text:
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Streets erupted with life and joy when the news of the Lich King's fall at last reached Dalaran. It spread through the streets, a rumor that gathered believability with each passing second until at last the Kirin Tor made the announcement from the Violet Citadel, their weathered voices shaking with relief. Lanterns shone bright in the evening streets as the people rejoiced, knowing that their city had at last been avenged.
A more muted celebration took place in the sterile halls of the Sunreaver's Sanctuary. A substantial portion of the Scourge armies remained, to be sure, but they posed little threat to those outside of Northrend or the Plaguelands.
"A fine thing that the Argent Crusade and Steamwheedle Cartel fought and bled so well," remarked one aging Sin'dorei diplomat. "Their sacrifice has given us time to consolidate, to better fight our true foes."
I did not need to ask him to identify those foes.
The zeppelin had carried me from the Lich King's doorstep to the embattled base camp at the edge of what had once been the Fleshwerks. Otuura, the draenic death knight, had survived her battle against the dragons, and seemed impressed at my continued existence.
Healers repaired my wounds with laudable skill, though my hand was too damaged to save. The Crusade ferried me to Dalaran once I'd regained some strength, and I spent the rest of my recuperation in Sunreaver's Sanctuary. It was there that I heard of the victory against the Scourge. My service to the Horde in Dalaran's Underbelly had not been forgotten, and the emissaries there arranged for me to receive a prosthetic hand.
Even today, I admire the craftsmanship of this new left hand, an elegant assembly of steel gears, rune circuits, and copper wires. The finer motor functions are too complex for the machine to emulate, but it can curl into a fist and extend into an open palm.
I stayed in Dalaran perhaps longer than necessary, rarely venturing outside of Sunreaver's Sanctuary. It was not a proud time for me. I struggled to understand my actions at Icecrown.
In many ways, I had believed myself above the Lich King's corruption, and I had disdained those Forsaken who used his evil to excuse their own. Even now, I am not so mad as to compare myself with Undercity's worst. Certainly I have never brewed plagues or sought to end all life. Yet I had still used others to save myself, though in so doing I had saved them as well.
Are we all cowards in the face of damnation? Aletta and Lennister had defied their beliefs to save each other and their child, though they did not truly understand what was at stake. When they fled, he slowed to help her down those treacherous steps, even though the Chosen ran close behind. I turned around to fight the Chosen, but had I done so for any reason beyond hatred? I strained my memories, seeking some grain of courage or sacrifice in that attack. I could not decide if any had existed.
I have always thought that it is too easy to say that the ends never justify the means. Good intentions matter little if they only bring death and destruction. If Lennister, Aletta, and their child all escaped, who am I to judge?
Perhaps the doubts stem from the shame of slipping under the Lich King's sway a second time. Had the Argent Crusade not commenced that bombing raid, I am sure I would have returned to the Scourge. I, who had thought so highly of my own mind and spirit, had come close to losing them again.
Contacts in the Argent Crusade informed me that Lennister and Aletta had been transported to Hearthglen. Formerly ruled by the Scarlets, the burgeoning township is now under the Argent Crusade's protection.
"Aletta gave birth to a daughter, whom they named Vestra," explained the Argent liaison, a blood elf. "She's a very sickly child, I'm afraid. Aletta's malnutrition took its toll on Vestra's body, and perhaps her mind as well. But she will live, and she will be safe."
I nodded, a mixture of feelings welling up inside. Suffering does leave its mark. Yet I am sure that there is no better place than Hearthglen for Vestra and her parents.
Posted by Destron at 8:27 PM 11 comments:
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Icecrown Glacier: Part 3
Death eluded me. I lay on the snow beneath the dragon's broken skeleton, his voice still echoing in my crash-addled mind. My feeble right hand pushed against the ground as I crawled from the wreckage. The left hung useless, a blackened wound attached to an arm. I tried not to hear his words, the air thick with orders relayed to his minions. No fear touched his voice, not even as the Argent Crusade neared his citadel.
Looking at the frost wyrm's remains, I wondered how I'd survived. I'd maintained consciousness during the fall, but remembered only confusion. Above, the death knights still battled the Scourge, both sides visible as moving darkness in the sky. From deeper in the mountains I heard gunfire and the occasional shout. Clutching a handful of snow I saw translucent green slime leak out from the white. I'd crashed into the Fleshwerks.
