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I showed to some people who unfortunately didn't get what I was going for. Glad to know at least you understood what I was trying to do. I should do an audio recording of this entry.

After this event is over, I am going to bring you over to the fireside and explain all of the references one by one. I will also take pains to emphasise that this entry has met and complied with the demands of our dear panel of judges by having mystery, horror and the supernatural. Might tell you where I had the inspiration to come up with this. Are you done with your entry?

PS: You told me you laughed. Were you laughing because of the entry or laughing at the entry? Can I ask what were you impressed by? The others to whom I showed this entry to didn't get the joke or the story!

I am sure you can recognise the picture I attached to my entry as that of Saya of Uta. This entry parodies that. I have included references to other subject matters too. Will not reveal too much for now.

I might consider giving you a prize if you can tell me the things I parodied in that entry. This entry cannot be possible if I didn't take part in a Skype chat with an acquaintance of mine.

I am busy so I thought it is best to come up with something quickly.

This is my entry for the competition.

A Collection of Resumés

I assure you that things become very terrifying as you read towards the end.

Word count: ~2400. By that I meant 2495 words.

A Collection of Resumés

Leonard had the unenviable task of going through mountains of job applications as an employee of the HR department of a small fast food chain. Part of the reason why his job was such a chore was the sheer banality of going through email by email, leaf by leaf of job applications that barely differed. This was made worse by an economic recession which meant that his company was inundated by job applications from people desperate to work on a minimum wage. The company, eager to profit from the labour of poorly paid workers, was only too happy to entertain these job applications.

Why though were the job applications submitted so similar? It was because the fast food chain was in a small city. This meant that every applicant came from the same few schools. This meant that they were taught the same few subjects which were of little use in a fast food restaurant. Even their interests, hobbies and their bloody appearance were more or less the same!

On one very bad day, Leonard received these:

Job Application 1

Name: A. Ginger
Ethnicity: Ginger
Address: Ginger City
Academic Qualifications: Ginger High School
Skills: English, Mathematics, Science, Ginger Studies, Cricket
Interests and Hobbies: English, Mathematics, Science, Ginger Studies, Cricket, Cricket Watching
Gender: Female

Attached to Job Application 1 was a picture of a morbidly obese, freckled faced and ginger haired individual.


Job Application 2

Name: Al S. O. Ginger
Ethnicity: Ginger
Address: Ginger City
Academic Qualifications: Ginger High School
Skills: English, Mathematics, Science, Ginger Studies, Cricket
Interests and Hobbies: English, Mathematics, Science, Ginger Studies, Cricket, Cricket Watching
Gender: Male

Attached to Job Application 2 was also picture of a morbidly obese, freckled faced and ginger haired individual with a slightly flatter chest.


Was it the same person who submitted two applications at the same time in an attempt to prove that his company discriminates against women? Leonard, out of curiosity decided to grant the both of them interviews only to realise that they were separate individuals! To make matters worse, they weren't good workers too! Soon after they were hired, they were relieved of their jobs because they were more interested in eating than preparing food! Poor Leonard himself was facing the prospect of being relieved of his job too for taking in lousy workers!

Seeing that the information provided by each job applicant wasn't useful in determining if he or she was good for the job, Leonard decided to make each applicant answer this question:



That anyone would indulge in an act of self-sacrifice while employed by a lowly restaurant ever determined to dole out even lower pay to its employees is itself farcical. However, it served its purpose in making each job application more different. Also, since the more earnest job applicants tend to write longer (though not impressive) stories, it proved to be a useful barometer on how desperate the applicant was. This decision marked a change in Leonard’s fortunes in the HR department but posing that question did have its problems.

As the company grew despite the economy floundering as hard as ever, the number of job applicants increased and Leonard’s boss expected him to recruit persons of higher calibre. This of course had ramifications on how aspiring fast food restaurant indentured labourers answered that question.

