estimated 2.3 million world wide. By donating you are contributing to effective research in finding a cure and tipping the scales of MS research to change lives forever.


If you're a resident of Ontario then please consider supporting Building Better Schools.


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There are many developer teams and individuals out there, putting a considerable amount of effort into building and maintaining tools that content producers like myself depend upon. Being a developer myself, I've hand coded a number of tools that I use to help me create and manage content at levels that allow me to exceed what I'd be able to produce by myself otherwise. These other developer tools are also a big part of that as I'm certain they are for many content producers.

I can't mention every single freely downloadable software here, but I'll mention some of the most prominent and hope you, like I do when I can, support these developers when possible. This plea also includes independent game and mod developers, as they, like their application developer counterparts, when supported by the community, often go on to create their own independent full fledged releases. Helping to drive the digital economy.

Using these tools isn't necessarily a replacement for commercially available products, but in fact complementary to them. When you buy software, what you're really buying is the commitment to development, both current and future, support and quality assurance as a customer. These aspects are invaluable if you rely upon your software tools to earn a living. The tools mentioned here complement in every way, the digital space of the workplace and hobbyist alike and contribute to the digital economy in immeasurable ways.



One of the heavy weights in computer graphics, putting a production quality 3D modeler and scene renderer into the hands or artists everywhere. With their recent Blender 5 release, they've upped the ante to include support for ACES (Academy Colour Encoding System), making it a powerful addition to any 3D modeler or 3D animator's arsenal. It is already used by many production houses, including film, streaming and game development production and is a professionally run foundation, allowing its users to download the entire software package for free. Pairs great with Autodesk Maya, Lightwave3D (formerly owned by Newtek and used to create much of the original 3D content on Shhhh! Digital Media, not to mention countless Hollywood productions including James Cameron's Titanic).

Blender, like many of the other software packages mentioned here, it stimulates the economy by allowing CG artists to sell their talent and expertise, not to mention the expertise involved in supporting the software itself.



Another software that puts the power of a television station, complete with advanced camera scene and switching management in the hands of the end-user, though this software can be used in many other non-production environments (security for example). Creatives who work with video or desktop streaming will definitely want this software in their arsenal, not to mention it drives an immense economy of streamers whose work already courageously and often humourously inspires the world. Freely downloadable from the indicated link. OBS like Unreal Engine, pairs in a great way with their broadcast hardware, though OBS and Unreal Engine are very different tools. Consider OBS to be like an advanced programmable video switcher.

Other great "free" software supported by the digital community:

Open Office is an office suite to complement Microsoft Office. The backbone of many office business tools including a word processor, spreadsheet and database. Community supported. Freely downloadable.

Libre Office is much like Open Office, though having carved its own niche. Integrates extremely well with Microsoft Office and Google Docs workflows. Community supported. Freely downloadable. 

Photopea is a stand-in for photoshop like digital image editing, when you're in a tight squeeze and need photoshop's functionality, without photoshop. It is a great complement to Adobe Photoshop, and very budget friendly. Community supported. Freely downloadable.

Paint.NET isn't quite photoshop. Its more of a Microsoft Paint on steroids, though it does include some of the more basic photoshop inspired features like layers, an undoable edit history, and filters. Community supported. Freely downloadable.

Google Docs is a great freely usable set of office tools and AI infrastructure to get you going professionally online, running your own business. Not to mention, for you Excel wizards out there, it supports a subset of the same functions you'd find in your most complex excel spreadsheets.

Microsoft 365 Copilot is an office suite with integrated AI functionality to manage your growing business and to assist you with growing your business beyond its current boundaries.


As I stated, there are many more tools out there who deserve your support, especially if you use them to earn a living. In the digital economy, content producers of all kinds depend upon software, whether its delivered locally or through the web. Whether it be for professional work or play, consider supporting the people who create and maintain these tools and toys.


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Thank you for your support

Shhhh! Digital Media

Brian Joseph Johns

Shhhh! Digital Media Presents:

Tales of the Sanctum: Era of the Spellbound - Episode 7: Nothing Sacred

by Brian Joseph Johns


Broken Shackles


Shaela burst into the room first, Mila and Nelony poured in behind her, taking her flanks as they advanced towards the bed. On the far side of the bed, they could see the top of Miana's head as she sat on the floor, using the side of the bed as a back rest. The desperate sound of weeping coming from that side of the room though none could be certain of the source.