Argent Crusaders speak of the Fleshwerks with the sort of loathing normally reserved for the deepest pits of Hell. There, the Scourge's best minds work to find new uses for the dead, conducting their labors in frozen warrens dug by abominations. Chemical wastes suffuse the very stone of the mountain on which the Fleshwerks stand.
Twice-killed bodies littered the poisoned snow alongside the corpses of black-robed necromancers. None of the crusaders numbered among the dead. If any of the attackers had perished, enough had remained to take the bodies back to safety, though that did not explain why they left the necromancers whole. Perhaps I'd stumbled onto the aftermath of a probing attack.
I fell to my knees, the earth falling away. The feeling of being suspended in an infinite void returned, a cold pressure wrapped tight around my skull, strangling thought and desire. Words burrowing through mind and soul.
"I am one with the Light, the communion of believers. Not with you," I said, words tumbling over each other. Standing back up, I focused on the world around me, his voice receding to a distant noise.
Lines of footprints in the snow showed the way to freedom. The trail led up an icy ridge before disappearing around the rock spire. Surely the crusaders had gone that way. If I could reconnect with them, if I again hear the voices of those untouched by the Lich King, I might stay free.
High above, I saw sharpened saronite tips reaching out from the stone. My mind wandered back to rumors of the Fleshwerks and the monstrosities within, described as juggernauts of dead flesh. So long as they possessed enough strength to annihilate my body, I would have no fear.
I bounded up the ridge, desperation freeing me to ignore the steepness of the path. My mind began to slip free of the Scourge's cage. Beneath my feet, snow turned to plagued slush, and then to the hardness of saronite. I at last slowed, suddenly conscious of the noise I made running on the metal surface. A flicker of vertigo crossed my vision when I looked down, seeing how far and quickly I'd run. More reason for hope, I thought to myself.
In the sky, the frost wyrms seemed fewer in number. I still saw the distant glint of cold runes, the death knights prevailing against impossible odds. But I knew that they'd suffered their share of casualties as well. On some level, I envisioned their losses as more akin to broken weapons than to slain soldiers.
Reaching the end of the path I arrived at a circular saronite platform, edged battlements all along the rim. Recently felled corpses were strewn in heaps around the decaying remains of experiments. Hulks of stitched flesh lay on saronite tables, their dry wounds open to the cold air. Overturned chemical vats released acrid vapors, forming a blistering fog that hovered over the site. Cages stuffed with bones and organs, the components of entire armies, hung by chains from metal spires.
Not even the Scourge's most monstrous troops appeared to be of much help. I counted the formidable abominations among the dead, their bullet-ridden carcasses looking somehow pathetic. Most of the Scourge's heavy ground troops were put together in the Fleshwerks. Its fall would weaken the Scourge beyond recovery. There is great folly in setting oneself against an entire world; perhaps Arthas had learned this too late.
Yet my troubles remained. The crusaders had retreated from the bloody outdoor laboratory, though the sounds of fighting still echoed through the mountains. Doubt nagged my mind: had they been routed? A stairway at the other end of the platform offered the only other egress. I approached with caution, broken glass and bone crunching beneath my boots. Amidst the ruin of his empire, his voice remained, steady and indifferent, as patient as a god's.
The stairway dropped steeply to a broad mountain pass, where ragged mobs of ghouls ran on all fours towards the Argent Crusade's positions. Lumbering monstrosities held the base of the stairway, hurling debris against the invaders. I could not sneak past them; they blocked the exit like a wall of flesh. But perhaps I could hurt them. A single blow from one of their fists would render me useless to the Scourge. They might use bits of the corpse for abominations, but by the time they did my soul would be free. Or so I believed. How could I be sure? I knew little of necromancy.
Only then did the giants part, a column of black-robed humans hurrying up the steps. These necromancers fled the field of battle, rushing in my direction. Seized by unthinking terror, I ran back up the stairway. Any fate was preferable, any cruelty acceptable, so long as it kept my soul from their clutches.
I ran back across the grisly platform and down the path, my feet sliding on the tainted snow, seeking only to put distance between the necromancers and myself. Death knights fought in the sky, too distant to help me. Hurtling down to the frozen ledge on which I'd crashed, I ran past the broken frost wyrm all the way to the precipice. The drop was not nearly so great as I'd first thought. Below, I saw the armies of the dead on the march.
I imagined spellfire consuming my body, the necromancers watching in dismay as the purifying flames rendered me useless to them. Would they? Even for a mage, it is no easy thing to truly destroy a body, especially not one's own. The Scourge's necromancers know a thousand ways of trapping the soul within the shell.
