I blame Dragon Age: Origins for the lateness. And graduation preparations. That is all.
Begin!
Book I, Part IV: Mortal Conflict - Dissension in the Ranks
Chapter I—For Want of Words
[July 6, 2152 | Trabia Garden, Third Floor, Hallway | 1:13 PM]
Darius DeValle, Jr. was not a fool. Far from it, in fact – the eighteen-year old boy was a talented Alchemist, skilled in manipulating the element of Lightning with his transmutations, a powerful, though not particularly high-ranking member of Trabia Garden's alchemic SeeD specialization, and the head of Merchant's Alley, Trabia's business program.
Looking back, he realized, it only made him a bigger fool for disregarding one of his personal, fundamental rules: never let someone manipulate you on their end of the deal without collateral, particularly when said deal involved information you'd gone to great lengths to try and obtain, and even more so when said deal was made with an extraplanar being. Ethereal Plane entities weren't known for dishonesty, but the definition of dishonesty could stretch quite far in the minds of some, something Darius himself had used before and should've prepared against.
Darius sighed as he left the Palace of Creation; the Ethereal Plane was not a plane he visited often, and that was the first time in recent memory he could recall going to the Creator herself for something. It would not be something to be repeated any time soon, certainly. His agreement with the Lord Sovereign had, as promised, led to a meeting with the Grim Angel he'd been seeking, and he'd been surprised when time for the meeting came.
The fact that his last name happened to be "Beoulve" had quite a bit to do with that.
Etchel, as he'd found out very quickly, was the father of both the lovable young SeeD Commander's aide at Trabia Garden and his highly-talented sister, a fact Darius had neither known nor cared enough to ask about before now. Ein never really talked about his parents, only Andréa, but it wasn't very hard at all to see the family resemblance. Etchel had the same messy brown hair and brown eyes as his son, and looked almost exactly like what Darius figured Ein would look like in ten or fifteen years. His features were sharper and decidedly more rugged than those of the teen, but overall Etchel looked very much like his son…or, Darius thought, Ein looked a great deal like his father.
That had led to another conclusion that Darius hadn't expected – Etchel Beoulve was a Malakh, an Ethereal Plane being…so did that make Ein and Andréa Malakh as well? The answer was mostly 'yes.' Both were actually half-Malakh, as their mother was mortal, and Etchel staunchly refused to mention who that woman was to Darius. The Planeswalker had grudgingly let the matter drop, mostly because there were more pressing matters at hand.
The next few minutes had been spent in intelligent conversation, with Darius laying out the terms for why he'd come to Soul Society seeking him out and exactly what he wanted to know from the Malakh, and Etchel had listened with a patient ear while the youngest DeValle son explained himself. Obviously, Darius had been expecting some sort of an exchange of information or some other task that the Malakh wanted from him in exchange for his knowledge, but he had not expected to hear what Etchel had asked for in return.
"I want you to make a deal for me. If I give you this information, I want to be allowed to return to the mortal plane."
That started a new line of questioning that Darius was truly curious about; he'd had no idea, nor had Byakuya mentioned, that Etchel had been kept from visiting the mortal plane. Sadly, Darius had gotten very little out of Etchel on that particular topic, as the elder Malakh was unwilling to say much more than that…at least, until he'd mentioned that he wasn't going to secure any kind of deal until Etchel leveled with him as to why he'd been kept from visiting the mortal plane.
Barring any kind of extraplanar entity from the mortal plane was only done with a good reason in mind, and Darius had smiled when Etchel realized he was backed into a figurative corner. He'd had no choice left but to explain in the end, while the Planeswalker had found himself somehow unsurprised, if amused, at what Etchel had described.
The elder Beoulve had fallen in love with a mortal woman while on one excursion into the mortal plane, and might have…slipped on some of his duties to spend a little more time with her. It had been frowned upon severely by his peers, so much so that Freya had enacted punishment in the form of confining him to the outer planes for his actions once it was discovered. Darius didn't push the question any further – he'd already proven to himself that he could dig out the information he wanted from the Malakh if he really wanted – and instead sealed the agreement with Etchel in order to seal his procuring of the information he truly desired.