"What did you do with Glynis?" asked Shaela of Miana as they approached, Wes once again trying to step out protectively in front of Shaela, Mila and Nelony, Neville taking up the other flank.


"We have to do this," Shaela explained to Wes.


"Why? This happened to all of us?" Wes responded, still grasping the broom firmly in his hand.


Shaela gazed at him firmly, and he backed down, instead taking up the far flank opposite Neville.


"I didn't know..." Miana's weeping voice responded to Shaela.


When Mila spotted Glynis huddled up into the corner facing Miana, holding Happiu~isuka protectively in her arms, she ran over to the girl and checked her for any signs of injury.


"Are you alright?" Mila asked the Glynis.


"We both are..." Glynis responded, Happiu~isuka suddenly struggling to get closer to Mila as his tail wagged frantically.


"Its a good thing too," Nelony stood beside Shaela, who now stood over Miana, leaned against the side of the bed, her arms wrapped around her knees, which were pulled in to her chest as she tried to hide.


"I used to be like you. All three of you..." Miana revealed to them as if it were the beginning of a confession.


"Hopeful... Optimistic... Innocent..." Miana continued.


 "Nelony? Could you help me get Glynis to more comfortable surroundings?" Mila asked of Nelony, who suddenly spurred herself into action to assist Mila.


"Wes. Neville. Take Glynis to a comfortable place downstairs. Mila, Nelony and I have to have a talk with our friend here," Shaela spoke with authority once again and they didn't hesitate.


"Sure thing. We've got this," Wes responded to her, though she remained distant as he got one of Glynis' arms, relieving Mila.


"Righty-oh. We're on it," Neville added, taking Glynis other arm from Nelony, leaving the four of them (five if you count Happiu~isuka) to deal with the issue at hand.


"Don't you think it might be better to send the puppy downstairs? I mean this woman tried to kidnap him," suggested Nelony, looking first protectively to Happiu~isuka in Mila's arms and then distastefully to Miana who occupied Susan Gardener's body as she sat on the floor.


"This concerns him as much as it concerns you and I. He's staying. He deserves an explanation as much as we do," Mila stroked the puppy's head as she looked to Miana.


"Despite my having suggested to removing him to safety, I have to say that I completely agree to his staying and for the same reasons," Nelony responded agreeably.


"So you're saying that you used to be like us?" Shaela confirmed what she'd heard from Miana.


"Look. You don't know what you are. I didn't know what I was either. I had an idea, but when they came for me, that's when I began to suspect it. That this world is not what it appears to be..." Miana's legs slowly slid feet first, flattening to the floor.

She then folded them and sat cross-legged wiping her eyes as she continued.


"Who came for you?" Shaela asked, looking to Nelony as she recalled Nelony's story about the man who withered the squirrel.


"There are people in this world who are afraid of us. Who want the power we wield for their own purposes. They watch us very carefully. When we are first born, they keep us under constant scrutiny for any signs of those of us with our gifts..." Miana began laying it all out for them.


"When we were of age, they would come and take us from our parents. Ready us for our place in the world, as part of their plan, and yet, some of us slipped through undetected. I almost did. Wanted to. But they found me nonetheless," Miana's life came pouring out in memories and tears.


"And here you are... whatever you are," Shaela grilled her.


"Whatever we are. Don't forget that this includes us too," Nelony reminded her friend.


"So you're saying that we're the same as you? That we have some kind of aura about us that can bring about good things...?" Mila asked Miana.


"And bad things. No, we're not the same. The others like you. My Mila. My Nelony. My Shaela, you were found by another group. One who protects women and men like you from the group that found me," Miana's tears finally stopped and she sniffled a few times before getting to her feet, Shaela still dwarfing her.


"What? So we're part of some cosmic conspiracy involving the tangling of sparkly air?" Nelony asked Miana quite sarcastically, her words catching the attention of the raven as it finished the last piece of surumi.


