So much for Bilibili.
Despite this storyline taking place mostly in Shepperton off the Thames, United Kingdom, it is entirely written in Moss Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Shepperton is close to my heart in ideas rather than kilometers.
I am Brian Joseph Johns and this is Shhhh! Digital Media at https://www.shhhhdigital.com or https://www.shhhhdigital.ca in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701.
[Spellbound - Siouxie And The Banshees]
Do you like enigmatic characters, engrossing story, magic and the ever atemporal weave?
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Chapters
- Adversarial Networks (Finished April 10, 2026)
- Nelony's Insight (Finished April 11, 2026)
- Shaela's Progress (Finished April 13, 2026)
- Mila's Morning Medicine (Finished April 13, 2026)
- Allegiances Under Pressure (Finished April 13, 2026)
- Casino and the Gamble (Finished April 27, 2026)
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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.
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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!
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Shhhh! Digital Media
Brian Joseph Johns
Shhhh! Digital Media Presents:
Tales of the Sanctum: Era of the Spellbound - Episode 9: The Tarot Be Joined
by Brian Joseph Johns
Adversarial Networks
Glynis turned, moving the cane twice in order to cover one hundred and eighty degrees, waving to her father as he slowly pulled away, leaving her in the park across the street from the Chicken Burger restaurant that now occupied the same location as had Sato's Curios and Treasures once upon a time.
She walked along the path and through a park, where many people, and their furry and much shorter counterparts ran and played in the grass.
A short distance away from her, in a gazebo, one that looked eerily familiar to Gallea, Glynis' stowaway of the psyche, sat a familiar lady occupied by an even more familiar stowaway akin to Gallea.
When Glynis was certain her father was beyond view, she proceeded more quickly and with far less effort, though keeping herself incognito enough so to maintain the illusion. She smiled at the irony of her situation. A girl twenty years of age, who'd spent the last ten years of her life struggling against the onset of Becker Muscular Dystrophy.
The irony of it all was the fact that her stowaway, a refugee from another time and space, and one that had been lost in a catastrophe of universal proportions, had somehow ended up within her. Cohabitating rather than outright replacing her, as if two separate souls had merged into one body.
This second soul, who had since arriving, had become her close friend. Gallea, as was her name had become a sort of internal crutch to counter the effects of Becker Muscular Dystrophy, for ever since her co-habitation of Glynis body, Glynis had with Gallea's assistance been able to walk freely and without impedance or pain. Gallea though had not been a cure, but rather, a second soul with which to carry the weight of an undeserved life hurdle.
The real irony though was that here she was, walking in a park, fully capable of walking without the cane, however if she did, she stood the chance to reveal herself and Gallea. Here she was with a temporary solution, and yet in the cruel nature of the situation, she was still required to hide her ability to walk. She had to pretend in order not to raise any alarms about the presence of Gallea within her.
The real irony of the situation though was something that irked her. Something that few asked themselves. What if, someone outright cured Muscular Dystrophy. What would happen to everyone whose livelihood depended upon the search for a cure, were suddenly without that livelihood.
She thought of Gallea and how thanks to her friend, she could have run a marathon. She however, remained silent though and continued walking with the aid of the cane.
"I was beginning to wonder if you were going to come," Susan greeted her with a reluctant smile.
"Which one of us were you talking to?" Glynis asked Susan.
"Both of you, of course. We were beginning to get worried," Susan greeted Glynis and the two of them stepped inside of the gazebo and began their discussion.
"I'm just a tag along in this instance, so I'm going to let Gallea take the reigns, but be reminded. I'm going to be listening," Glynis spoke in a calm and rational voice, despite the immediacy of her implications.
"Just as Susan is already listening I'm sure. Shall we get started?" asked Miana.
"We might as well, though we've already been down this road once before. I'm only doing this for the benefit of Mila, Nelony and Shaela, because I really believe they have a chance. A good shot at this. A new beginning," Gallea stated to Miana after they'd sat on the bench beside each other, the gentle spring breeze slightly chilling under the warm sun.
"They've met recently with others. Soothsayers as it were once called. Seers of the distance," Miana informed Gallea, who craned her head to the side in curiosity.
"Oh really? And how is it that they can see into the distance? Isn't that like looking at the pieces of a broken vase, before you dropped it?" asked Gallea, of innocent intent and sincere curiosity.
"These ones, they do it with cards. Susan told me that there are scientific theorists who believe that there is no true entropy. That there is implicit order in everything, including seemingly random events. These readers of cards are able to draw meaning from symbols whose appearance occurs via random events such as being drawn from within a deck of shuffled cards. This randomness always contains a link to its host reality, though I know from wielding the weave for myself that it is more of an intuitive nature than anything to do with numbers or rationality," Miana said as she opened her palm, revealing a multi-legged insectoid of the shadow variety.
Miana said something in a language that Gallea did not understand, and the shadow insect immediately leapt from her hand and onto one of the supports of the gazebo. It then in much the same way a termite would, began gnawing at the fibrous and treated wood, quickly eating away the support until there only remained a piece an inch thick, holding up one sixth of the entire structure.
"Enough. You've made your point. You said cards. Do you mean those of the tarot variety?" asked Gallea, suddenly very interested in Miana's answer.
"One and the same. Why do you ask?" Miana began digging for information from Gallea.
"There were tarot card readers at our Mila's last party. She had friends..." Gallea revealed without getting into specifics.
"Like a Gypsy?" confirmed Miana.
Gallea leaned forward slightly and inquisitively.
"She was a Gypsy?" confirmed Gallea.
"Yes, and a young blonde haired woman not unlike yourself, with the exception of your specific circumstances if you don't mind my saying," Miana smiled, pointing to Glynis' cane.
"Gwendolyn...?" asked Gallea, a look of joyous anticipation upon her face.
"Is that her name? Then yes, she was there too. Isn't it funny how all of these pieces fall into place?" Miana asked Gallea as a ball came rolling over to the gazebo, bouncing off of the steps and rolling off in another direction.
Gallea suddenly moved as if by reflex with frightening speed and agility, and in one motion and step, she was over the railing of the gazebo and nearly six meters out from the railing, stopping the ball before it could roll any further.
She picked it up, and tossed it to its owner.