Byakuya had reluctantly agreed to the proposal, seeing as how it would remove Etchel from his duties for a day, but Darius had greedily taken the offer at face value – reluctant agreement was still an agreement. Freya had been more interesting, seeing as how she placed the restriction upon Etchel in the first place. As she was the one who crafted the hex, only she or another Ancient-level entity could hope to remove it with any success, and the Lord Sovereign had no interest in deciphering Freya's magic without clear gain.
He had expected reluctance, perhaps even outright refusal, from the Creator, but all he had received for his trouble was a warm smile and a readily entered agreement, only furthering his confusion. He wasn't about to argue with success, however, and he left the palace as quickly as he could manage while still being proper; Odin and Xeios, like Byakuya, seemed to be two beings that were similar in mind to Byakuya when it came to his antics.
Etchel met Darius in the courtyard as the Planeswalker exited the majestic palace. "Success?" he asked, looking almost anxiously at the Planeswalker. Darius' affirming nod brought a smile to the Malakh's face moments later, but the slight frown that followed put a stop to any preliminary celebrations.
"You'll uphold your end of the bargain now?" Darius asked, to which Etchel smiled again.
"Of course! But first, follow me to the mortal plane – I've something to claim before I start talking."
That earned a momentary skeptical look from the Planeswalker, but he obligingly began to follow Etchel nonetheless as they headed towards one of the gates that would lead back to the mortal plane. With the exception of Planeswalkers, as that was an essential part of their reason for being, very few other entities besides planar leaders and others selected specifically by those in the station had true plane-crossing abilities. Certain members of the Ethereal Knights and Magi had the ability, as did individuals chosen by the Lord Sovereign and the Overlord, but those were few in number – all others relied on the presence of special planar gates within each plane to move between the outer planes and, rarely, the mortal plane.
Katanas looked up from his paperwork as the door to his office opened only to see the scowling face of his youngest brother, who was standing across the room from him. He clasped his hands together as Darius walked in and sat down; his brother typically never bothered him while he was working, so he found himself curious as to what could cause him to do so.
"Is something wrong?" he asked Darius, the business-like expression on his face never wavering.
"I've got a little problem, you could say," Darius commented, the scowl on his face only growing deeper.
They had reappeared in, of all places, what appeared to be an orchard full of fruit trees, with apple, orange, and pear trees surrounding them in the immediate vicinity, as well as a pair of houses visible further off. Etchel calmly looked around with a smile on his face, taking in the sights for several long seconds before stepping over towards one of the trees and picking an apple from a branch, taking a large bite and savoring the taste.
"They just don't have apples like this in Soul Society," he commented through a mouthful of fruit, earning a strange look from the youngest DeValle son.
"You had me talk to two planar leaders so you could come back and eat fruit?" he asked in a deadpan tone. Etchel waved the comment off, shaking his head.
"Of course not…though, it's certainly a wonderful fringe benefit," he remarked. "But now, I think we have more important matters to deal with."
"That sounds right," Darius stated…then paused as Etchel started to walk away from him, headed towards the houses in the distance. "…Where do you think you're going?"
"Just…to attend to some business of mine. Nothing big, of course, just some odds and ends I have to take care of. You understand."
"What about my information?" Darius looked quite a bit less than pleased; now he was certain that he should've gotten the information first, before bothering with any of Etchel's demands.
"You'll get it…" Etchel replied offhandedly, still walking and seemingly unconcerned with the Planeswalker following him. "Might not be today, but you'll get it. I guess we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"
"You're not leaving until you give me that information. I didn't go talk to people on your account out of the goodness of my heart, you know," Darius said, his hand dropping to one of the holsters at his side. Etchel stopped and turned, looking curiously at the alchemist, before smiling.
"Oh, I'm fully aware of that, and you have my most sincere thanks. I do so hope we'll get to do this again sometime."
"So, you want to hire SeeD to go and track down a rogue Malakh for you so that you can make him keep his end of a deal he made with you?" Katanas queried, a faint look of amusement now showing in his eyes. "I never thought I would see the day when my little brother would have a deal go south."
"Yeah, yeah…I'm sure you're eager and waiting to rub it in, aren't you?" he asked with a glower in Katanas' direction.
"I just find it amusing, that's all, given your position." Katanas smiled amiably, serving only to further bother his little brother as Darius sat down in front of the desk. "So, did you have a team in mind?"
"Myself, obviously," he stated, "but I thought I might ask you for advice first." Katanas nodded and turned back to his computer, bringing up a database of available SeeD officers.