The raven turned to listen to them, cocking its head sideways as they spoke.


"No. Not anymore. You see, the group I was a part of... they wiped yours out. They 're ripping time apart from its natural flow, and changing the events that would have eventually led to your joining the other group. The one that are and have already been erased," Miana revealed to them.


"What group is this to which you refer?" asked Shaela.


"The Sanctum Seclorum," Miana answered them.


As Nelony heard the words, she recalled the strange coin she'd found in the old man's store. She quickly pulled it from her pocket and read the inscription:


Veritas Tantum - Noti Et Ignoti
Sitis - Ad Disciplinarum
Semper Conatus

Sanctum Seclorum



Purpose Anew


Mila brought the platter of food that she and Shaela had prepared earlier to the dining room table, an assortment of sushi, and finger foods as Miana had joined them in their Hallow's Eve gathering. 


She'd taken a shower in Mila's ensuite bathroom and had even borrowed some of her clothes so as to be more comfortable speaking about the matters they were currently engaging. She'd suffered minor bruises and scratches during her visit to the shadow plane and was much relieved to have cleaned herself and have dealt with the risk of infection.


Shaela sat beside her, perhaps to remain as a constant factor of intimidation or to ensure that the leadership remained on the side of her friends, rather than that of this newcomer to their circle, though Shaela would have been the first to admit that she was no more a leader than she was a follower.


Wes sat beside Shaela, to her right, and to his right was Glynis at the end of the table. Gallea had once again lent her the strength to allow her to walk independently though she'd remained strangely quiet within the girl. To Glynis' right sat Nelony, who like Shaela had cleaned herself up so they could be seated like civil people and discuss matters accordingly. Neville sat beside her, his chair a little closer to hers than it might have otherwise been in different circumstances, though she did nothing to deplore it.


When Mila had finished delivering their food and drink to the table, she used the remote to turn on some of Shaela's music. She then sat at the other end of the table opposite Glynis and addressed her friends and guests.


"Please do help yourselves," Mila insisted to her guests as she sat down.


"So. The way that I see it is, that you should at least leave us with enough for us to continue our lives with knowledge of the challenges that we might face. After all, of all of us, you're the most experienced in these matters," Mila suggested, taking up her hashi and using them to procure a salmon roll.


"I agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment. If we truly have these unique abilities..." Nelony began before finding herself interrupted by Miana.


"You don't have anything of the like. You only have a natural inclination towards such an essence to which the three of you are sensitive. You can feel that there's something more to all of this, and even sense the aether as well, but you have yet to wield it. To shape it. To transform it to achieve your bidding," Miana corrected Nelony, who looked to Shaela suspecting that Miana might be attempting to retain authority over them.


"I didn't seem to lack any such obstacles as you're implying," Shaela reminded her about the thing(s) that devoured the shadow cats and everything else that posed a threat to her, short of Miana.


"A mere reflex. Like tensing up when you feel scared. Beginner's luck mostly," Miana then corrected Shaela too.


"Besides, having a natural inclination towards something, versus having trained and finely honed your ability to wield such a thing, are two very different things," Miana reminded them all, recalling the years of practice and discipline that had gone into turning her hidden talent into a full force arsenal of shadow woven aether.


"Who are those that we need to avoid. The ones who trained you. The ones that hired you to kidnap Happiu~isuka?" Shaela asked Miana, somehow not intimidated by the power of the threat that woman posed.


"They are but two halves. Deceivingly opposed to one another, yet secretly working together. The first are the Power Lords. A dictatorial dynasty that has secretly walked amidst civilization, possibly even having been one of the groups who seeded it. They are focused on their blood-line and their attunement to the aether arises from that auspice..." Miana began, Nelony quickly interjecting once the opportunity arose.


"Mr. Norbid! Mr. Corkham's supply teacher! Remember what he said?" Nelony burst out upon hearing Miana's words.


"...if we choose Wes, we've broken the line..." Shaela suddenly spoke as she recalled the day in class when Mr. Norbid had revealed himself and his true intent.


"So that has nothing to do with that other aspect you spoke of? About our attunement to the aether being linked to our menstrual cycle?" Mila came out with it in a well worded manner.