The answers became stranger and so bizarre that merely describing them as such fails to do them justice. This story tells of a certain day when Leonard received three responses to that question.

Answer 1:
Name of Job Applicant: H. De Clan

Describe a moment when you went beyond the call of duty to help someone:

There was one time early this year when I went out of my way to help someone I hardly knew, never mind that I was called a nosey parker who should learn how to mind his own business. It involved me looking for a D. Hennessey who went missing for a few days.

My search for him begun with me overhearing practically everyone on the street speaking about his disappearance. This of course aroused my curiosity and I decided to find out more by rudely interrupting people in the middle of a conversation. Though I decided to eavesdrop instead when I found that this is a rather ineffective way to collect information and a very effective way to be the subject of physical and verbal abuse.

There was much speculation on the circumstances behind his disappearance. Allow me, for the sake of clarity to label some of the more common explanations behind his disappearance by using letters:


a. On a bleak and frosty night made even all the more gloomy with a light drizzle, D. Hennessey was seen by some onlooker wandering into a den. Unemployed, unschooled and unengaged, he cannot be described to be in the best of circumstances. That could explain why good judgement left him as he entered that den with its poisons that numb both body and mind, with its siren adorned walls that disorientate and discombobulate and its inhabitants, the mythical Sirens, who if could be heard amid that senseless cacophony, seduce and ensnare. The onlooker upon seeing Hennessey walking mindlessly into that accursed place decided that Hennessey is done for anyway and that he ought to leave as soon as possible in fear that he could be drawn in against his will, so mysteriously and dangerously alluring that den was.

So long story short, Hennessey was dead in a den.


b. Another account describes Hennessey in the arms of a fearsome creature, accompanied with another fearsome creature and another man, leaving a den. The heads of these creatures were crowned with tendrils not unlike those of the Gorgon of legend, their breath and odour repellent and their skins coated with toxic slimes. Yet Hennessey and his male companion were completely besotted by their unhuman partners as if stricken by some spell that made them impervious to their vile appearance. Rumour has it that these fearsome creatures are, in the eyes of their prey, ravishing women who are more than eager to satiate their basest of desires. Indeed, the creatures themselves thrive on the affections showered on them by their victims before sucking them dry, not unlike a female spider devouring her mate after their deadly marriage has been consummated.

So long story short, Hennessey left the den quite alive but with another bloke and two creatures in a group one short of five.


c. A relative of mine who knows someone who knows another someone who works in a detention centre who told me that they have a man named D. Hennessey who is currently in police custody. He apparently is facing indictment for a certain crime of passion that involved women and clubs.

So long story short, not dead Hennessy left the den with two girls and another man, was placed in a spot, left in gaol to rot until he got out.


Accounts a and b didn’t make sense to me but acting on what my relative has told me, I decided to go to where Hennessey was detained and through the pulling of strings and under-the-table deals managed to secure his release. Hennessey is rather grateful to me and is now trying to break free of being uneducated, unschooled and unengaged.

After reading that long and yet bizarrely engaging story De Clan wrote, he stared at the ceiling for a good while, his brain in metaphorical stasis due to how over the top it was. Then again, as a person who has read and processed countless job applications, he shouldn’t be too surprised when an applicant embellishes his credentials and accounts. In this case, it appeared to be De Clan helping Hennessey who got into trouble with women, unflatteringly described as Sirens and Gorgons, after going to a club, unflatteringly described as a monster's lair of a den. That said, one wonders why De Clan made the mistake of implying that he bribed the authorities to release Hennessey.

Leonard soon mustered the energy to go through a second job application only to receive a rude shock after reading it:

Answer 2

Name of Job Applicant: D. Hennessey

Describe a moment when you went beyond the call of duty to help someone:

I met a stranger, inebriated and feeble
Decided to help, all gallant and noble
The stranger, into my home I led
Was bathed, dressed and laid on my bed

And so after one night
The stranger disappeared from my sight
Then the police came
And asked for my name
AND I WAS ACCUSED OF RAPE!