My thoughts a blur, I backed away from the edge. Death guaranteed nothing. As I stood there, useless, the necromancers drew ever nearer. Soon they'd see me, and return me to his grip. The living are blessed to not know what awaits them under the Lich King's rule.
A sort of animal cunning seized me when I noticed the body of a necromancer stretched face-down on the ground, surrounded by dead ghouls. I ran to the carcass, judging it close to my size. Pinning the corpse down with the weight of my left arm, I began to remove the robe, his stiff limbs seeming to work against me. Gritting my teeth I pulled at the cloth, cursing him as I freed the sleeves and then tore the filthy garment from his back. Blood caked the robe's interior.
I wrapped myself in the stinking garb and began preparing the rest of my disguise. The Lich King finds use for living agents, and humans still dominate his Cult of the Damned. Fingers trembling from fear I put the glass eyes in my sockets, but abstained from the chemicals that restored health to my face. The cult attempts to emulate undeath, and the appearance of too much life might give me away.
My left hand posed another risk. The wound did not bleed like a living man's should. I tried hiding it in the voluminous sleeve, already crusted in blood, but it remained obvious. Perhaps my mind forbade me from really thinking about my next action.
I scrambled to a fallen abomination, my good hand wrenching a hook from its chest. Placing my left hand on the ground, I raised the hook. I paused, remembering how I'd first lost my left arm in the Hinterlands so long ago. That wound had been possible to fix. I did not think I would be as lucky in Icecrown.
I forced the hook down into the wrist, the massive point breaking the bone. Pain quivered up my arm, cold and pulsating. Strands of flesh kept the hand connected, sickly ichor dribbling out from the wound. I struck again, smashing the already damaged flesh, again and again until only strings remained, and I pulled it away. I held the severed hand reverently, like a monk carrying an icon. I put it in my coat's inside pocket, beneath the robe, still hoping that some skilled surgeon might one day reattach it. Taking a metal needle from the abomination's body, freed from the meat by a bullet, I pinned the robe's filthy sleeve around the stump.
The madness of the situation hit me all at once. What hope did I have of passing myself off as a cultist? Religions have many rules, and I had no reason to think that their wicked faith was any exception. But death offered no escape. I only needed to survive long enough to return to the front. Perhaps I could play the role of a fanatic, eager to die in the Lich King's service. Maddened zeal is the norm for the Cult of the Damned.
"Brother!" shouted a hoarse voice behind me. I turned around to see the necromancers coming down the path, their breaths escaping in puffs of white steam. "We're retreating!"
I struggled to think through the fog of dread, to put my feet back on solid ground. My mouth opened, a zealot's words on my tongue. Nothing came out and I fell, the pain in my wrist intensifying. Hearing his voice giving orders from afar I clutched my head with a hand and a mutilated stump.
I looked into the necromancer's sallow face, his cheeks concave from hunger, eyes ringed by exhaustion. He held out his hands, white and thin, and I realized I was prone.
"I still live," I mumbled.
"I know. Here, I'll help you up. The Master needs us now more than ever."
I took his offer, the pain in my wrist worsening. The severed hand in my coat dragged on me, a lead weight.
"Did they do this to you?"
As he spoke, he pulled me towards the black-robed mob. I saw the suffering on their faces, parched mouths lined with bloody gums and broken teeth. Some looked ready to collapse, held up only by their desire to serve.
"I must go to the front," I protested, my voice weak. "Serve him."
"Don't be a fool. The Fleshwerks are lost."
"Perhaps I—"
Blackness washed over me, the Lich King's voice audible through dead senses. I hovered in a dark expanse, empty save for the words emitted in an endless stream from Icecrown. Memories coagulated, old sensations falling into oblivion, past and future crumbling away.
"Can you walk?"
Hearing the necromancer's voice (interwoven with lifeless whispers) I went slack with relief, sobs of gratitude threatening to spill out from my throat. How close had I just come? I'd felt him return to me, seizing control, only to be saved by an unholy wretch.
"If you cannot walk, I will raise you here as one of the sacred dead." He looked back to the crowd, and I saw them point in the distance, urgent fear in their hungry faces. "It is the least I can do for you."
"No. I can walk," I muttered, and heard his voice in my own.