"I think she means... with my being a man. Right?" Wes said to Miana, then turning to confirm that he'd heard Mila correctly.


"There has been much speculation over the centuries of such ideas. Possibilities that the creative urge experienced by all who are sensitive to the aether are also sensitive during their menstrual cycle. With the Power Lords being more patriarchal, they tended to obscure such ideas and prevented us from delving further into such matters. I personally went my own path and discovered much in that regard, but that is for you to search out yourself. Nobody gave that knowledge to me for free, and I only acquired it at great risk to my being," Miana explained to them as she risked a piece of the shrimp tempura with her fingers.


"These Power Lords, they're men, right?" confirmed Shaela.


"Yes. But..." Miana began, perhaps holding onto the knowledge as a show of power and dangling it before them before yielding.


"But what? Don't play with us! We're as much trying to help you as are you us!" Nelony became frustrated.


"Just before this cataclysm that up ended the universe... knowledge had come forward to seers and scryers that the Power Lords were not what they seemed. Whatever that meant, it would have been certain death to anyone who'd have uncovered the answer to that mystery," Miana assured them, a grim smile upon her face as she shoved another shrimp into her gullet.


 "You said there was two halves. Who is the other half?" asked Mila, washing her words down with a drink.

"The second is a human hive. A collective. The followers of Oculo Mentis. They're the ones who hired me to obtain your puppy," Miana gestured to Happiu~isuka who was now fast asleep atop of his favourite pillow on one of her sofas in the neighbouring room.


"When you say hive, you mean like bees?" confirmed Shaela.


"No. More like ants. People who have been unwillingly sucked into or willingly joined a group who employs methods to maintain a connection between their minds. Like a computer network I'd imagine, though I have no taste for the damned things. They're tools. The same fate that befalls those who are sucked into Oculo Mentis' collective. They become tools, lacking individuality and losing the sentiment of bias when it comes to their extra-personal relationships. Their only bias is for their Centrus. The person to whom a particular collective is dedicated. Obsessed with, is more like it, and there are many different collectives and many different Centri," Miana revealed to them, delving a bit deeper into the platter of food to procure a chicken finger.


"Are you infected with this Mentis?" asked Shaela of Miana.


"No. I'd never give up my individuality. Ever. I at one point though, was offered the opportunity to become a Centrus. Having done so would have relinquished the deepest of my secrets to complete strangers, though their added support would have made carrying those secrets much easier. However, I for one believe that personal secrets are best left with the one to whom they belong. Which brings us to a focal point in our conversation. This body you see, the one that I'm addressing you from? She is not me. When the cataclysm came, I somehow became dislodged from my original body and found myself occupying hers. She is Susan Gardener, a school trustee of Shepperton and the right hand of one of the members of council. She graciously let me borrow her body for this purpose, although I might have asserted the importance of such a wish with a bit of aetheric force," Miana admitted to them as Nelony suddenly stood from the table.


"I knew I recognized you! Your photo is  in the school display! In the Principal's office!" Nelony pointed at Miana, suddenly recognizing her as the Susan Gardener from the photo that adorned the school offices.


Glynis shifted uneasily in her seat.


"Everything alright Glynis?" asked Mila of her guest, mostly ensuring her safety and her health.


"I'm fine. A little caught off guard by all of this, but I'm fine. Really," Glynis kept Gallea's secret from them.


"Nelony's right... for a change," Shaela realized, looking closely at Miana.


"I'm sorry Glynis, but I have to reveal this. Its for your own safety. I can't even begin to explain to you how much you remind me of my long lost sister, Celia, but I must do this. Glynis has a passenger, in much the same way that I'm a passenger in Susan Gardener. Her passenger is the daughter of an ally of the Sanctum. Morton Keyser. He's an alchemist of sorts, and crafted a rather lifelike Golem he named Gallea, who became his daughter. Her conscious essence too somehow became dislodged from her body and she found herself  within this young woman Glynis," Miana revealed to them.


"Is this true Glynis?" asked Mila.


"Don't tell them. Deny it. Its a trick! A trap! They're trying to trick you!" Gallea urged Glynis, whose face became contorted with a string of mixed emotions.