PS: By the way, you might have come across a gentleman named H. De Clan who went out of his way to look for me. He submitted a job application to work in your fine establishment too. Could you please employ the both of us?

It was a short, succinct, gimmicky and a rather courageous (or stupid depending on how polite you want to be) attempt to grab the attention of his potential employer. This answer confirmed Leonard's suspicions that Hennessey was in trouble, namely landing in police custody, after being accused of rape by women so spitefully described as Gorgons and Sirens by his rescuer De Clan. This happens all too often after the clubs are filled, the sexes mix and alcohol imbibed.

Leonard had the urge to go to his address (that was also stated in his resume) tie and anvil to his job application and fling it into his window for having the temerity to come up with that limerick and those demands for jobs. He let out a bellyache to his co-workers who consoled him by dryly saying that most resumes are filled with nonsense anyway. The one Hennessey submitted was no different.

Finally, Leonard came across an application that bore an exotic and oriental name. Despite Leonard dreading that the answer to the question he tabled to aspiring job applicants would be as ludicrous as ever, he thought of his salary and his boss and soldiered on, his hands trembling with trepidation, This was what was written:

Answer 3:

Name of Job Applicant: Shiki Nogami

Describe a moment when you went beyond the call of duty to help someone:

I am an unsung hero who has saved the world and so humbly request to have the honour to serve as a kitchen hand in your most noble establishment.

Lend me your ears, potential employer, before you dismiss me as a nutcase destined for the madhouse! Come to my abode and you might make out the shattered corpse of a monster with many faces and many limbs. (I have attached a photo for you to see) Come to my abode and I will show you the voluminous papers that a brave diarist of a scientist wrote about that monster and its foul origins!

That thing came from the skies to create a progeny of creatures different in appearance and yet similar in nature. But like how every mare needs a stallion, and every bitch needs a dog, who will give that creature the seed it needs to bring forth its progeny? The answer lie in those gonads, between the legs of every male on this land. Yet, who would want to be in a bodily union with these creatures?

The monster, using all its evil and cunning, casted fell spells on its prey. In the eyes of its prey, the monster will take the form of an alluring seductress. He will then offer his seed to that monster, often after a tryst following a trip to a bar or a club, only to slowly but surely transfigure into hideous looking monsters. Some have tendrils for hairs not unlike a Gorgon, while others might have screeching voices and fangs that lust for human flesh not unlike a Siren. He would then possess many of the powers of the monster that took away his original appearance and search for yet another victim.

Fear not, for my comrades and I have tracked down all of those creatures and learnt that the best way to dispatch them is to douse them with liquid nitrogen then smash them with a hammer.

If you don’t believe my story, come to my place. If you do, please give me a job.

Leonard of course didn't believe Shiki Nogami's story and neither did he have any intention to head over to his place. That application pulled off every single trick in the book from coming up with absurd stories to arouse interest to using words and expressions no one in his right mind would use in everyday writing and conversation. He obfuscated the fact that his story is silly and that the descriptions of women as Greek demonesses is shockingly hateful! "Was Nogami in reality a psychopath who murders women using liquid gases and blunt objects?", Leonard thought to himself.

As Leonard reached out for his lighter to burn Shiki Nogami's job application, a photograph fell out. It was a photograph purportedly of the monster Nogami had slain which...

SHOWED THE MONSTER NOGAMI HAD SLAIN!

Just as he sought to reassure himself that the photograph was a hoax, the door of his office suddenly crashed with a deafening bang as two monsters, one resembling a Gorgon and the other a Siren, and two disfigured men, one with tentacles sprouting from his head and the other with fangs sprouting from his mouth, barged in.

The man with the tentacles croaked, "My name is De Clan."
The man with the fangs growled, "My name is Hennessey."