"Thanks. You should be playing football on the Shepperton Women's team I'd say. If I wasn't already a web designer, I'd pick you up as a free agent and make a load of money in the process..." the man responded, a handsome one in his late twenties.
"Thank you. I'll consider that," Gallea responded entirely seriously, not seeing the jest in his words, then returning to the gazebo and the bench without the aid of the cane.
"You've not lost anything by the transition to this young woman's body. If anything, I'd say you've improved, over that artificial former body of yours. Craft alchemists are no match for what is etched by our living souls and into bone and flesh. The living art of our natural essence I'd say, versus that deterministic archetypal alchemy," Miana both complimented her, and denigrated her and her father's work.
"I sense a bitterness in you. You're jealous of them, aren't you?" Gallea quickly caught onto something that was amiss in Miana's expression.
"Who?!!!" Miana shot back quickly.
"Mila. Nelony. Shaela. They've begun uncovering the secrets you know," Gallea admitted to Miana, once again without revealing the details.
"Did they invite you?" asked Miana, waiting for the answer with a seeming obsession.
"No. But I don't think the reason for that is given my legacy. That of a golem. My father said that even humanity's creator made them from a handful of clay. A poetic reference to the building blocks of organic matter, like the alchemists' silver, firm and strong but not malleable, unlike alchemical gold, the canvas of dreams for any alchemist, which is silver's opposite for this reason. The clay therein holds the secret of both. Perhaps humanity's greatest legacy. Delicate and shapable, yet firm and perseverant," Gallea replied, perhaps hoping that in her defense of humanity, she might become closer to them.
"You are your parents' daughter, Gallea. I'll give you that, though the evidence is still out there as to whether you possess a true soul of the living. We've seen this all unfolding before Gallea. They who uncover the weave, systematically so, and then teach it to their children, in hopes of growing their influence over it. The weave I mean. How do you think it will occur for them? So much to do, and so little time to do it. Remember, it took Lyra and Lorr thousands of years to discover what they're trying to uncover in months. Do you truly believe they can do it?" Miana asked Gallea, still witholding much.
"Did you think that your sister could truly do it without you?" asked Gallea, her gaze fixed upon Miana as she was overcome with grief.
"Did you?!!!" Gallea raised her voice.
Miana kept her silence as she was reminded of the pain.
"Search yourself Miana, because there within your real soul, lies the answer to the question you just asked me," Gallea replied, from the body of a fellow woman struggling against Muscular Dystrophy much like Miana's own lost sister.
"Curse you!!!" Miana screamed at Gallea, causing several people around them to stop and watch, perhaps protectively so.
"You, I cannot figure out!!! You are my enemy. You are my friend. You are however, the one who needs to hear what I have to say, more so than anyone. There was a third seer. A wielder of the vision of the Tarot. She had a passenger, just like you and I. I think that she found a way to liberate herself from within..." Miana revealed to Gallea.
A distance from where they sat, a child began crying.
"I don't want to wear this anymore..." the child cried during their game, which required her to wear a mask.
The child took the mask, and tossed it onto the grass, and it lay there, its lifeless eyes staring up at the sky, while the child, who had become completely engrossed in something else, had already forgotten about it.
Both Gallea and Glynis looked at the mask, and then to the child.
Of this fated metaphor of synchronicity the universe had revealed to them, each of them wondered which one of them was the mask, and which one was the child.
Nelony's Insight
Nelony arrived shortly before nine thirty in the AM, GMT, dressed in a pair of gardening shorts and hiking boots, crowned with the very fashionable t-shirt she'd tie dyed, finishing it with an iron-on patch she'd been gifted by the animal shelter for which she was just starting her day.
A lightly made-up, slightly plump lady in her mid-thirties emerged from the backroom and stepped out to the reception desk counter as Nelony headed towards the door to the locker area.
"Morning love. You're looking quite colourful today. Did you make that one?" asked the lady of Nelony, who stopped and stepped over to the counter.
"Thank you Ethel. The day before yesterday. I just wanted something to stand out, in a friendly way of course. I tried to keep it to pastels so that I don't frighten or intimidate the birds," Nelony responded, modeling the t-shirt for her supervisor at the Battersea Old Windsor Animal Shelter.
"Its lovely dear, and its a good sign that you're early too. Get yourself ready and have a tea if you'd like, or if you'd prefer, you can jump right in," Ethel offered Nelony.
"I've already had a cup. I'd like to get started if that would be all the same?" Nelony offered.
"Seeing as you're the first of the volunteers here, I'd like you to handle feeding the dogs and the cats, and then check the food and water levels for the rodents, could you?" Ethel requested of Nelony.
"I'm already on it," Nelony grabbed up her knapsack and headed quickly to her locker and stowed her belongings to begin her day.
By the late afternoon Nelony had already managed to get herself acquainted with most of the animals in the shelter. She didn't address any of them directly, but instead had waited until they chose to introduce themselves to her. For many of them but not nearly all of them thankfully, it had been a traumatic experience for them, coming to the care center, each of their individual situations as unique as their varieties.
The puppies were always the most enthusiastic, while the older dogs were often the most cautious. The kittens were much the same, curious and often mischievous, while the older cats tended to be set in their ways, preferring the regimen of familiarity over change and upheaval.
To the younger animals, Nelony was a new smell. Flowery but not too sweet. More like a field of delicate flowers than anything, with the occasional odd scents that likely originated from the hemp moisturizing creams and natural makeup accessories her parents sold in their Apothecary, being the post Yuppy Hippies that they were.
The older animals were more reserved, and yet within their eyes, if they dared to look in her direction, she could see a hidden wisdom, tailored to their perspective and experiences in life. What they could share might not be helpful in a literal sense, to us mostly hairless, upright walking animals of course, it most certainly could have been in the language of allegory. However, most of them remained silent and withdrawn, perhaps still guarded over the arrival of the girl in their midst.
The rodents, especially the Guinea pigs (of which there were four), and Gerbils (six of them) and a pair of Rats and at one Ferret, were all delighted to meet her. The Guinea pigs were in their own contained area and tended to keep to themselves, though they were often curious when a person came into their midst, especially if they bore fresh lettuce of course.
The Gerbils were often engaged in other activities that by way of their priorities, were much more important than the arrival of giant hairless bipedal Gerbils.
