Thaidakar the Ghostblood

I don't have a cat anymore. TPBM should join the anniversary for time to come clean thing.

If he's not on the list, don't let him in. You heard orders, same as I did.

What are are you doing here?

Hang out with her, talk to her but not about the relationship. Tell her that she means a lot but not in context of her relationship history.

I finally dusted off my patriarchal blessing and gave it a read. It’s amazing how they’re specifically tailored for us. It was a lot of the things that I had specifically been thinking about, even to the exact wording. I really do need to read it more… take this as a reminder to either read yours again or pray about whether if it is time to get yours or not! They’re an enormous blessing.

He isn’t! This was a flashback! The future seeing stuff, remember?

XD If only it were as effortless as TLT…

"No, your hatred for surrender," Darkness said. "For every yin there is a yang. It is when you master yourself in this way that you have balance. Balance and wisdom in battle is knowing when to surrender and when to fight. Are you wise, Platypus?" Before he could answer, the surroundings went black for Platypus. His eyes opened and were met by a domed chamber, ceiling covered in a bright stained glass arrangement split into three. At the end of each of the three sections, on the walls there were a door. Each door was a different color. One red. One blue. One yellow. In the center of the room was a resplendent, crystalline fountain. The shafts of water danced with rippling beams of light, sending a glorious illumination across to everything in the room. Sitting on the edge of the fountain, gazing into its splendrous depths was a woman with long dark hair and a gold/black uniform to match it. She had a crimson smile hung delicately between her rosy cheeks and her eyes as emeralds. "Welcome, Platypus," the woman said evenly, "To the third trial." "Good." Shadow turned to a door, methodically fingering a button on his tuxedo. "I need you to retrieve something for me. It is a-" "About that," Nowhere said quietly, standing up straight, "You owe me." "Do I now?" Shadow said, turning with a raised eyebrow. "What do you want? Perhaps I do owe you." "I need arkness' soul when you defeat him," Nowhere said. Impossible looked slightly uneasy. Shadow's eyes flitted to Impossible, to Thaidakar, Hacob, then Nowhere once more. "And why do you want it?" "He's fascinating," Nowhere said nonchalantly. "I would like to study him. I am, after all, a scientist." "You would seek after the dream of Rond..." Shadow said testily. "No, you cannot have his soul." Nowhere drew in a breath melodramatically, "Fine, then. Remember that you refused me in your day of need when you have want of an ally. I won't come." "Fair enough," Shadow turned back to Hacob. "There is a mirror in Thaidakar's old mansion." He shot Thaidakar a glance as if to say "No, not you, Thaidakar, the other Thaidakar." "It shows a map," Shadow continued. "A map to the Temple of Plot. Spook saw something there. Perhaps the future. Perhaps it has elements of how Brighton, Zara and Eof saw the future." The rain pattered on the stone and foliage around them. Rond cleared his throat as Spook watched him, holding his swords menacingly. "Darkness will be pleased to note that I have discovered a rat in his organization." "Is that what I am, Spook? A rat to be slain?" Rond said, pulling his collar shortly to gain more breathing room. "Come now, Thaidakar-son, we are practically family, I-" "Practically family? Is that what you'd call it? You would've killed my father!" Spook said harshly, put one of the swords to Rond's neck. The plot blade crackled with energy, giving Rond a short, cold shock. The priest flinched. "I still would kill him for what he did to me," Rond said truthfully. "I know." "Would you kill him?" Water dripped off of Spook's gleaming armor. Rond watched as emotion rippled from his eyes to his mouth to his arms. The boy still needed to learn to hide his emotions. Part of Rond was glad his father hadn't taught him that. Thaidakar had always been good at that... especially when he wanted to hide something from Rond. "I don't know." And Rond saw that the boy's words were truth. "It is not my place to guess at potential futures. For now, you deserve death for your betrayal." "I do?" Rond asked, voice almost muffled by the growing downpour of the rain. Cold stabbed his back as a dripping waterfall descended from his robe. "And what about you, traitor?" "I didn't betray anyone. I rejoined my father's side!" Spook said. "Enough stalling. Last words?" "Your father would spurn you." The plot blade cut his neck slightly, releasing a small trail of blood to descend into the rain. Energy mixed with the blood, turning it to a dull red smoke, curling into the clouds above. "He never betrayed his friends. He might have fought them, he might have done horrible things, but he always had a good purpose in the end. Do you have a similar goal?" "I could kill you right now..." Spook hissed, putting his narration blade to the other side of Rond's neck. "You could... but will you?" Rond asked. "You don't belong here, Spook! I've killed. I sided with your father unknowingly to get revenge on him! I belong here, but you have not. You can leave even if you kill me! Just kill the man who killed your father. The man who killed my brother. Your father would spurn you, but I am not your father. Return to good... while you still can." "Liar!" Spook raised his blades to the side, bracing himself. "I am doing what he could not. My father would kill you if he was here..." "Would he now? I'm glad you seem to know his mind..." Rond said slyly. Oh... the poor boy. None of the belonged here. What a twist Rond had gotten them into this time. Perhaps if he hadn't fought Platypus, Platypus would've been able to get to Thaidakar in time... "Kill me and defeat Darkness. Finish him. You have Thaidakar's powers, you have a plot blade. Save the world." "Maybe the world doesn't deserve to be saved." "You are trapped by Darkness and-" "No," Spook said, leaning in and glaring into Rond's eyes. "I chose this! I choose for myself! I am free!" "Each time..." Rond said. "Each time you lose something for Darkness' sake. Each time you lose someone... You will go farther down that dark road." The boy had hope to become better, he just needed to realize it and abandon this useless track. Rond would die in this fortress, but he would die trying to make it better. "I... Spook, I am a bad man. You are not. Do what is right." "And what is right? Right is a construct! It is an idea to justify-" Spook bit back. "Then you are lost!" Rond cut him off. "When there is nothing left for you to lose in the end... when your fel master has abandoned you... remember my words! do not fall when you could live! So kill me and remember! Light blinded fool, remember what your father fought for and-!" The blades dissolved in Spooks hands. The blood that had coated them for an instant fell to the ground, mixing with the rain. With a dull thud like a bowling ball, Rond's head cracked on the marble. His headless corpse crumpled in the dirt. "Now..." Spook said, striding back up the stairs stately. Spook had nothing left to lose. His father was dead. Mythos was dead to him. Micheal hated him. Rond was dead. Platypus would want to kill him if he found out about this. Shadow could never forgive him. "Perhaps... "Perhaps I have nothing left to lose..." Somewhere far away in a place long ago... in a castle of legends... a woman cursed, holding her head in her hands. A man took her hands, "What's wrong?" "I.. I just saw another of those visions. Brighton is clouding the oracle..." "You have to do something about it!" "We are constrained, Kar, you know that..." "He is still bitter about..." "Oh, not you too! You know why we couldn't interfere!" "I know as well as anyone... but imagine if Spook had died o-or worse!" Zara thought back to the vision of an older version of her son, almost an exact copy of Kar, striding up clandestine steps away from a headless corpse. The corpse of a man she'd seen now and again. She sighed, sitting down, "I... I think I can imagine..."