"Any particular specialization you're looking to draw from?"
"Alchemic or magic, preferably…I figure they have the best chance of tracking someone by their energy, even if they don't quite know what they're looking for."
As Katanas started typing, beginning to narrow down the database to something more succinct and manageable, a faint whisper of noise came from the direction of the door to his office, noise which did not go unnoticed by either DeValle. Katanas merely looked up, but Darius rose from his seat smoothly as his arms dropped to his side, pistols clearing their holsters and training unerringly on the door of the office in less than a second. If someone was there and had been allowed to enter, Ein would have notified Katanas first, and if no one was there…
Well, Darius would look a bit paranoid or overly wary, but none the worse for appearance. As long as only Katanas saw it, he felt he could live with that.
"My, my…all this effort for someone like me? I'm touched – really, I am."
Etchel Beoulve stood in front of the closed door to Katanas' office, smiling faintly with folded arms as he watched the pair of Planeswalkers. Darius' guns slowly lowered, returning to their holsters, and he glanced at Katanas.
"You can call it off now, Katanas."
"I figured you might say that," Katanas remarked, nodding lightly. "I assume this is the person you were looking for?"
"Yeah," he said, turning back to Etchel. "How'd you get in here, anyway, without someone seeing you?"
"Why, I'm almost hurt!" Etchel said melodramatically, feigning offense. "Surely you haven't forgotten already that I am a former Captain of the Order of Grim Angels, as well as an outer plane being? If I want to remain undetected, well…I'm rather good at that, you might say."
As much as Darius wanted to shoot him a skeptical look for all his boasting, he reminded himself that the Malakh had, in fact, just snuck his way through three floors of a fully-staffed and busy Garden to get here.
"So, anyway, now that I'm here –"
"Intruding," Darius interrupted grumpily.
"– intruding," Etchel continued, directing an amused look towards the Alchemist, "might I suggest we get down to business? Provided you still want my business, that is."
"I didn't go talk to a few planar leaders for nothing," Darius shot back, causing Etchel to make his way over to a chair at Katanas' desk and sit down, swinging his arm over the back of the chair casually. Darius did much the same, taking another chair and spinning it around to face the Grim Angel before sitting. "I guess I'll start with the biggest question – jump right into things, you could say."
"Oh?"
"Destine," Darius began, "just got done with an attempt to lead a little coup on her mother's throne, which you may or may not be aware of. From the impression I've gotten, she wasn't always the rotten kid, so I was wondering if you had any idea as to what caused her to go sour on the world – since you're an Ethereal being and all." Etchel was silent for a brief moment before he chuckled quietly, eyes lighting up with mirth as he took in Darius' query.
"Now that is an interesting little question," Etchel said, smiling. "I've got some ideas, a bit of a theory, but I think I'll have to explain a bit more than you're expecting before I get to that."
"Like?" Darius asked, relaxing into his chair. Suddenly, he got the feeling he would be here a bit longer than anticipated. He heard Katanas absently tell Ein to hold his calls and visitors until he said otherwise, but he was more interested in what the Malakh was implying to really pay attention to his brother.
"Oh, just a couple little things," the Malakh stated, glancing between Katanas and Darius. "The founding of the Order of Grim Angels, the last major war in the Ethereal Plane…just some minor details."
Darius looked at Katanas.
"Minor. Sure."
Katanas smirked, and then turned to Etchel. "Please, continue."
"Where to start, where to start…" Etchel muttered, looking thoughtful. "Guess the beginning is a good place." He seemed to relax more in his chair as he spoke, bringing his arm back over the chair and resting both his arms on the chair arms themselves. "This all started about…fifteen hundred years or so ago, give or take a few decades. The Ethereal Plane, like the other planes, was still relatively new by our standards, and Lady Freya was still dealing with a lot of the trivialities of running an entire plane of existence – which, as I'm sure you can imagine, are rather numerous. I don't know all the details here, just what I heard secondhand, so you'll have to bear with me a bit."
"That's quite alright," Katanas said, speaking before Darius could. "We can't ask you to say more than you know, after all."