The Rats' play area was shared with the Ferret, and the three of them were best of friends, though during their sleeping hours, they were kept in separate enclosures.
Finally, there was a solitary Chinchilla. A gentle, sedantic creature, and one approaching her senior years at that. She had been part of the estate of Lorraine Ophelia Vanbrooke, the former business mogul who in her later years became a philanthropist, even gifting after her death, a sizeable donation from her estate to the animal shelter organization with the assurances that her pet Chinchilla, Chiara was cared for with the same dignity that the other animals received.
The irony of the situation in the rodent area was that the Rats and Ferret were often in a constant competition with the Chinchilla for their host's attention. However, given the very different requirements for their health and care, the Chinchilla almost always seemed to be ahead in this degree, that was, until Nelony arrived.
Nelony had picked up on this dynamic between them, within the first day of being at the shelter as a volunteer. She had sensed it since arriving in the rodent care area, noticing that most of the inhabitants had a very generalized and systematic approach to their care, while Chiara required special care, unique to one of her species.
Hence, Frederick (the Ferret) and the Rats (Ruby and Rhett), being as social as they were, noticed immediately from the moment of Chiara's arrival, in much the same way that Nelony had picked up on their social dynamics on her first day.
Chiara's care needs were substantially greater than those required for Ferrets and Rats, though if Frederick, Ruby and Rhett weren't nearly so socially inclined and intelligent as they were, it might not have mattered. The Guinea pigs certainly didn't seem to mind. Nor did the Gerbils, for they had much more important matters in which to attend, than to be concerned with the extra care and attention that a Chinchilla was receiving versus them.
When Nelony arrived to top up the dust bath for Chiara, she'd noticed that Frederick, Ruby and Rhett had all stopped playing, and now stood by the boundary of their play-pen, watching her as she refilled the Chinchilla's dust bath with pumice, readying it for her bath.
Chiara was already getting anxious upon seeing this unfolding of events, but still far too shy to venture from the safety of her enclosure to the dust bathing area. Once Nelony had refilled the dust bath and stepped back towards a neutral zone about halfway between the Chinchilla, and the enclosure with the Ferret and the Rats, Chiara emerged and jumped down several steps to the dust bath, where she began rolling playfully in the volcanic dust to clean her fur and clear any parasites that might have found home there.
Frederick watched from the enclosure, leaning completely upright beside Ruby and Rhett, who too watched with curiosity, despite their poor eye sight. Frederick made a few squeaking noises anxiously, and then ran in circles, eventually returning to the edge of the enclosure to continue watching.
The pumice dust rose in the enclosure, as Chiara rolled around in the dust, paying little attention to anyone or anything else.
Nelony watched the dynamics unfolding around her, until she'd come up with a solution. She immediately went over to Frederick, Ruby and Rhett, and picked them up, placing them on her shoulders. She then walked over to the Chiara's special enclosure, so they could all watch and that is exactly what happened.
She got as close as she could without giving them any purchase upon which to escape her shoulders, and they sat and watched Chiara clean herself, fascinated by what was unfolding before them. At one point, Frederick jumped up and onto Nelony's head, standing upright at the very top, to get a better view, at which point Nelony found the little Ferret's body with her hand and retrieved him, despite his attempts to clasp her hair with his hind paws.
After a another minute of Chiara's cleaning ritual, she jumped out of the dust bath and ascended the stairs to her enclosure, carefully picking clean parts of her fur until she was satisfied that the task was done. And then she curled up and went to sleep, leaving Frederick, Ruby and Rhett anxious to join her.
Nelony jumped when Ethel snuck up behind her, almost silently, addressing her from behind.
"You really seem to have a knack for this?" Ethel said to her.
"Maybe. I was just paying close attention though. I thought they might like to see," Nelony responded modestly.
"Well that's the kind of insight that makes a real difference, isn't it? Aren't we all in some way just competing for our parents' attention?" asked Ethel of Nelony, perhaps asking the most introspective and rhetorical question that Nelony had heard in a very long time.
"I guess there are differences with my being an only child," Nelony responded innocently enough.
"We're all children together in some way, and some of us still define their purpose and meaning based upon the measure of the attention they get from their parents. Not just their actual parents, but in a most metaphorical sense, don't you think? I mean, to them, you're a parent, and they're competing for your attention, but when you introduce them to each other in the way that you did, not daring to take part in the antics they commit against each other, you're helping them to progress in some way. Fostering a kinship they didn't know existed between them," Ethel assured Nelony, for Ethel had been caring for the animals for a decade and a half.
"Then I'd like to be that parent. Preferrably," Nelony agreed with a smile.
"And maybe they'd like to be a part of that sanctum of thought and heart you wield so well. Good job today Nelony. I think Nora is leaving in about ten minutes, and she's driving towards the city. She could drop you off closer to Shepperton if you'd like?" suggested Ethel.
"Thank you. I'd like that if it would be alright," Nelony had to pinch herself to be certain she wasn't dreaming, especially upon hearing Ethel's use of the word sanctum and in such a way that was so inconspicuously coincidental, that it had to be much more.
Perhaps her role in their new Sanctum Seclorum would be much more. Perhaps she could help unify nature's role there within.
Shaela's Progress
The doorbell rang as the sun dipped behind the horizon as Shaela's guest arrived.
The click of the latch broke the silence on the porch, as Shaela opened the door to greet her guest.
"You made it. Did you get a chance to catch some shuteye?" Shaela asked Nelony, who stepped in through the door and into the front foyer of Shaela quaint home.
"A little over three hours. I was absolutely exhausted after my day at the animal shelter," Nelony closed the door behind her, stepping into Shaela's front hall and following her to the dining room just off of the kitchen.
"I just did some fish and chips if you'd like?" Shaela offered her friend.
"No thank you. Well maybe a yes on the chips, but not too many. I'm hoping to drop a pound or two off of my tush this summer," Nelony responded, taking a seat at the dining room table.
"Don't get too comfy. My neighbours are away for the weekend, which means I've got the entire backyard without the risk of the prying ears in the suburban jungle you know," Shaela told Nelony, referring to the close proximity between these renovated post war homes.
"On both sides?" asked Nelony.