"No! There's nobody else in me..." Glynis responded with the look of a young woman with serious internal struggles.


"She's protecting Gallea. However, what she doesn't know is that Gallea is being used by Mentis. Mentis fooled her into believing that she'd be reunited with her mother and father if she helped me to kidnap the puppy. Isn't that right, Gallea?" Miana asked Glynis, though she was directing her speech at another person seated in the same chair as was Glynis.


"She's lying! You always were a liar Miana! An enemy of the Sanctum! That's why they locked you up!" Gallea screamed through Glynis' body.


"They promised you something that they could never give, and you wanted it so badly that you believed them more than you'd believe us. Remember, these women, years from now in another plane, they're you're best friends," Miana leveraged her understanding of the situation to its fullest effect in an attempt to reach out to Gallea.


A look of intense emotional pain crossed Glynis' face, and she fell forward onto the table crying.


"I just wanted my parents... I didn't want to hurt anyone. Really... you have to believe me. They tricked me..." Gallea's voice once again poured out through Glynis' mouth.


By that time Mila and Nelony were beside Glynis, comforting her.


"Well I've got to say, this conversation totally outdid the season finale of Coronation Street. You know what I'm sayin'?" Neville clapped his hands together, an evasive and somewhat heartless smile upon his face as he began laughing.


After the sudden sound of flapping wings had ceased, he felt something on his shoulder.


"Arrhhhh!" When Neville turned to check, he jumped at the sight of the raven, who'd landed on his shoulder and was softly pecking at his head.



"If he'd have not done it, I certainly would have," Nelony added, looking disdainfully toward Neville, who'd by that time stood and was attempting to brush the raven from his shoulder.


The raven flew from his shoulder and landed atop Mila's island kitchen counter, where he searched for seafood scraps leftover from Mila's platter preparations.


"Who or should I say what, are the Sanctum Seclorum?" asked Shaela asked Miana, mostly ignoring Neville's antics but certainly in admiration of the raven.


"Its a song! By The Damned I think. Oh, no, wait. That was Sanctum Sanctorum... A bit before my time. My parents used to love that band," Wes responded, giving tidbits of himself away if for nothing but his own love of memory.


"The Sanctum Seclorum was a group of people who embodied the idea that humanity can and will work together, with the benefit of the great and secret weave, and the objectivity and foresight of the sciences, to cultivate and protect a paradise of balance for us as we spread throughout the Aerth and into the planar cosmos. Without interfering in our due course, or so the promotional mumbo jumbo often stated," Miana responded to Shaela, her future nemesis.


"Isn't that like Starfleet?" responded Neville, thinking of Star Trek's creator Gene Roddenberry.


"Certainly. Or the Time Lords?" added Wes, thinking of David Tennant, the tenth Doctor and the one with whom he most related, he being the only one with whom he was generationally familiar.


"They are certainly icons of the hopes and aspirations of humanity, but not the reality, though there are certainly many people who try to embody their principles..." Nelony defended their addage to the endeavors of humanity.


"The Sanctum Seclorum was the actual realization of similar ideals. Similar to the United Nations, but much more discrete and ever protective of the Aerth in ways most people could never comprehend. They were the only barrier protecting humanity from the Power Lords and Oculo Mentis, that is until the Power Lords played their most devastating card," Miana paused, perhaps for best effect.


"And what card was that, you?" Shaela pressed her further.


"Though it might seem that Oculo Mentis would play his most deadly and devious assassin, I cannot claim the blame for what befell the Sanctum. Its actually ironic that Gallea and I should be the bridge between what once was and will never be," Miana answered Shaela's question with another mystery.


"I take it that you mean this Sanctum thing that you've referred to so many times?" Mila read between the lines, still comforting Glynis alongside of Nelony.


"She means that, and the crystals. That which gave us this knowledge. You see, before the cataclysm, Miana and I had a stand off of sorts. I am Gallea. Daughter of Arlaya and Morton Keyser. A golem of clay by your reckoning, but a fully conscious being by my own. If it were not so, then my mind would not have survived with my body after the cataclysm, and I'd nought be speaking to you here from within the body of this poor girl Glynis," Gallea borrowed Glynis' vocal chords, lips and lungs to respond.