Unable to think, my actions no longer entirely my own, I joined the necromancers in their march through the snow. Around us lay the corpse of a god, dead eyes in the clouds, the mountains armor for his pallid flesh. From the grave he spoke, the myriad petitioners empty vessels for his will.
I'd come so close. The crusaders were perhaps no more than a mile away. Dreams of escape die under his pitiless gaze. Swept along by some vast current, unable to resist, I surrendered myself. One foot in front of the other to his indomitable will.
What memories should I grasp in the last moments? They bled into each other, the clarity fading. Whatever I chose would become a mockery, barely distinguishable from the surrounding darkness. What had I done? All my efforts spiraled down into nothing.
"Who are you?"
It took a moment for the question to register with me. The necromancer next to me had spoken, his eyes glinting with fever. Lines creased his face, and dark splotches speckled his cheeks and brow.
"What is your name, brother?"
"Destron," I said, no longer seeing any point in subterfuge.
"I am Lennister. Are you new?"
"Yes," I said, after a pause. "I joined in Valiance Keep." A strange gratitude welled up in me. Conversation, however trivial, at least anchors one in the material world. Though I heard his voice in Lennister's and in mine, I could at least remind myself that there was a world outside of him.
"I first heard the Master's words after Stratholme. I was but a child. Arthas slaughtered my parents, and I had no place to go."
I then realized that the withered necromancer was younger than me. Did he know that Arthas and the Lich King had become one and the same? A look of bitterness crossed Lennister's prematurely aged features.
"Do not let the crusaders take you alive. They are a savage breed," he warned. "And now they stand at our doorstep. Better them than the Forsaken, I suppose. I pray that I die fighting. The sacred dead do not feel pain, they cannot suffer torment at the hands of the blasphemers." Words tumbled over each other, Lennister working himself into a panicked frenzy.
"Brother Lennister! We will have victory. The Master guides us," said another. Lennister's jaw dropped, and he lowered his head.
"Forgive me, Brother Dotheron."
Dotheron said nothing. We walked past rows of hulking abominations, the Lich King's last heavy troops guarding our escape. The cultists walking past took no notice of them, fears of defeat weighing heavy on their souls. A fitting end, but I could no longer take pleasure in that or any other thought.
The thought of escape faded as I trudged, a sheep to the slaughter. How strange that he'd be so near to defeat, yet still so powerful. Perhaps his victory was yet to come.
Though I'd come close, there was no purpose in mourning. I tried to savor the dying thoughts: hot Orgrimmar afternoons, noisy Dalaranese taverns. Yet I no longer had the emotions to appreciate them. All feeling and desire were subordinated to his. A return to the eternal cold, totally alone except for him. I would dream of isolation as he spoke.
"Tell me more of the Master," I said to Lennister, my voice a whisper.
Lennister turned to me, his face a construct of spectral lines, blurred together and devoid of color. The Lich King's vision had seeped into mine. The necromancers served him so willingly. If I had no choice, I may as well submit. I would end the fear that had haunted me for so long. I would embrace damnation.
"The recruiters tell the acolytes little. What did yours say?"
"He promised a better, happier life."
"No. Not a better life, but a better future. This world is an evil place. Through undeath, we find freedom."
"Though you still serve the Master."
"Yes, but we are free from the cruelties of the waking world. Imagine undeath like a dream where you are united with your dearest friend, your closest lover. No fear, no anger."
"You are not yet undead. You've been here for some time, yes?"
"The Master needs the living. We are cherished servants, in fact. He gave us a sanctuary in the early days: Shadow's Haven, high in the central mountains of Icecrown. Austere, but a place of goodness. Our brethren worked together to bring the freedom of death to the rest of the world. He knows that the living have needs. The sacred dead tilled the soil of the Borean Tundra. Simple food filled our bellies.
"Life in Shadow's Haven was not easy, or luxurious, but there was peace in its black halls. I still remember the days after Stratholme, where men hunted each other like dogs in the street, dying at the hands of those who swore to protect them. Children starving to death in the aftermath, too afraid to listen to the armored beasts promising them food if they came out. I saw them die, one after the other."
I thought of telling him the truth. But he would not listen. Why did I still walk if mindless undeath waited? Hope kept me, and I hated it for doing so.
"Victory seemed so close in those days," he continued. "A dream for us all. My wife—"
"You are married?"