"Well, back then, we Malakh were one of the two races in the Ethereal Plane – Erudite, as I'm sure you already know, are the other. We didn't exactly get along too well; in terms of numbers, there were far more of us than them, but that made them feel like their numbers were so few because they were just "better," for whatever reasons they rationalized that by. Lots of oppression, resentment, that sort of thing – messy business. Anyway, eventually, a couple Malakh got bold and propositioned the Creator to do something about it in a roundabout way. One of them, Kaji…something or other, can't remember the name…brought up an idea for an extension of the Gilead Order."
"Which was some big, prestigious peacekeeping force, right?" Darius asked. He had some idea as to what the Gilead Order was due to Katanas' association with several members of the Ethereal Plane, but he didn't have a true understanding as to the order's significance.
"An oversimplification, but yes. The Gilead Order was designed to both help Freya with the day-to-day duties for government and that sort of thing, as well as a force to aid Lord Odin and Lord Xeios in keeping the peace, investigating necessary matters, about what you might expect. It was also, up until the aforementioned point in time, exclusive to Erudite entities. Why, I don't know, but it was. At any rate, Lady Freya accepted the Malakh's proposal, and a subsection was added to the Gilead Order – what would come to be known as the Order of Grim Angels. In a bit of paralleling, this section of the Order was exclusive to us Malakh, and it wasn't long before they had more trainees than they feasibly knew what to do with. Everyone seemed to want a chance to prove that they were the equal of Erudite because of the centuries of hate, but there was even more hate as a result of the addition if anything."
Etchel paused briefly to make sure that Darius was taking in all the information, receiving a look for his trouble from the younger boy that clearly said to continue. Katanas, for his part, looked similarly interested; he couldn't say that he'd ever heard much about what had happened despite his association with several of the higher-ranking beings in the Ethereal Plane.
"Well, long story short, things simmered down somewhat for a couple centuries, the Order of Grim Angels prospered and proved its worth to the plane, and life went on. That is, until a specific piece of sensitive information got out that really didn't need to."
"That being?"
Etchel sighed, shifting a bit in his chair to make himself more comfortable. "The leader of the Gilead Order was a man named Arragious Nicholai – tough Erudite, great leader, and one of the few that actually had respect for us Malakh. One day, news got out that he was in a romantic relationship with a certain Pillar of Destiny…and things pretty much turned upside-down in less than a day."
Darius frowned, his understanding of Etchel's information giving way to confusion. "I don't get it – what was the big deal there?"
"I left out one piece of information there – my fault, to be honest," Etchel stated. "Let me back up just a bit. Destine, at this point in time, had been placed into the position of the official liaison between Freya and her advisors, and the Gilead Order. As you might imagine, given their positions, a romantic relationship set off a lot of feelings both in and out of the Order, and, well…things devolved into madness. People started calling for Nicholai's resignation, Destine's resignation, some even both of their heads, and not just Erudite. Some Malakh weren't happy about it either, but there were far fewer of us that hated it than Erudite because of how Nicholai respected us. Nicholai refused to cater to the ones who were speaking out, Destine did the same, and a couple people decided that open revolt was the only way to go. Cue war."
"How did Freya take this?" Katanas asked, his curiosity piqued. "Surely she didn't just sit idly by and watch her 'daughter' of sorts slandered?"
"She had bigger things to worry about for a while there. Not only did these guys decide that Arragious and Destine were in the wrong, they also made the remarkable leap of logic that Freya needed to go too, for letting it go on," Etchel responded, a note of sarcasm easily evident in his voice. "The Gilead Order, obviously, stepped in to protect Freya, as did Odin, Xeios, and what must have been most of the Malakh in the plane itself, and what started as silent resentment boiled over into full-scale war in barely a day or two."
"Wait, wait…hold on," Darius said, holding up a hand to stop Etchel. "You mean to tell me that Destine indirectly started a war in the Ethereal Plane?"
"In a roundabout sense, of course, but that's about the gist of it."
"This explains a few things," Katanas said, looking over at Darius. His brother nodded in agreement.
"Like her attitude," he commented, his deadpan tone returning.
"As you probably already guessed, Destine didn't always have the charming personality she does now, but the war itself wasn't what really sent her over the edge – that came at the end. It took over three centuries for the war to finally come to a conclusion, since the 'resistance' kept becoming more and more numerous as they convinced others to turn against Freya, and Odin and Xeios only had so many forces to work with to try and quell it all. Combine that with the fact that the plane itself is quite large…they had a fair amount of trouble rooting out most of the direct causes of dissent. When all was said and done, Freya finally had to step onto the battlefield a few times directly, but things ended pretty quickly after that. The Gilead Order, and by extension the Order of Grim Angels, was all but gone, and by the end of the war there were probably less than a dozen or so Malakh alive in the entire plane – I was one of the few who survived, though I didn't stay in the Ethereal Plane after everything was over."