A man. That's all he was. Thaidakar stood somewhere in the background, one hand on a half empty bottle, the other wiping a bit of tar like blood from his wrist where someone had scratched him. Or had that been him? Every day was a blur, every moment a repetitive joke. The world was his stage and he was the jester. He drained the remaining contents of the bottle, throwing it into the wall with a dull shatter. He opened his mouth, hesitated, closed his mouth. What remained of his integrity had been spent on trying to remember desperately a time when he'd been a real person. And what was reality? The voices tickled his awareness. No, reality wasn't what was real. Reality was whatever lies he told himself to cover the horrible, horrible truths. He heard a voice speak softly in the distance. "Lies..." That wasn't real either. No, it couldn't have been. Thaidakar didn't know anyone with a voice, not since she'd died. No, nope, not again. Everything else was merely an imagined person. And he was the only reality that existed. There had been no war, no Kaos, no dark entity. Calano, Rue, Nameless, Jimmy Thunder... all his imagination. Thaidakar laughed heartily as he snapped his fingers. The shattered bits of the bottle flew through the air as red energy flowed to it. It reformed, liquid falling into it from some phantom dimension. Thaidakar had another long drink, slamming it into the table, smashing it to pieces. Drink. Forget. Break. Curse. Repeat. "Stupid..." he muttered. "Stupid!" "Lies..." "Oh, you're one to talk... You're just a living lie! A lie brought to life by my imagination!" "Lies..." "Shut up..." "Lies..." "SHUT UP!" Thaidakar stood up, holding the bottle by its slender neck. The liquid drained out of it and splattered over the floor. "Shutupshutupshutupshutup!" Silence met him. He blinked woozily, looking around the small, compact room in the clinic. Thaidakr searched for the sound for, to him, seemed like an hour. It was truly less than ten minutes. "Fine, then, don't answer! I don't need you anyways..." "Lies..." Thaidakar sighed, snapping his fingers once again. The liquid returned to the bottle and he drank it in one go. He was worthless... a mess! His friends were all better without him. They were doing just fine... not that he'd checked in awhile. No, no, easier that way. Easier to forget them. Besides, they didn't exist! So he could just imagine they had their happily ever after... They didn't need him, nor had they ever cared. "I never cared for them... I don't need them..." "Lies..."

precisely why it is "Almighty."

false, it is the elevation of the doctrine!