"What in the heavens is a golem?" asked Shaela of Miana.


"A construct. A person not born, but made from raw elements and shared experiences... memories... by a knowledgeable alchemist. Crafted until which point they pass the proverbial litmus test of proof of one's own possession of consciousness. They could at that point truly be said to be a living person. A being of mind and perhaps soul," Gallea answered for Miana, knowing that despite Miana's vast knowledge acquired from the eternity crystals and her own life experience, that she'd never truly know nor understand the plight of the construct.


The plight of being made rather than born. Of being regarded as an echo, rather than as a real independent mind, for those born naturally often assumed in their pride that those who weren't, were not of real mind or soul, perhaps echoing the sentiment of Mary Shelley's words some two hundred years earlier. Though in all likelihood, she was pointing out an arrogance that elitists, who assumed themselves above the majority and the fabricators thereof, that which they wielded over those they assumed to be absent of it. Consciousness. Perhaps more so, a soul.


"You were so easily misled by your want. Perhaps you aren't so absent of consciousness as I'd assumed," Miana admitted to Gallea.


"Oculo Mentis are opposed to anything that seeks consciousness that did not start out with it like a natural born. They are opposed to artificial intelligence and have many luddites amongst their ranks as such. The Power Lords on the other hand, will wield and manipulate whatever grants them power over others, though they will never share that power, meaning their allegiance with Oculo Mentis is a fragile but effective one indeed," Gallea continued where Miana had left off.


"And the Sanctum protected the Earth from this?" confirmed Mila.


"Most certainly so, and unbeknownst to most. Without credit due or reward. And yet, the Sanctum Seclorum never once interfered with humanity's own path. Religious or political, they only kept watch but abstained from the matters of determination and process of humanity, only entering into this fray by helping some to find their true voice and their understanding of themselves and that which motivated them. They'd never however interfere directly in any matters of determination lest they indicated a certain path to self destruction," Gallea rounded out their knowledge of the matters at hand.


"If this thing... the Sanctum, no longer exists, then how do we create it?" Mila pushed forward courageously with the question whose existence had eluded them.


 "It can't be created. You can't create something that originally existed in another reality, having been born close to the origins of humanity itself," Miana responded, convinced that no such thing would ever be possible.


"Can't it? I don't think that mother nature ever took the contraction can't seriously," Nelony asked.


"Certainly not, if she's already given up. If everyone just gave up, then nothing would be possible!" Mila responded with the insight and inspiration of an artist, whose very life and essence depended upon the creative urge.


"I agree. I believe we can make what has been unmade. We can know what has been cast into unknowing. After all, there's only blindness in complete darkness or complete light..." Shaela drew upon the insight her hidden mentor had taught her in the plane of shadows.


"Mila, Shaela and Nelony are right. The Sanctum was as much these things as it was a school, initiating those like them into a holistic understanding of their natural talents in sensing and manipulating the aether. Perhaps with their optimism and determination, is not anything possible?" Gallea suggested to Miana.


"Can I speak?" Susan Gardener suddenly interrupted them.


"By all means. Its your body after all," Gallea interjected protectively, though only with Glynis' allowance thereof.


"I thought I told you to remain quiet?" Miana said aloud, directing her insistence at Susan.


"I'm a trustee of the school board of Shepperton. If you are going to reconstruct an educational institution, you'd do worse than to have me onboard," Susan ignored Miana's assertion, instead pressing forward with a means by which she could help these people bring something to the world that it desperately needed.


"I would certainly like to be a part of helping you too!" Glynis added proudly.


"Despite my opposition to this... I'd be honoured if you'd have me as part of your effort to create the Sanctum... without the benefit of the original history which brought it forth initially. Perhaps with the assistance of Gallea and I, it might be possible, given the fact that you'd also be benefitting from the insight given us by the eternity crystals..." Miana finally broke down and offered to join their effort to rebuild the very thing that had ultimately imprisoned her.


The old her.