"So what was written in all 3 job applications are both truths and lies!", Leonard thought to himself as his mind descended into a state of delirium at this shocking turn of events. Yet, how did Hennessey really leave prison? How did De Clan turn into a monster himself? How reliable were both of their accounts? (Nogami's claim that he exterminated all of those monsters certainly isn't reliable!) Were the both of them so desperate for a job that they barged into Leonard's office? Were the job applications a setup to turn Leonard into one of their kind and why him of all people?

It is all a mystery! As for Leonard's fate, whether he jumps out of the window in an attempt to escape, whether he bent over and let them turn him into a grotesque female figure or whether Shiki Nogami and his comrades save the day with their canisters of liquid nitrogen and their hammer collection, this story doesn't tell.

What is more important however is the moral of the story:

A Collection of Resumes

Leonard had the unenviable task of growing through mountains of job applications as an employee of a poorly staffed HR department of a small fastfood chain. Part of the reason why his job was a chore was the sheer banality of going through email by email, leaf by leaf of job applications that barely differed. This was made worse by an economic recession which meant that his company is inundated by job applications for people desperate to work on a minimum wage. The company, eager to profit from the labour of poorly paid workers, was only too happy to entertain these job offers.

Why though were the job applications submitted so similar? It was because the fastfood chain was in a small city. This meant that every applicant came from the same few schools. This meant that they were taught the same few subjects which were of little use in a fastfood restaurant. Even their interests, hobbies and their bloody appearance were more or less the same!

On a very bad day, Leonard would receive this:

Job Application #1

Name: A. Ginger
Ethnicity: Ginger
Address: Ginger City
Academic Qualifications: Ginger High School
Skills: English, Mathematics, Science, Ginger Studies, Cricket
Interests and Hobbies:English, Mathematics, Science, Ginger Studies, Cricket, Cricket Watching
Gender: Female

Attached to Job Application #1 was a picture of a morbidly obese, freckled faced and ginger haired individual.


Job Application #2

Name: Al S. O. Ginger
Ethnicity: Ginger
Address: Ginger City
Academic Qualifications: Ginger High School
Skills: English, Mathematics, Science, Ginger Studies, Cricket
Interests and Hobbies:English, Mathematics, Science, Ginger Studies, Cricket, Cricket Watching
Gender: Male

Attached to Job Application #2 was also picture of a morbidly obese, freckled faced and ginger haired individual with a slightly flatter chest.


Was it the same person who submitted two applications at the same time in an attempt to prove that his fastfood chain discriminates against women? Leonard, out of a curious mixture of curiosity and fear of the political correctness police decided to grant the both of them interviews only to realise that they were separate individuals! To make matters worse, they weren't very good workers too who were relieved of their jobs soon after they were hired because they were more interested in eating than preparing food! Poor Leonard himself was facing the prospect of being relieved of his job too for taking in lousy workers!

Seeing that the information provided by each job applicant wasn't useful in determining if he or she was good for the job, Leonard decided to make each job applicant answer this question:

Describe a moment when you went beyond the call of duty to help someone.

That anyone would indulge in an act of self-sacrifice while employed by a lowly restaurant ever determined to dole even lower pay is itself farcical. However, it served its purpose making each job application more different. Also, since the more earnest job applicants tend to write longer (though not substantive or impressive) stories, it proved to be a useful barometer on how desperate the applicant was. This decision marked a change in Leonard’s fortunes in the HR department but posing that question did have its problems.

As the company grew despite the economy floundering as hard as ever, there were more job applicants and Leonard’s boss expected him to recruit persons of higher calibre. This of course had ramifications on how aspiring fastfood restaurant indentured labourers answered that question, “Describe a moment when you went beyond the call of duty to help someone”.

The answers became stranger and so bizarre that merely describing them as such failed to do them justice. This story tells of a certain day when Leonard three answers to that question.