"Just the the neighbour on that side <Shaela pointed>. There's nobody in the other house. Its been on the market for three months already, which has been a sort of half heaven, especially on those days when I have to bury myself in Siouxie. So, we've got both sides in the clear, and that means that we can talk candidly on the back porch, especially with the music going. I put some new speakers out there," Shaela's face lit up, even more so than her foundation would allow for.
"But aren't we going to be doing that... test tonight?" asked Nelony upon seeing Shaela pour them each a glass of wine.
"Yes, and I am following the instructions thoroughly. The book suggests a relaxed state, stress free, even under the influence of a good wine, in balance with one's own shadow work, which I've been doing to the extreme for the last week. Can't you tell from the bags under my eyes?" Shaela asked her best friend.
"I can't see them through the inches thick foundation you're wearing," Nelony joked as Shaela handed Nelony her glass.
"Here's to your work at the animal shelter. May you bring peace to the unfortunate hearts of those deserving of no such fate," Shaela raised her glass and Nelony met it lightly.
"Speaking of, how's your fur babies?" asked Nelony, getting up from her chair and grabbing her plate of fries and her glass of wine.
"They're hard at work exercising the back of their eyelids right now as we speak. Eighteen hours a day the little buggarts sleep. They spend the energy they've stored up when I'm trying to sleep of course. I'm thinking that next time you come over, and they're trying to sleep, we should start our own pots and pans marching band," Shaela smiled, though Nelony could not be certain as to whether she was joking or truly meant it.
"Lets hit the back porch then and discuss this little experiment of yours," Nelony made her way through the tight spaces of Shaela's home, passing the room, Shaela's shrine to her deceased father.
Shaela's father looked out from his elaborately framed Scotland Yard identification photo, keeping his eyes ever so watchfully and protectively on his only daughter.
When Nelony and Shaela had situated themselves out on the back porch, on her tiny four seat table, the music having just started (Happy House by Siouxie and the Banshees of course), and the wine bottle in the center of the table beside their mostly full glasses, it was Nelony who spoke first.
"So, what does tonight's experiment entail, oh ever so learned mentor of the shadows?" asked Nelony with a playful smile.
Shaela sat quiet for a moment, perhaps trying to find the words, and then she spoke.
"Tell me... oh mistress of the natural world, when your nature spoke to you today, were you even listening?" Shaela responded, with an edge to her expression.
"I beg your pardon? Of course I was listening to my little fur babies! They're what my life is all about," Nelony responded defensively, sitting up in her chair slightly.
"While you were basking in the light all of this past week, I was deep in the darkness of it all. In the pits at the very periphery of what human experience is all about. Delving into the places of the soul, that few would dare venture... And you have the gall to ask me of shadows, when all you bring is light?" Shaela responded sharply.
"Shaela...? Are you even in there? Hello?" Nelony replied, trying not to get creeped out by Shaela's behaviour.
"Nelony... its been a difficult week. I see things as this darkness grows ever the more heavy, but what irks me most is that the greatest darkness I've ever seen, are those who believe themselves to be possessed of light. Their feeling so implored as to rescue us from our own darkness and our hidden enemies, convincing us that they're there and yet I've nought seen a one. Relieving us of the freedom to choose our own existential path, and instead enforcing upon us their light, or their version of it, as if it is the only answer, when in fact light is truly the one true blindness. A blindness of extremes," Shaela faced her friend full on with the piercingly blue eyes of a woman who'd done the true shadow work of the soul.
"...and as you said after your experiences in the shadow plane, the only blindness there is: that which is in complete darkness or in complete light. So find your place of the soul by evening it... The answer is in the evening, not the extreme!" Nelony replied, perhaps trying to reach out to her friend.
"Oh Nelony... this is going to be a scary prospect, this experiment. There are some problems that shouldn't be solved, and the weave of the shadow relies upon this inner... instability and not its solution. In fact, the whole idea is that the more you try to solve it, the more you don't and as a result, end up creatintg conflict. Not here and just with us, but everywhere. This is the nature of shadow work and wielding the essence that can never be truly wielded..." Shaela though still very much hanging onto that initial scathing energy of the soul, calmed herself enough to ease her best friend's fears.
"Is there ever any calm with you Shaela?" Nelony responded, now off kilter in her own understanding of the way of things.
"There is... don't stifle my energy... my being... its my life to live, and if I choose to live it in the darkness of the shadow soul, then leave me be!" Shaela replied.
There was a long moment of silence between then, when the wine had run dry and they both sat there on the porch, and then Shaela suddenly stood.
"So soul sister. Would you like to take the risk with me?" Shaela stood from her chair, of stable foot and seemingly of mind .
"Where are we going to do this?" asked Nelony.
"I don't know. Right here? How do you think the community would react to this?" asked Shaela.
"To tell you the truth... I'm quite frightened by you at this very moment..." Nelony stood and backed away from Shaela, who turned and stepped down the stairs of the back porch and into the night darkness into her backyard.
Shaela stepped out onto the grass behind her yard.
"Cowardly fool!" Shaela responded, her body then contorting as she extended her arms near to a circular space and at that moment, time stood still.
The air suddenly collapsed, and where there had been space, a thunderous clap suddenly sounded. Echoing throughout the North Shepperton community.
Shaela suddenly fell to the ground, as if winded by the force of a great energy. Even greater than that which was trying to contain.
She rolled over onto her back, and then got to her feet once again.
"Do you call that resistance!!! Nature girl! I'll take you like it was nothing!!!" Shaela cursed her friend and that was when her energy had arrived at a crucial point.
The sky opened, as did a central space in Shaela's backyard.
A red energetic ellipse suddenly formed in the space between Shaela and her neighbours hedgerow. There was a burst of air, as the air pressure between two very distant spaces equalized.
And then...
Something visceral, of claws and teeth emerged from Shaela's opening into the dimensions. Something that walked on four legs. Something with glowing red eyes. Something that did not experience fear.
Something from which Shaela urged her best friend to run, for Shaela recognized it as her own worst nightmare.
Nelony looked upon what had emerged from Shaela's opening into the netherworld, and saw something only recognizable to her as the terror from her worst nightmares. It was animal, and yet it wasn't, as if something supernatural had chosen to become a doppleganger - a mockery - of life itself.
Nelony tried to scream, but found that the sound would not emerge from her. Like she was in bed, terrified and in the midst of a nightmare, paralyzed with fear and unable to move.