"I'm definitely in on this. This is something that is... life defining! I'm sure Neville would be in on this too, right mate?" Wes' face lit up with inspiration.


"If you keep that effing raven away from me, I'd help you dig a hole to hell," Neville responded, looking to the bird, who in turn squawked at him loudly, causing him to shield himself with his hands.


"Then we're agreed, aren't we?" Nelony asked the others at the table.


"We certainly are," Shaela supported Nelony, then looking to Mila, whose house they were in.


"We are going to recreate what can't be created. We are going to resurrect - no - create the Sanctum Seclorum, though entirely as it is needed here and now, on this Earth!" Mila pronounced for them all.


Epilogue


A man in a white beard and stinking dirty clothes sat up from his spot seated over one of the subway vents outside of a large shopping venue in downtown Toronto, his empty coffee cup in front of him. Someone tossed their change into the cup in passing, though he'd not been pan handling nor ever had, for he'd learned to accept his lot in life long ago and made nobody else responsible for it.


He'd already lived on the streets for more than ten years, only using the shelters when absolutely necessary for his survival, for he despised both the social antics and the politics that arose from that institution. So much so, that he'd chosen to live on the outside rather than in, as had many others like he, though few were as settled.


He knew at that moment for instance, if he'd needed food, that he could get up and walk no more than half a kilometer to attend a secular drop-in center, where he could eat without risk or scrutiny of his being, by either the clients themselves or the workers. He'd know of all the places similar, that posed no risk to his choice of life style, nor tried to lure him into their politics, using him as a crutch to lure donations in a system that depended upon people being homeless in order to exist. He knew that the social safety net was and always would be needed, but he also knew that the bigger it got, the harder it was to shrink, meaning getting the homeless housed. Who'd willingly give up their jobs due to a lack of customers? Those who kissed ass, got ahead in the shelters, and those who didn't, often ended up like him and often much to the pain and chagrin of those social workers in the shelter system who truly wanted to help the people who needed it most.


Jasmer McCavanaugh knew the ropes of the life he'd eventually found himself confined to, and had learned the politics as well. He chose to make his own way, and to leave nobody else responsible but himself and the tax payers whose money paid for the social safety net in the form of drop-in centers. Ultimately though, it was he who had to live with this lot in life and the story of how he'd bottomed out would be told another time. Maybe by him, or maybe by someone who lived beyond what he'd come to know as life.


On the other side of the world, in the middle of a village in France, Yirfir Lacharme sat behind a desk, a computer mouse in her hand as she went through a list of clients as she prepared the standings in the bridge tournament hosted by the senior's home she managed. A task she enjoyed, seeing as her creativity had given many a livelihood in life that they'd never known in the earlier stages of their being. She saw it as a way to give thanks to those who'd carried her and others like her during her youth, and had throughout her career sought a path in social work that led her to this position.


Thousands of kilometers from her, and to the East, in Southeastern Asia, a bald, clean shaven man drove an eighteen wheeler, a trailer load of rice his cargo as his truck crossed from the interior of China towards the port town of Shanghai, to where the rice was to be delivered for export. In the passenger's seat, his sister slept beside him, she having driven the load the previous twelve hours in their brother and sister, family run transport business: Xenshi And Xushu Logistics LLC, China.


Onward towards Japan, and in the city of Tokyo, in the motion capture studio of one of the biggest game developers in that country, Kensai as he was so nicknamed by his colleagues had donned the motion capture suit, and was preparing himself for his performance, which would be recorded by the computer technology in the production office where the director was going over details with the equipment operators.


On towards Korea, to where both Naemi and Jeong Soon were employed, the two news anchors were beginning the afternoon edition in the busy city of Seoul. They were, the only husband and wife anchor team employed in Korea, and possibly in the entire world and Korea loved them for it. They were an enduring symbol of the importance of companionship, marriage and family, which of course had secured their careers for life seeing as for whomever they'd work, would get lucrative advertising directed at a family based market.


Athandra Rithyani had since her youth and into her adulthood, been an activist and protector of the dwindling Asian Elephant. She had procured her Doctorate in Zoology from the University of Mumbai, and had since that time worked in the field, in the interest of protecting the animal population in her own native India, and throughout other places in the world her influence could reach.