Answer 1:
Name of Job Applicant: H. De Clan
Describe a moment when you went beyond the call of duty to help someone:

There was one time early this year when I did put in quite a lot of effort to help someone I barely knew, never mind that I was called a nosey parker who should learn how to mind his own business. It involved me looking for someone who is missing for a few days.

My search for that missing person begun with me overhearing practically everyone on the street speaking about his disappearance. This of course aroused my curiosity and I decided to find out more by rudely interrupting them in the middle of a conversation. Though I decided to eavesdrop instead when I found that this is a rather ineffective way to collect information and a very effective way to be the subject of physical and verbal abuse.

There was much speculation on the circumstances behind his disappearance. Allow me, for the sake of clarity to label some of the more common explanations behind his disappearance in using letters:

a. On a bleak and frosty night made even all the more gloomy with a light drizzle, D. Hennessey, was seen by some onlooker wandering into a den. Unemployed, unschooled and unengaged, he cannot be described to be in the best of circumstances. That could explain why good judgement left him for that den is filled with poisons that numb both the body and mind, its walls adorned with sirens that disorientate and discombobulate and populated with the mythical Sirens who, if could be heard amid that senseless cacophony, seduce and ensnare them. The onlooker upon seeing Hennessey walking mindlessly into that accursed place decided that he is done for anyway and ought to leave as soon as possible in fear that he could be drawn in against his will, so mysteriously and dangerously alluring that den was. So long story short, he was dead in a den.

b. Another account describes Hennessey in the arms of a fearsome creature, accompanied with another fearsome creature and another man. The heads of these creatures were crowned with tendrils not unlike those of the Gorgon of legend, their breath and odour repellent and their skins are coated with toxic slimes. Yet Hennessey and his male companion were completely besotted by their unhuman partners as if stricken by some spell that made them impervious to their vile appearance. Rumour has it that these fearsome creatures are, in the eyes of their prey, ravishing women who are more than eager to satiate their basest of desires. Indeed, the creatures themselves thrive on the affections showered on their victims before sucking them dry, not unlike a female spider devouring her mate about their deadly marriage has been consummated. The person who recounted this event didn’t know where Hennessey and company were headed though. In fact, the scene of them together felt like a surreal apparition.

c. A relative of mine who knows someone who knows another someone who works in a detention centre who told me that they have a man named D. Hennessey who is currently in police custody. He apparently is facing indictment for a certain crime of passion.

Accounts a and b didn’t make sense to me but acting on what my relative has told me, I decided to go to where Hennessey was detained and through the pulling of strings and under the table deals, managed to secure his release. Hennessey is rather grateful to me and is now trying to break free of being uneducated, unschooled and unengaged.

After reading that long and yet bizarrely engaging story De Clan wrote, he stared at the ceiling for a good while, his brain in metaphorical stasis due to how over the top it was. Then again, as a person who has read and processed countless job applications, he shouldn’t be too surprised when a job applicant embellishes and distracts his potential employer when recounting in what was, in this case, someone helping another person who got into trouble with women. That said, Leonard was also left wondering why De Clan made the mistake of implying that he bribed the authorities who detained Hennessey.

Leonard soon mustered the energy to go through a second job application and imagined his shock when he read it:

Answer 2
Name of Job Applicant: D. Hennessey
Describe a moment when you went beyond the call of duty to help someone:
I met a stranger, inebriated and feeble
Decided to help, being gallant and noble
The stranger, into my home I led
Was bathed, dressed and laid on my bed

After one night
The stranger disappeared from my sight
Then the police came
Asked for my name
AND I WAS ACCUSED OF RAPE!

PS: By the way, you might have come across another person, a H. De Clan, who went out of his way to look for me. He submitted a job application to work in your fine establishment too. Could you please employ the both of us?