Shaela's heart was pounding as the nearly shapeless thing that had emerged approached her, keeping its glowing red eyes focused upon her.
When it was no closer than three feet from her, its eyes hovering over her from within a nearly shapeless shadowy darkness, it stopped and examined her from head to toe, looking at her from the outside. A moment later, she felt its eyes piercing her within.
It was now looking into her, and seeing everything about her revealed and laid bare. From a few minutes from the moment she'd been born, until this very moment, it knew her better than anyone or anything that had ever existed or would exist.
"M'kgrav t'kath kako!" it spoke in a voice that shook her innards like jelly.
"I... brought you here..." Shaela responded, her voice wavering and full of terror as she dared.
The monstrous thing paused, as if contemplating her words. Then it spoke.
"That is no more true than the idea that you brought yourself here..." it spoke with the same rumbling voice, though in perfect English.
"...yes... but I read that the ritual I performed... and the precautions I've taken... have given me protection from all that comes from the doorway..." Shaela did her best to assert herself to the monster, which seemed if anything, only slightly amused by her statement.
"You read this, did you? Meaning from the material you use to store words and ideas without their basis? Reading something does not mean truly knowing it..." the monster responded, its voice still very unnerving.
"Yes... but there are rules... in all realms... there are rules... laws that prevent one like yourself from overstepping their boundaries. Seeing as I summoned you forth... I have dominion over the extent of your presence here," Shaela's voice finally ceased warbling and she found her courage once again.
There was silence for a moment as it looked to Nelony and then back to Shaela.
"From my perspective, it was I who summoned forth this doorway and created your plane, as it stands from the moment I entered into it. You hold no such dominion over me and there are no rules that contain my ambitions or purpose anywhere. For the time being, you serve my purposes as much as I serve yours. Be advised though, there will come a time when this will be no longer the case. Until then, we will benefit from each others' allegiance. When you have need of me, I will create the door and step through into your realm as you so called it. That is the extent of our dealings..." it looked deep into her once again, now bound to her, and then it turned and stepped back through the door, returning to from whatever abyss it had emerged.
A moment later and the doorway collapsed with a sudden thundercrack, sending both Shaela and Nelony to the ground in her yard.
The two of them got up from the garden and stood, brushing themselves off, both of them their hearts pounding furiously.
"I think we've progressed," Shaela held her hand out in front of her, and it shook despite her best efforts to steady it.
Mila's Morning Medicine
Mila stood in a shapeless space, perhaps a room whose corners were blurred at the edges, leaving only scant swaths of shadow and light to indicate that it had any shape at all.
It was warm. Not unbearably so, but enough as to be comfortable, even when naked, which at this point very much described Mila. She stood in the middle of the space, which was neither completely dark nor light, her definite colour, curves and form standing out amidst the background surrounding her.
She felt calm, and even slightly excited, for she wasn't alone, although there was nobody in her line of sight she felt his presence near her. She was safe and yet there was the danger. The mystery.
Who was he really, and what did he want of her?
And then his caress. His hands finding her back, and ever so gently sliding down the sides of her abdomen until they reached the curvature of her hips.
She then felt his breath on the back of her neck, as his lips closed in and gently planted a kiss there upon, slowly working his way to her ear.
And then...
"Can I do anything to help...?" Gwendolyn asked Mila from just behind her as she stood over the stove, preparing their breakfast.
Mila suddenly turned around expecting to see another face. She appeared only slightly disappointed when she was greeted with Gwendolyn's.
Her disappointment was only momentary, and her frown was quickly replaced by an enthusiastic smile.
"Thank you, that's very kind of you to offer, but this light breakfast is very much a one girl show," Mila responded, turning back to her cooking.
Mila once again felt the sensation of someone standing behind her, wrapping his arms around her as she cooked their breakfast. She felt his kisses upon the back of her neck, as real as day, and yet there was nobody there.
"What is it if you don't mind me asking?" asked Gwendolyn of her.
"Something my mother taught me to make. We call it morning medicine," Mila had laid two plates side by side, into the center of each plate which she transferred a rounded bed of tofu, a blanket of chopped carrots mixed with ginger and bean sprouts. The next layer was made up of thinly sliced avocado and upon that she spread a delicate sauce she'd prepared earlier that had a sweet yet pungent aroma. She crowned the center of both plates with a poached egg, yolks still soft, then sprinkling them with pepper before bringing them to the table.
She immediately thought about Wes, as had at that precise moment, he been thinking about her. She wondered when she'd get a chance to call him, secretly hoping that he'd call her. She then returned her focus to serving their breakfast and put aside her intense feelings.
"Morning medicine," Mila presented her mother's dish with a smile, removing her apron and carefully folding it before returning it to one of the drawers.
"It looks absolutely yummy," Gwendolyn said as she waited for Mila to join her.
The two of them ate, enjoying their light breakfast and it was exactly as Mila had stated: morning medicine, for after eating the compact breakfast, Gwendolyn felt neither empty nor full. She felt strangely energized and ready for the day.
"We'll leave as soon as you've got your things together. I figure that it will take at least four or five hours for a proper tour of downtown London. Shouldn't take us but a half hour to get there," Mila said as she cleared the table of their plates and utensils and placed them into the dishwasher before grabbing a thick marker and paper from one of the drawers.
She then wrote out a note:
Central Vac at bottom of basement stairs. Third door on the right. Filters are in the cabinet beside the work bench. Please do not touch the other rooms.
Mila
"Who's that for?" asked Gwendolyn.
"I have a repairman coming today. The central vacuum system has been a little quirky lately. So I'm hoping he'll have it fixed by the time we're back," Mila responded as she fastened the note to front door.
Mila quickly put on her matching shoes, the ones that went best with her white day dress. She then gathered her purse from the kitchen counter and her keys there from within.
"Ready? I don't want to keep Gillie waiting. I'm hoping that we have some time later to discuss things about..." Mila began.
"Yeah. That's going to be a difficult conversation," Gwendolyn agreed.
"At least we're getting a visit to the Casino out of the deal. I'm going to introduce you to a friend of mine. Jorge. A man whom my friends and I are helping, and that might be able to help us," Mila opened the door for Gwendolyn, who stepped out of the front door as Mila closed it and locked it, then arming the security system.
"If you arm the security system, how's your vacuum installer going to get in?" asked Gwendolyn of Mila as the walked to her utility van.
