The trunk of the tree is here. It took time, water, effort, and patience. But trees will grow. Now let the branches spring forth.

Never look behind the mirror. You might like what you find. 

Or the bottom of a lake. Or a well. Or a cave? At the bottom of a body of water. But that sounds a lot less interesting. 

We don't know much about the oceans, collectively. We never have. Physical forces make the glimpses we get of the depths brief and expensive. It is no wonder, then, that we see all sorts of terrors in the deep. 

Realistically? The ocean is just as uncaring about our existence as the rest of creation. But that won't stop things like this from being created. 

The powers that be, the powers that be.

Who is saying that you aren't the powers that be, yourself? You say that the world is cold and cruel. You say that everything is stacked against those who are unwilling to exploit the universe around them. What are you doing to change that, eh? Perhaps your whining about the subject was nothing more than an emotional smokescreen, and you are just as much the powers that be as those that you despise. You are the same.

You know them. You love them. After all, the person espousing the get rich quick scheme obviously has your best interests at heart. I mean, com on, why wouldn't they? Greed is a virtue, which means that... which means that...

Which means that only one person is getting rich. It's probably not the person believing in the magical properties of their own being. 

Booooooo. BOO! 

That's me, booing myself. I've roadblocked myself, thus the delay in new stories. I had this whole tree of stuff going, but I paid far too much attention to the branches, and too little to the trunk. That might be a bit unclear, but c'mon. Unclear is what we do here. 

Anyways, this is something I've been able to get done while working on my many, beautiful branches, even while the trunk rots away. Honestly just putting this out here so this thing doesn't die in the algorithm. 

You know, just in case you ever had to care for an oracle, and were dumb. It happens more frequently than you'd think. 

Things look together in this graveyard, as they always do. They do outside of the graveyard, too, it's just that you get a better perspective on time here. 

How much can loyalty be a virtue? Surely only as much as our masters can be selfless. Otherwise, is it not a sin?

The night is frightening. But aren't we lucky that we can see anything at all?