It was a short, succinct, gimmicky and a rather courageous (or stupid depending on how polite you want to be) attempt to grab the attention of his potential employer. Leonard finally understood what had happened to Hennessey and believed that the Sirens and the Gorgons De Clan described in his job application are misogynistic descriptions of women who simply wanted to have fun imbibing alcohol and making fools of themselves thereafter!

he had the urge to go to his address (that was also stated in his resume) tie and anvil to his job application and fling it into his window for having the temerity to come up with that. He let out a bellyache to his co-workers who consoled him by dryly saying that most resumes are filled with nonsense anyway. The one Hennessey submitted was no different.

Finally, Leonard came across an application that bore an exotic oriental name. Despite Leonard dreading that the answer to the question he tabled to aspiring job applicants would be as ludicrous as ever, he thought of his salary and boss and soldiered on. His hands trembling with trepidation, This was what was written:

Answer 3:

Name of Job Applicant: Shiki Nogami
Describe a moment when you went beyond the call of duty to help someone:

I am an unsung hero who has saved the world from certain destruction using liquid nitrogen, that most potent of poisons, and a hammer, that most rudimentary yet effective of weapons! I believe I deserve proper recognition for my service to humanity in a lowly but proper job as a kitchen hand in your most noble establishment.

Lend me your ears, potential employer, before you dismiss me as a nutcase destined for the madhouse! Come to my abode and you might make out the shattered corpse of a monster with many faces and many limbs. (I have attached a photo for you to see) Come to my abode and I will show you the voluminous papers that the brave diarist of a scientist wrote about that monster and its foul origins!

That thing came from the skies to create a progeny of creatures different in appearance and yet similar in nature. But like how every mare needs a stallion, and every bitch needs a dog, who will give that creature the seed it needs to bring forth its progeny? The answer lie in those gonads, between the legs of every male on this land. Yet, who would want to be in a bodily union with these creatures?

The monster, using all its evil and cunning, casted a spell on its prey. In the eyes of its prey, the monster will take the form of an alluring seductress. He will then offer his seed to that monster only to slowly but surely transfigure into hideous looking monsters. Some have tendrils for hairs not unlike a Gorgon, while others might have screeching voices and fangs that lust for human flesh not unlike a Siren. He would then possess many of the powers of the monster that took away his original appearance and search for yet another victim.

Fear not, for my comrades and I have tracked down many of those creatures and learnt that the best way to dispatch them is to douse them with liquid nitrogen and smash it with a hammer.

If you don’t believe my story, come to my place. If you do, please give me a job.

Leonard of course didn't believe Shiki Nogami's story but neither had he any intention to head over to his place. That application pulled off every single trick in the book from coming up with absurd stories to arouse interest, using words and expressions no one in his right mind would use in everyday writing and conversation to obfuscate the fact that his story is silly and the descriptions of women and girls as Greek demonesses is shockingly hateful. Was Nogami a psychopath who murdered women using liquid gases and blunt objects?

As Leonard reached out for his lighter to burn Shiki Nogami's job application, a photograph fell out. It was a photograph purportedly of the 'monster' Nogami has slain which...

SHOWN THE SHATTERED BODY OF THE 'MONSTER" NOGAMI HAS SLAIN!

Just as he sought to reassure himself that the photograph was a hoax, the door of office suddenly crashing with a deafening bang as two monsters, one resembling a Gorgon and the other a Siren, accompanied with two disfigured men with one having tentacles sprouting from his head and the other with fangs sprouting from his mouth, barged in.

The man with the tentacles croaked, "My name is De Clan."
Whilst the man with the fangs growled, "My name is Hennessey."

"So what was written in the job applications are both truths and lies!", Leonard thought to himself as his mind descended into a state of delirium at this shocking turn of events. Yet, how did Hennessey really leave prison? How did De Clan turn into a monster himself? How reliable were both of their accounts? Were the both of them so desperate for a job that they just barged in Leonard's office? If they wanted to Leonard into one of their kind, why him of all people?