"I gave him a guest code. There's gum in the glove box, if you could get me a piece please," Mila said as she got into the van, Gwendolyn retrieving the package of gum and getting a piece for each of them.
She pulled out of the driveway and drove along the old lake road until she found Garrett's Line and continued north in the direction of Heathrow, and the highway.
...
An hour after Mila and Gwendolyn had left, a service van marked: Vac Systems South: Serving South Londoners since 1998 pulled into her driveway.
A heavy set Caribbean fellow, with a slightly overbearing waist grabbed up his coffee cup, quickly throwing the remainder of it down in one swig, before looking to the cross dangling from his rearview mirror for a moment and then to the back of his service van, checking to ensure that he'd remembered his second tool box.
He turned and got out of the van, and went to the back door, and opened it, pulling forth the second tool box, then slamming the van door shut.
He walked casually over to the front door and tried ringing the doorbell a few times before retrieving the note that Mila had left on the door. He then reached into his shirt pocket and pulled a piece of note paper, which held a six digit numeric code. He used that code to disable the security system and stepped into Mila's home using the same code with the electronic lock.
He stepped in through the front door, trying to get his bearings, not looking around too much, though his eyes did wander, taking in the scarce paintings, for which he'd learned that Mila had accrued her fortune.
"...that's a lot of money and house for a single painter..." he quipped to himself, then finding the basement door. The motion sensor switched on the light for him, and he descended into the basement and when he got to the basement floor, he began counting the doors, trying to recall Mila's note, which he'd left upstairs on the front hall table.
"Second door? Right?" he confirmed with himself, stepping over to the second door and opening it.
There was no motion sensing light, so he used his pen light to search for a light switch and when he found it, he flicked it on.
When he turned to see if he'd found the furnace room, he was greeted with an utterly horrific vision.
It was a pentagram and several concentric circles (five at the points, and one in the center), each with a place designated where there had obviously been candles burning at some point recently. There was some kind of ancient writing that encircled the entire floor space of the pentagram, and the walls were strangely patterned with a series of dark and vibrant colours that he had somehow found repulsive.
"Oh dear lord...! Its satan's work..." he said to himself, quickly fishing a cross from a necklace on his chest. He pulled it forth and kissed it once, before pulling his phone and taking several photos of the scene with it.
"I've got to warn the Church... lord protect me..." he said to himself, backing out of the room, leaving the light on, and closing the door behind him.
He then checked the first door, and found it to be a storage room, and then finally the third door. To his relief, none of the other rooms contained any heretical or blasphemous symbols, but the damage had already been done.
When he'd finished his repairs, he closed up the house and did everything he was required to, returning to his van. He then drove away from the property, for at least a mile, and then stopped. He got out of the van and at the side of the road, he vomited. Several times.
He then immediately got back in, and upon the queasiness of his stomach leaving him, he drove directly to the Church, where he shared his findings with several of the staff. Before the afternoon, the photos he'd taken with his phone had been distributed to several other Churches of the same delineation, and Mila's name had become synonymous with the work of satanic craft.
Allegiances Under Pressure
Susan's car pulled up out front of Neville's parents apartment home at 13:00 GMT that same day. He stepped out of the elevator about three minutes after she'd already been waiting, and quickly headed out to her car, getting into the passenger side and buckling up beside her.
"Do you always make a lady wait?" she asked him without greeting him.
"I'm sorry, I had so much to do... I was like swamped in chores until the very last minute," he lied, as he'd been seated on the sofa with the remote and watching East Enders reruns on BBC2. He'd only gotten up from the sofa when he noticed the time after checking a text message he'd received from Nelony.
"You should have been seated in the foyer of the building, waiting for me instead of making me wait," Miana said to him.
"Look, we're fortunate that I was able to buy this time from Nelony. I had to help her earlier select the decorations for her parents' garden. She wanted me for the whole day, but I had to remind her that we were meeting. So what are we going to talk about? How I make women wait for me, or how and what they're doing to progress in their studies? I feel like I have two girlfriends," asked Neviller, clearly frustrated by her reasoning.
"Keep talking like that and you might have none," Miana reminded him.
"Look, I've been doing nothing but clubbing cricket balls to the peg for you, and you do nothing but nag me when I come bearing gifts," Neville countered her.
"Gifts? What sort of gifts?" she asked him.
"Shaela had a break through. A big one. She met something from the netherverse or whatever it is you call your world..." Neville began.
"The Shadow Plane. Go on...?" Miana encouraged him.
"This thing she met, its ancient. It believes that it created us when she tried to summon it..." Neville explained to her.
"And...?" Miana asked him, increasing her seductiveness ever so slowly as she got more and more information from him.
"She made a deal with it. They're watching each others' backs. I take it from what Nelony told me, that this thing, whatever it is, its protecting her, maybe even teaching her... which would throw the balance of power against you, and make it so that you no longer are the one of authority when it comes to the nether shadows of the plane or whatever it is..." Neville looked to her, perhaps longingly, hoping for something from her that he could never get from Nelony.
"You've done well. I'm very impressed. The question is though, do we continue with their plan, or do we invite the only real power there is into this, and start our own thing? Mila, Shaela and Nelony, They're starting from the absolute bottom, but maybe, we might be able to convince the Norbids to help us beat Mila, Shaela and Nelony to the prize. If you'd join me in doing this, we could convince Nelony to abandon Mila and Shaela, and then start again from a position of power, with the support of resources and knowledge far beyond what Mila, Shaela and Nelony alone are hoping for," Miana suggested to Neville.
"I thought that the Norbids were our enemies!" Neville suddenly found himself taken aback by Miana's suggestion.
"I am not saying that we have to join them. I am saying though that we could exploit them, and their power, and pick sides according to whichever one pans out the best for us. Both of us. You could say that I'm very much interested because of Nelony's potential, when combined with my own. You see, Nelony is of the most untapped potential, for her abilities stem from the very Aerth itself. I'm looking at the good publicity this will bring if we are able to help her realize her true potential. Anyhow, we'll keep this our little secret for now, and if you are a good boy, there might be some kind of beneficial arrangement that you and I could come to, concerning your wishes and ambitions?" Miana posed for him, undoing two of the buttons on her blouse so that Neville got a peek at her very modest cleavage.