Etchel's tone had become progressively more somber as he went on, a noticeable change from the upbeat and joking tone he'd had with Darius at the start of the conversation. Old wounds died hard, and this was no exception; seeing your entire race wiped from existence save for a handful had to be incredibly painful for the outer plane being, Katanas knew.
"In the end, something had to be done to set things straight, and Freya eventually met with a few of the main figures behind all the resistance. I don't really know what happened, but it ended up that Arragious Nicholai was exiled from the Ethereal Plane to the mortal plane."
"Exiled? For something like that?" Darius could scarcely believe himself. He'd imagined that Freya had made mistakes in the past, but something of this degree seemed beyond such a being.
"Like I said, I don't know what was said or how it happened, but Arragious found himself banished from the plane. Destine, as you might imagine, didn't take this well at all. She refused to talk to anyone about it from that point on, least of all Freya, and I left soon after everything was settled. Wasn't the best peace in the world, but after three centuries of war, I guess they thought that any peace was peace worth taking."
"I've a question, if you will," Katanas interjected, a thoughtful look on his face. "You mentioned that the Malakh in the plane were nearly eliminated altogether…if it's not too painful a subject, might I ask how? If there were so many Malakh at the beginning, what could possibly have happened to kill them all?"
To his credit, Etchel's expression didn't waver, nor did he flinch as Katanas asked his question. "It's…complicated. I mentioned that most of us sided with Freya when everything started – well, somewhat obviously, the 'resistance' of sorts figured that they would never win a war of attrition is they were outnumbered fifteen or twenty to one. So, they started coming up with ways to negate that numerical advantage that we had almost from the outset. They didn't find a real solution until a century or two in, but when they did, there was probably more bloodshed in the next decade than there had been up to that point. They developed…magic, a kind of magic which was targeted at us specifically, with one purpose: to turn us into Daiesthai."
"Daiesthai?" Darius asked, sounding somewhat hesitant. He was starting to have a bad feeling that he knew where this was leading. "Why do something like that?"
"Daiesthai are…more bestial in their personalities, a sort of opposite to the intellectual spirit of the Ethereal Plane. They're instinct-guided, to put it simply, except for the Arrancar, but most don't really make it to that level of development. Their thinking was that if they found some way to corrupt us into more demonic forms, that we would suddenly, say…find ourselves being attacked by our own forces in the middle of a fight. It would be safer and more beneficial to them to use our biggest asset against us – turn an entire group of Malakh, then let them loose on some of their allies. Either way, it's a win for them."
"From the sound of things, it worked," Darius stated.
"…Yes and no," Etchel said, waving his hand in the air somewhat. "It worked, but only partially. A lot of the time, the spell wouldn't work completely, and it would leave the afflicted in some kind of "half-state," neither Malakh nor Daiesthai and almost completely feral, attacking whatever was nearest. Other times, it would just kill the target outright, overwhelming them before it could do its work. The rest of the time, it either worked as intended…or didn't work at all. I never saw a case personally, but I heard accounts every so often that a Malakh just…resisted the spell, that they were affected and somehow managed to overcome it. Of course, how much of that was true and how much was exaggeration or misunderstanding is anyone's guess."
"Even in the Ethereal Plane, they make their exploits sound better than they were," Darius commented with a smirk. "Nice to know they're not so above it all."
"They have their flaws too, just like you mortals," Etchel replied, nodding. "Does that answer your question, or do I need to be interrogated some more?" he continued, a mirthful smile across his face. Darius didn't reply immediately, instead shifting his gaze to Katanas.
"I think that explains why Destine went a little off the deep end, don't you think?" he asked, earning a nod from the SeeD Commander.
"Yes, it does explain quite a bit. I believe that we won't have much to worry about from Destine for a while, but I'm not going to take her off the radar just yet. Fayt also concerns me, however," Katanas said, looking over at Etchel. "You are aware that Fayt's powers as a Pillar were taken from her, correct?"
"Were they?" Etchel said, looking honestly surprised for the first time in the conversation. "I wasn't too aware of that, to be honest, especially since she has seems to have them back already."