It is all a mystery! As for Leonard's fate, whether he jumps out of the window to escape, whether he bends over and let them turn into a grotesque female figure or whether Shiki Nogami and his comrades save the day with their canisters of liquid nitrogen and their hammer collection, this story doesn't tell.

What is more important however is the moral of the story:

Should I express apprehension that you are on the panel? Snide jokes aside, I will try my damned best to come up with something ludicrous given the themes.

Mystery, horror and the supernatural are very interesting themes. (Interesting in the sense that it is very, very challenging to come up with anything that fits my style and tastes in writing, namely the silly and the bizarre)

The cogs within my skull are running now. For some reason, politics of faraway nations and a parody of some Jap cartoon are some of the ideas that are forming in my head as I type this message. A Ghostbusters parody featuring female protagonists come to mind too considering that it appears to fit all three of the themes nicely!

This is my attempt at it obviously inspired from your prologue. Tell me if you have anything wrong with it.

The world of Undersky, where men manipulated the forces of nature not with the sweat from their brows but by through magic or as the inhabitants would say †˜channelling the power of the elements’, appeared to be at peace. Yet, that is all too often how things are before the land is plunged into the ravages of war, disease and other disasters of the making of the gods or men. There were no storm clouds to herald the misfortune that will befall much of Undersky, indeed it was a calm before the sudden storm.

The spark that lit the fires of war at the start of this tale was the theft of what is known as a Relic, objects that take many forms and are the source of magic for that contained the power of the Elements, the natural forces that make up and govern Undersky.

The ancient sages of Undersky’s long past who first mastered the way to invoke the magic locked within the Relics, fashioned some of them into beautifully crafted vials and trinkets. Some were left alone in their original forms as they thought they could better harness their power that way. And some were crafted in mysterious ways that were only so because they are forgotten with the passing of time.

The Relics are known by their nature or their †˜Element’ of which the people of Undersky came up with six – Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, Light and Shadow. It was said that they were many Relics scattered throughout the Undersky, but those contained great power that could tilt the balance of the powers of men and even that of nature numbered six. And so Undersky’s history was chequered with war and strife that resulted from the lords and kings and others who were sovereign over the beings of Undersky coveting these six Relics or the Six as they are known. Followed by these wars, plague and famine followed. Whether it was the work of man or of nature, none can say for sure.

Much of Undersky’s history is a seemingly unending cycle of war, disaster, recovery, prosperity and then war once more. It was not until six and sixty and six hundred years before the start of this tale when the Six were housed in six monasteries each belonging to six powerful nations each named after the Relic they protected – The Nation of Fire, The Nation of Wind, The Nation of Water, The Nation of Earth, The Nation of Light and The Nation of Shadow. This made for a balance of power that kept the peace of Undersky between the six nations and their vassals.

This tale begins at the Monastery of the Nation of Fire which is more an opulent monument to sate the pride of the rulers of the Nation of Fire rather than a place of safekeeping. Indeed, they were many men guarding the Monastery but yet numbers and walls are no safeguard against stealth, cunning, treachery and fear, all of which were employed by the thieves who inadvertently or otherwise lit the spark that engulfed Undersky in the flames of conflict.

(I sought inspiration from the original prologue you came up with. I intended you to continue with how the dark figures stole and then corrupted the Fire Relic. Or go into detail with how magic is utilised by narrating the events of what happened in the Monastery.)

You don't really need to devote a paragraph to explain what a Mallister Freerider is. If the author just stated that they were bounty hunters or an elite group of fighters serving some political entity in one sentence or clause it would suffice as an explanation. I have a problem with throwing outlandish terms to immerse the reader in its universe. Imagine if I replace Mallister Freerider with Big Black Hoe or some other gobbledygook. This is how those outlandish terms if left unexplained feel like to me -- plain nonsense.