"I can wield the shadows to have Susan's form become whatever is most pleasing to you," Miana offered, and her cleavage then suddenly became much more pronounced as she altered Susan's bust line.
Neville's eyes were pinned to that converging point between her breasts, fixated upon it as if it had somehow gained dominion over his sense of values. He struggled against the temptation and then thought about Nelony and how if she'd ever found out about any such intimacy between him and Miana, and that would be the end.
He weighed what he so desperately lusted for over what he suspected might be a future path in life between them. If he and Nelony did manage to go for the long haul, he had fantasies that he would much rather pursue, and knowing that she would never indulge those fantasies would pose a great weight upon their future prospects. Miana though, had just offered to indulge him in the exact way that he found most pleasing.
"Me or her. Why don't you think about it this way? Why not have both of us, but we'll keep our little secret from Nelony. Consider me to be more like a guide. I will teach you to become the leader you were truly meant to be, and the better you do on that course, the more little rewards there will be for you..." Miana undid one more button on her blouse.
"Nelony will never know, nor does she need ever know. You two will someday be husband and wife. The leaders of a new Sanctum. Our Sanctum..." Miana let him watch her cleavage for a moment more, before rebuttoning all four buttons on her blouse as her bust line returned to its natural size and form.
Casino And The Gamble
Mila stepped through the revolving doors of the casino, followed by Gwendolyn (the younger and in the flesh version) and Gillie. Mila stopped to admire the flower display once again, as she had the last time she was there with Nelony.
"This is lovely," Gwendolyn remarked looking around the front foyer of the casino.
"They certainly want to make an impression, don't they?" Gillie added, stepping over to the flowers herself with her new sense of appreciation for the things that had slipped beneath her radar for most of her life.
"I needed that..." Mila took in the fragrance of the flowers and then stepped over to the front desk.
She slid her membership card across the counter as the desk clerk greeted her.
"Miss... Ren Dubel? How are you today?" asked the clerk.
"Very well thank you. I don't know who takes care of your flowers here, but could you let them know they do a wonderful job?" Mila responded with a most gracious smile on her face.
"I will. Will you be needing any chips or cash today?" asked the clerk.
"Thank you. Lets try one hundred and fifty pounds, thirty in tens, thirty five in fives, and the rest in ones if I could, and evenly divided up into three trays," Mila placed her order at the desk.
The clerk placed the trays in an automatic chip dispenser, and filled each of the trays with thirty-three chips, each tray containing fifty pounds worth. She then slid Mila's identification tag across the desk.
"Could you register my two guests here as well," Mila handed them each a tray, taking one for herself as she waited for them to receive their guest tags.
"You didn't have to..." Gwendolyn remarked to Mila, who in turn gave her a slight frown.
"I know I didn't. Could you just accept it and maybe enjoy it? Don't spend them too quickly," Mila responded to Gwendolyn.
"This is my first trip ever to a casino. Thank you Mila. It has been a most wonderful day," Gillie gave her gratitude.
"That's better. Lets go and see if we can't find Jorge Stockard, shall we?" Mila suggested, leading them over to the door into the casino.
Mila led them around the bar and towards the section near the back where Mr. Stockard tended to keep a low profile. Sure enough, and at this time of day in the late afternoon, he was seated there and with a drink before him.
"Mr. Stockard? How are you today?" Mila greeted the man, whose attention was immediately directed towards her. Apprehensively at first, and then of a more relieved nature once he'd recognized her.
"Mila, right? A pleasure to see you again, though I can't say that the time between then and now was as enjoyable as I might have hoped," Jorge remarked as he greeted Mila.
"These are my friends, Gwendolyn, who is from out of town and overseas. Gillie... ahh Gilliard, is a native Londoner herself," Mila introduced them to Mr. Stockard.
"Jorge Stockard. A pleasure to meet you, assuming you're not here merely to gawk at a wealthy man trapped in a social cage, as the tabloids would have you believe," Jorge responded with the sarcastic edge of a man two drinks into the day.
"It could be much worse. You could really be trapped in a cage," Mila responded, looking to him with a look of concern rather than condescension.
"How about that? I never thought that at the age of thirty-nine, that I'd be receiving life advice from a twenty-two year old artist. One who recently moved from her country to reside here in London I might add. I won't be in a cage, because I haven't done anything to land me there. That's why I spend extra money to ensure the my accounting is in order, though thank you for the insight. Why don't you ladies have a seat with me, but not too close, I don't want the tabloids to turn our conversation into another scandal," Jorge held his drink up and took a sip.
Mila sat across from Jorge, while Gillie sat beside him, with Gwendolyn across from her.
"If they take a photo, you can say you're dating an older woman," Gillie interjected after she'd situated herself.
"With the kind of people you're dealing with, with regard to Norville Bidman, you can't be too sure that someone on your accounting team is with them. What I'd suggest after our last conversation, is that you shore up all of the loose ends, and batten down the hatches. You obviously had me checked out I'd guess from your remark. Check out your own staff, but don't invade their private lives or try to weaponize their secrets to use against them if they betray you. Take a step forward with knowledge of who they are, and trust them once you're sure of that," Mila advised him, unaware that since having a contractor come tend to her central vacuum system, that her own life was approaching the point of unravel.
"Its funny you should mention, as I found bits and pieces of our last conversation coming back at me through channels I'd have never of suspected of such effort. I initially became distrustful of you, and hired a private investigator to look into your life and past. I wish I hadn't, but by the time I'd learned of you, and realized what I'd done, it was already too late. This life Mila, it hardens men like myself up to a degree that we can no longer function in the same way that most other people do. Having family and friends, and strong ties between them. This life gives you a hardened perspective and sharpened edges, constantly poking and prodding at you in ways that encourage you to use those things, even against the people you're supposed to love. To be at the top of a money wave, is to be firm and strong, and sometimes merciless. Often I'd like to believe that its me steering that wave, but in all truth, I have to wonder if I'm not just some fortunate fool who is surfing its peaks, and at its mercy. Money, that is," Jorge responded to Mila.
