You Had Had A Plan, Once. You Figured If You Acted Impressive Enough, Got Powerful Enough, No One Would

You had had a plan, once. You figured if you acted impressive enough, got powerful enough, no one would stop you. And it worked quite well for a while. People cowed at your reputation, your grandeaur. Eventually, though, some hero had come in, convinced they could defeat you, and you realized they actually could. So you put up a good fight, whispered some cryptic final words, and vanished away, leaving nothing but dust.

You'd ended up in a small farming down, covered in dust and dirt, though with all your past equipment. The first person you talked to was kind, and you returned the gesture. This felt a lot better than them cowering in fear.

Your time there continued with that pattern. You made friends. Repaid kindness with kindness. You farmed. You wed. You had children. You truly enjoyed your time.

One day you stood outside, tending your field. You could see a dust cloud in the air, coming closer. Odd. At its head were soldiers, clad in shining metal, glowing with light. You wiped the sweat from your brow, then wiped that hand on on the coarse brown pants you wore. Well, it couldn't hurt to see what was coming.

It appeared that it could, you thought, as the tallest figure slammed you into the wall of your hut. They glared at you through the slits in their helm. You recognized those eyes. That voice.

"You will pay tribute. Understood?" Their voice was a growl. The last time you had heard it, it was desperate. Hopeful, but afraid. Now it was angry. But you did not think they recognized you.

"The tribute. The one of souls?"

"Yes! You don't seem to understand, farmer. The demon kind is still out there. They must be stopped. They must be found. And I can only do so with this tribute. Do you want to see this land be wasted, all your crops destroyed? Sacrifices must be made."

You glanced over at your spouse. Your children. This shack. Out the window to your farm.

You could not give them up. The irony alone made it useless. Give them up for this fool to find you, right where you stood? You laughed.

"Why are you laughing! Fine. I'll simply take them then." The hero let you go, and turned towards their soldiers. You stood up, wiggling your hands behind your bag. Remembering those spells agains. Summoning your armor. Your weapons. The treasures you'd amassed, though never used. Always to impress. You needed to work quickly. For your families sake, now.

Within moments, it was done. They had turned away from you, and your spouse, running, caught your eye. They gasped. You'd told them the truth, though never shown them. The soldiers turned. The hero turned, and froze.

"I don't think you're going to need that tribute, fool." You raised the dark blade, etched with pain and weaping shadow, towards the silver armored figure. "You see, I never got to try this on you last time. I've heard it strikes with the vengeance of all damned souls. Well, I thank you for making it that much more effective."

The hero gasped, stepping back, and you grinned. "I didn't have a reason to fight last time. I thought fear would get me through. But it seems as though it wasn't enough. No matter. You've gotten me to want to fight now, I'm impressed. Let's see how strong you really are."

You were once the demon king. “Defeated” by the hero, you went into hiding to pursue a simpler life. Today the “hero” has appeared, threatening you family to pay tribute, not realizing who you actually are. Today you show them what happens when you have something worth fighting to protect.

M51 and then some

Galaxies are often far more than the stuff we see, even in the best of Hubble photo's, there are stars, dust and gas that stretch out at densities too low to be picked up in some of the most iconic images.

Here M51 is recorded over 255 Hours, collecting all the light and gas at far lower densities, revealing the structure of M51 and the merging galaxy, and how huge plumes of stars and dust and gas are being kicked out way beyond the apparent confines of the spiral galaxy itself.

This is the same situation around most galaxies, the halo area reaching out from the Milky Way so far, it's thought in some parts to potentially be interacting with Andromeda's halo, over 2.1 million light years away, albeit at a very low level (so far).

Knives in both hands

One thing that I think is really missing from the Lirin Discourse (from all directions!) is that Kaladin absolutely did want to be a surgeon. He genuinely wanted it. There were times where he wanted to be a soldier more, but by the time the recruiters came he had decided that he wouldn't join the army after all! In fact, the tragedy of the whole thing is that Roshone's cruelty forced Kaladin into a path he didn't want anymore.

This animation without the filter because it fucked with the framerate for some reason (this isn't the intended look otherwise, but bleh)

That's really good! Wonderful art.

Properly punchable, if I do say so myself

I tried to depict Kelsier's "Hawkish features", tell me what you think! by Barthollamew

Yes, regrettably, that wasn't me. That was Tolkien, or a shadow of him. An idea. The idea being if he ended up on Scadrial, like me. Though without my spaceship

HOID.

HOID IS ON PAGE AS I AM WRITING THIS POST HE CAME BACK AS ANOTHER INFORMANT THIS TIME IN FADREX CITY

ok but when he first got on page i was excited because i read his description as having white hair, and i know that his Yolin appearance has white hair. then, i thought it wasn't actually him, because he was also described as old.

then hoid mentioned spren and i knew it was him.

also skaa died really young pre-Collapse so his appearance might seem old to vin.

or he just Lightweaved himself to look older.

EDIT: IT WAS NOT HIM

i was talking about a character named Slowswift who i thought was Hoid, but Hoid himself is mentioned by name a page after but doesn't have screentime (at least in the part i'm at)