"Already? Then I assume Lady Freya has forgiven her?" Katanas asked.
"Something like that, I suppose. Guess they had a nice heart-to-heart about it all, because she didn't seem all that bitter about it the last time I saw her."
"Should probably still watch her, Katanas," Darius noted. "Can't be too careful."
"There's truth in that," Katanas agreed, nodding. "At least she seems to have settled her issues with Lady Freya."
"For what it's worth," Darius muttered, deciding to let the matter slide. He'd gotten what he'd wanted from Etchel, and truth be told, more than he'd truly wanted to know. "I guess that'll do for now," he told Etchel, turning his attention back to the Malakh. "If I think of anything else I want to ask, I'll find you."
"Of course," Etchel said as he stood, his amused smile returning as he reached into a fold of the robe-like clothing he was wearing and produced an apple. "I'll have to make it a bit harder to find me next time, you understand," he commented, taking a bite from the fruit.
"…Of course," Darius said with a sigh. For being Ein's father, it was almost painfully obvious that the two were nothing alike. If Darius didn't know any better, he'd say Etchel had little to no ability to be serious no matter the situation. The Malakh stepped past Darius and made his way to the door before stopping briefly, turning back to the Alchemist.
"Since I answered some questions for you, I'd like you to answer one for me," he said, a curious look on his face.
"Which would be?" Darius asked skeptically, wondering what kind of a question he was about to receive.
"Know any other places where I could find nice apples here in the mortal plane?"
The first thing you might notice is that we're now in a new arc - this is the last arc of the first book. There are to be two books, and so this is not quite the halfway point of the story yet.
The second thing you'll likely notice is that this is an exposition-focused chapter, albeit one of more normal length. This chapter neatly summarizes, though leaves out some parts and facts of, a story I hope to write in the future, Clouded Horizons: Origins. That story will detail more of what was explained here, namely the war in the Ethereal Plane before this story takes place.
Etchel Beoulve, as should be evident, is a bit of an odd character. Outwardly, he is very goofy, witty, and prone to amusing statements and actions, but he is capable of being serious when needed...just not incredibly serious. I also aimed to show one particular facet of the Ethereal Plane's denizens here as well - specifically, that while they may be old, wise, and incredibly powerful compared to most Hume, they are still just as fallible by virtue of being mortal. Even Freya isn't perfect; she made a lot of decisions in her early time as Creator that weren't the right choices when she looked back on them, such as banishing Arragious.
As I did last chapter, I'll be explaining another facet of our universe here, specifically the different races. There are seven different races in Clouded Horizons - Hume, Vayash Moru, Quincy, Malakh, Daiesthai, Erudite, and Ancient.
- Hume are...well, humans. They reside primarily on the mortal plane, though Hume Planeswalkers have sometimes chosen to reside in the plane of their employ.
- Vayash Moru, more commonly called "vampires" by most, are beings created when a Daiesthai possesses a Hume and is then removed from the victim's body after some length of time. Because of the possession, the Hume's body has been corrupted by the Daiesthai's demonic urges, specifically the urge to feed on other living souls.
- Quincy are effectively souls, the beings that others become upon dying and entering Soul Society. All other beings become Quincy upon their death and entry into the plane.
- Malakh are a formerly-numerous race that existed on the Ethereal Plane in years past before being nearly wiped out by the most recent war. They were less powerful than their Erudite cousins, but more numerous and equally skilled at the use of magic.
- Daiesthai are demonic entities residing in the Nether Plane, the only race which dwells there. They are an instinct-driven and bestial race with average Hume-level intelligence that is often overtaken by their natural urgings.
- Erudite are the other race that exists on the Ethereal Plane, the only race now following the aforementioned war. They, on average, possess great power and natural skill with magic, and live very long lives as opposed to other beings.
- Ancient is a "race" in only a loose sense; the term is used to refer to those who rule planes of existence, such as Freya. Any being may become an Ancient by becoming the leader of a plane, a process which is done by the Author of a given realm. They are what other beings would typically view as "gods," possessed of immense power and knowledge.
As I've mentioned before, we've all tried to put a lot of thought into our work, and only now am I really getting to go into great amounts of depth with things, something which I hope to continue to do in the future. Questions can, of course, always be directed to me whether in a review or a private message. As always, please read and review.