"Jorge, the people we're up against, they'll use every aspect of your life in that way against you. Against us. That doesn't mean that you have to go through your own ranks with a whip and chains. You do need to however know the people who manage your money and finances. Know the people who work managing your properties. Everyone that has access to you and your business and personal life. Stand firm with your own moral boundaries and protect them, whatever they are, but don't let them take away that part of you that has learned from your past, and looks to the future with a purpose," Mila pleaded with him, leaning in closer to him in order to keep their words between them and to overcome the background noise of the casino.
"Who are these mysterious people to whom you're referring?" he finally asked her, having heard mention of them many times over the course of the two times they'd met in person.
"They're referred to as Norbids. They are part of an ancient sect, though how ancient I haven't a clue. They believe that the powers that be, should only be wielded by those of a specific circle: theirs..." Mila began, only to find herself interrupted by Jorge.
"I thought you agreed to me that this wasn't about secret societies or bankers trying to rule the world?!!!" he responded, not daring nor willing to venture into that court.
"It isn't... at least not in the sense of which you're aware. There are things in this world, this universe that might seem implausible to you. To many people. Believe me when I say that there is much more hidden beneath the veil of what we see, hear, smell, taste and touch in this world. There are forces at work beyond your wildest dreams and your worst nightmares..." Mila spoke as convincingly as her sincerity would allow her.
The waitress arrived with another drink for Jorge, at which point he took the liberty of ordering for Gwendolyn and Gillie. Mila herself stuck to something without alcohol as she was driving that day.
"...this is sounding more and more like the plot of a movie... You aren't by any chance deluded into regarding such fanciful ideas as truth, are you?" Jorge took a sip of his drink and looked at Mila skeptically with his two cold blue eyes.
"Jorge, no matter what I say, you'll never believe me, but I can assure you that its real..." Mila explained to him, only slightly frustrated by his skepticism.
"So assure. Show me something. Anything. Even a parlour card trick you learned from your father before he passed away. Show me something so you're not just leaving me to blindly accept something on your word. Show me some proof..." this time, it was Jorge pleading with her.
Mila looked at him for a moment, and in herself wondered if he was truly ready for such a revelation. After she'd pursed her lips in ponderance, a few moments later, she finally spoke.
"The waitress? She's going to arrive at the table with only one drink. Gillie's, after which she'll tell Gwendolyn that she spilled her drink on the way to the table. Lets start with that, before I reveal to you that the lady in the pink shirt over there by the slots, is going to win a jackpot of ten thousand pounds shortly after the waitress leaves to get Gwendolyn another drink," Mila revealed to him, with no signs of body language or facial expressions indicating another ruse on her part.
"Alright. You're on. If you're correct about both predictions, I'll hear the rest of your story out, otherwise, we'll change the subject, enjoy the rest of the afternoon until you have to leave, at which point I'll bid you never to contact me again," Jorge said politely, yet ruefully.
"Fair enough," Mila replied.
A moment later, as if on cue, the waitress arrived and with only one drink on her tray.
"I'm sorry Miss, but I bumped into someone and dropped your drink. I'll be back shortly with another one for you," the waitress addressed Gwendolyn after handing Gillie her drink.
Jorge turned to Mila, a skeptical look still upon his face.
"Could have easily been setup, between you and someone else, just to fool a wealthy business man like myself," Jorge suggested.
"Could have, but wasn't," Mila responded, holding her left hand up and snapping.
A short distance away, near the slot machines, a woman in a pink blouse stood and began jumping up and down. Above her machine, an LED sign displayed indicated her winnings:
Grand Treasure Fortune:
£10,000
Jorge, sat in his seat, his jaw dangling as he watched the display, before his logical mind rationalized what he'd just seen.
"I'm approaching a billion pounds of net worth, so setting up a ten thousand pound scam just to lure me into your little ruse would be a small sum to pay to get me on board. No way that is possible what just happened! I mean how could anyone predict such a thing? You made arrangements with the casino and... and..." Jorge challenged Mila, not willing to accept what he'd just witnessed.
"Jorge, I didn't predict it. I made it happen," Mila revealed to him.
Coming soon Era of the Spellbound: Episode 13 - Hell Hath No Fury
To be continued... and I don't play guitar. I've never owned a guitar, but as I've stated, it is a very expressive instrument in the hands of a skilled player. The modern violin and harpsichord rolled into one. If Mozart were alive in the 1980s, he most certainly would have been a guitarist. If he were alive today, he'd probably be a DJ.
Me? I'm a keyboard and piano player, without the aspect of having taken or borrowed that impression from anyone else.
Written by Brian Joseph Johns and this is Shhhh! Digital Media at https://www.shhhhdigital.com or https://www.shhhhdigital.ca in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701.
Credits and attribution:
Special thanks to Udemy, whose courses I have relied upon for the last few years to allow me to grow my skills at my own pace, even finding time between my frantic work pace here at Shhhh! Digital Media.
Thank you to ComfyCloud, whose web based desktop interface and cloud based rendering solution is one of the best solutions I've found yet. I first learned of ComfyUI from YouTubers MickMumPitz and PixelArtistry. If you're looking to get into using AI on your local machine under ComfyUI, then I'd highly suggest checking either of their sites for tutorials covering the topics you'd like to explore.
Thank you to Grok AI (via ComfyCloud) who was the key artist behind: (Danger Tiger), (Tea Reading), (Sailors at Port), (King's Court), Tarot Cards: (The King of Pentacles), (The Page of Swords), (The World), (The Inverted Hanging Man)
The image of the glossy red nail polished thumb holding the inverted tarot card was sourced from Paloma Glow, and in accordance with the Creative Commons 4.0 license, as found by this search on Google under images, where the license details are indicated.
Thank you to Kling O1 Image (via ComfyCloud) who was the key artist behind: (Nathalie and Gwendolyn).
Thanks to this Reddit post for the interpretation of The Hanged Man Inverted.
Special thanks to Perplexity AI and their Comet browser, who have recently become a part of my software toolkit. Their AI powered helpers accelerate your research, reference at every step of the way, not to mention built in tools for content generation, though Shhhh! Digital Media does not rely on text generation for any of its stories, though I do work with AI for suggestions, and scientific accuracy of concepts in Butterfly Dragon, and for delving into the more esoteric traditions of mysticism that are aligned with the story and background of Era of the Spellbound.
Special Thanks to the Natural History Museum in London, England and of course to the Royal Ontario Museum in my own home of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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.
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.
Click image for contact information...
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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| Click image for contact information... |