Back in good old Britain, real estate developer Manfred Maynard sat in his Aston Martin DB12 as he drove home to his posh condominium in downtown London.


None of these people knew each other, nor had they known (or suspected) that in another dimensional plane of time and space, that they'd collectively made up the active wing of field agents of the now non-existent Sanctum Seclorum.


To be continued in Era of the Spellbound - Episode 8: The Sought Convergence


Credits and attribution:

Special Thanks To Rocket Fuel Lakeshore Blvd West, perhaps the best place in history to get a coffee, circa 2001-2004. Miss you all very much.

Artwork: Amy Wong, Wendy Pusey, Ghastly, Birdman, Brian Joseph Johns, Daz3D, Unreal Engine...

Tools: Daz3D, Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Lightwave 3D, Blender, Stable Diffusion (Easy Diffusion distribution), InstantID, Sadtalker, Google Colaboratory, Microsoft Copilot (Windows 11), Hitfilm, PhotoPea (a great web based Photoshop stand-in if you're on a low budget or in a pinch), Borderline Obsession...

DeepSeek AI for suggestions on exercises to improve aspects of describing scene and settings with a more sensory focused grammar.

InstantID by: Wang, Qixun and Bai, Xu and Wang, Haofan and Qin, Zekui and Chen, Anthony. Research Paper Title: InstantID - Zero-shot Identity-Preserving Generation in Seconds.

Sadtalker by: Zhang, Wenxuan and Cun, Xiaodong and Wang, Xuan and Zhang, Yong and Shen, Xi and Guo, Yu and Shan, Ying and Wang, Fei.
Research Paper Title: SadTalker: Learning Realistic 3D Motion Coefficients for Stylized Audio-Driven Single Image Talking Face Animation.

Gratitude: Our Mentors, Senseis, Sifus, Sebomnims, lifetime inspirations, family, friends, the Nomads (ask Stanton about that one), the Music, the Movies, the Theatre, the Arts, ASMR, (both YouTube and Bilibili and the many other creators on those platforms), the Gaming and Developer communities and of course, the audience.

Martial Arts (in the words of real experts and at least one comedian): https://brucelee.com (home of the real Dragon and an entire family of inspirations), http://iwco.online International Wing Chun Organization (International presence of a very scalable intensity martial art, protected and developed by Shaolin Nun Ng Mui) and the alma mater of Jinn Hua's own specialized variation thereof, https://iogkf.com International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karatedo Federation (even Hanshi had his teachers), https://itftkd.sport International Taekwondo Federation (Here there be Taegers), https://tangsoodoworld.com Tang Soo Do World (the path of Grandmaster Chuck Norris), https://www.aikido-international.org International Aikido Federation (how else would Navy Chef Steven Seagal liberate a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier from a team of hijackers?), https://www.stqitoronto.com Shaolin Temple Quanfa Institute (The City Of Toronto's own Shaolin Temple), https://www.enterthedojoshow.com Master Ken's Ameri-Te-Do presence (If we can't laugh at ourselves, then we can at least laugh the loudest at others, and other Zen)

Magic (performance, illusion and perhaps the real thing): Magic Week Archive (I'm currently growing this section so stay tuned)

Special thanks to Aitrepreneur, Mickmumpitz, Hugging Face and the YouTube educational content producers, including those catering to the AI content production pipeline and of course AlphaSignal.

Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery 
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life

Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery 
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life

Jesse Enkamp: Karate Nerd
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts

Sensei Rokas: Martial Arts Journey
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history

Seamus O'Dowd
An extensive growing archive Katas, Techniques and Waza (mostly Shotokan)

Iaido: Train For Katana Mastery Like Samurai 
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art

Tapp Brothers Exercise For Better Motion 
Extensive courses for calisthenics and body strength, stamina and flexibility

Special thanks to Canva for inspiring other creators and giving them the tools

Special thanks to Captain Crunch and his wonderful sister!

Special thanks to Bandcamp for giving indie music artists a home under one roof

Something to give you perspective: The very first teacher had no formal education, didn't graduate and was self taught, but only because they had no other choice. We do.

This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.

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