I take back what I said in my previous comments in the thread. It is more than just disliking the style. I found this style of writing indecipherable. I couldn't tell what is happening at all due to pointless digression like talking about how it feels like to freeze to death, the constant changing of POV and the style of describing things like the refusal of the author to state plainly that Weymar Royce had turned into an ice zombie or even introduce what is "The Other" properly. (And unlike Mallister Freeriders, "The Others" actually have a huge bearing on the plot where this prologue is concerned and so warrant an explanation or at least a proper introduction)

How on earth can someone understand what is happening in that prologue is beyond me. If this were a submission in a writing competition and I so happened to judge it, I would throw it out!

Personally it would be third person because it allows me to engage in exposition without sounding awkward. However, anyone who is familiar with my work would notice that my narrator continually breaks the fourth wall. It is almost as if he is a character in himself.

I would say that my preferred style of writing is similar to Charles Dickens who like to give his personal opinion on how the story is developing whilst narrating the story.

We disagree yet again! This must be the best part of the story since it is clear, straight to the point and establishes what we need to do to better understand the story! Why go for the arcane when things can be done simply?

It is Enma Judgement or Zoku Enma Sabaki by syati kamaboko. It can be found in the comic titled Kaichou no Iinari.

Drop me a message if you need my help. I too am bogged down with work. Will try to find time if you need me to contribute. I have a few ideas after going through the bio of our main character.

https://www.fakku.net/forums/requests/request-for-doujin-was-on-front-page-long-ago-
https://www.fakku.net/forums/requests/looking-for-doujin-school-vanilla-cant-speak-loudly

These two are completed too.

I know I have come up with this topic long ago but I finally found what I was looking for.

It is "Primary Contact" by Koume Keito, author of the School Love Online. Feel free to shift this thread into the "Completed Requests" section.

I am looking for a doujin (or two) which has female "onis" and a male protagonist with glasses who died and ended up in the afterlife filled with female "onis" who proceed to do what pornographic material usually portray.

The doujin starts off I think with the protagonist explaining to his mother that he died and ended up in the afterlife.

Not sure if the content is within the same doujin but there is a second part which feature the 'oni' trying to milk semen by fooling around with what must be many men. Upon discovering that there is only so much they can milk they decided to go for an orgy instead.

Can anyone recall the title? It is uploaded in the website before all of the content was taken down.

ED: It is not Roricon Jigoku by Wanyan Aguda. The oni I think were slightly older and the doujin I recalled was in colour.

To be precise, this is not an analogy but rather what I feel when I read some of your work, this entry included.

I don't get the impression that security personnel doubling up as servants doing menial labour was the norm in medieval societies. It certainly isn't today! I however, think that Eadweard is either trying to be funny or is trying to play down or even hide the nature of his work when I first read the entry. Main reason being that I doubt a guard also does servant work.

That aside, I think I understand better why I can't understand this entry. d throws around information that would help me understand the story like Anna joining Leah, (the real person in charge) three months ago, without tying in with what is now going on.

Leah is just mentioned but it isn't spelt out that Anna is going to introduce Isaac to Leah and perhaps attempt to persuade her to recruit Isaac.

Also, d's entries are alike to watching movies but without the visuals and the audio. So, it is like reading a srt file that contains only the subtitles of a movie. The subtitles themselves don't make sense to me unless I have the movie playing.

I have the answer after going through it again. Leah appears to be a merchant. I will enclose it in a spoiler. I think the reason why I missed it is because Leah is first introduced as someone Anna met months ago instead of someone of importance to the main characters. If it is stately explicitly that Leah is Anna's employer, well the story would be easier to follow.



The last few lines of that excerpt (also in bold) I do not know whether to take seriously or not. Are they Leah's bodyguards or are they her servants? Or is Eadweard wasn't being serious about them doing menial jobs? Emotions and inflections are hard to determine if everything is in print which is why I much prefer if things like these are spelt out.

Lines like Eadweard flat out saying that he will bring Isaac to Leah for this and that purpose then introducing Jacob as his colleague would have helped me understand the story better.