"Yes. The Master's campaign will take a long time to wage, and there must be a generation after our own. We did not truly think to see victory in our lifetimes, though we prayed for it all the same. Her name is Aletta. The Master gave her sanctuary after the Forsaken poisoned her parents. It was hard for her, but she too appreciates the Master's order. Sometimes I think that the Master arranged the whole thing just so she and I could meet; that is how perfect we are together," he said with a rueful laugh, a look of longing joy crossing his face. "Though the Master is greater still," he added.
"Does Aletta still live?"
"Perhaps. I would not deny her the embrace of the Master, so long as he embraces me soon after. I do not know. She is carrying my child. Foolish to conceive, at such a time, but we will need a new generation more than ever. She is stationed near the cathedral; I am sure the blasphemers have not yet reached that place. I think you would like her."
"I'd be honored."
"She is a good woman. She deserves the embrace more than I. But I do need her. I like to think she needs me as well. Many of us have loved ones. The Master alone knows how many have been embraced. It is hard to let go; the Chosen spend much time teaching us how. There is no love in denying someone the Master. Still, it is hard. I accept that, however."
Something, at last, stirred my mind. Cult dogma promised peace on both a material and spiritual level. They paid at least lip service to the idea of love; Lennister's love for his wife might be constrained, but was not forbidden.
Why would the Lich King allow this? Surely he desired nothing but obedience. Might he find it difficult to communicate with the cult? It is easy to give orders to puppets of rotting meat. Willful worshippers are a more complex affair.
"I am sure, when this is all over, you will find some kind wife of your own. The vrykul will leave Shadow's Haven and we will return to our old homes, and there will be a place for you. There is a place for each and every soul."
"There are schools for the children?"
"They are instructed in what they need to know by the Chosen. Parents are not permitted to raise their children. But we can dream of what they might be. What else is there to dream of?"
Turning a corner in the icy ravine, we came to a double-decked saronite bridge, stifling in its immensity, that reached across the valley to the shadows of mountains on the other side. Plumes of blue flame wreathed the sharp-edged supports, billowing up from metal vents on the frozen ground. For all this, the air held not even the faintest trace of heat.
"Corp'Rethar, the Horror Gate," said Lennister, his tone wistful. "Named for the horrors that await interlopers who trespass on the holy ground beyond. He is a kind Master, but he only loves those who serve him."
I cannot reckon how long we spent marching miles across the black saronite, the sights around us an unceasing monotony. Weapons of flesh and bone limped past us to the front, twisted limbs kept active by dark magic.
Seeing this landscape of cruelty, I listened to the praises directed at its benevolent maker. The cultists lived in a world so hideous that they accepted any burden, so long as it promised them a home in the greater order. Deliverance through death brought hope, for life in the material realm was too vile to contemplate.
I heard the stories of old Lordaeron as it bled, of children finding the corpses of loving parents, of parents seeing the bodies of their children. Most of the ones around me had pledged themselves to the Lich King early in the Third War. Once these lost souls had feared the undead, but soon learned that the Scourge wished only to bring salvation, and that the prince of Lordaeron hated them so much that he would bring ruin to his subjects in pursuing them. Hungry minds have believed stranger things. They had done what they needed to in order to survive.
The same tongues that once cursed Arthas commemorate the day that the tyrant had accepted the Embrace.
"We wept with joy when he returned to Lordaeron to set things right, and bring his subjects into the peace of darkness," recalled Lennister.
More flocked to the cult: starving, dying, mad with fear. They came fleeing bandits, Scarlet zealots, and above all the Forsaken.
"I've spoken to enough recruits from Farshire and Valiance to know the despair they felt, sent to a distant land on behalf of a cruel king. When the Wise One, Kel'thuzad, first sparked the faith he spoke to the downtrodden. He gave strength to the weak, strength enough to look beyond the bonds of life. I assure you: we will be strong enough to survive this war," promised Dotheron. This was not strictly true. Though he had preached to the less fortunate, he spent more time bringing the affluent into his cult, so as to gain access to their fortunes.
Dotheron's certainty in the victory of the grave might have offered inspiration. Retreating from the Fleshwerks, however, much of what I heard from the rest consisted of lamentation for the days when the Scourge ruled Northrend all but uncontested.
When a voice shook with doubt, the speaker's brethren offered consolation and support. Did I imagine the weariness in their attempts? Around me the world darkened, his voice growing clearer with each step. I walked shorn of identity, a man without skin, vulnerable to every pain.
As they told me their stories I remembered my own service to their cause. The rotting armies again rose up, each of us alone in the multitudes, spurred forward by his will, minds screaming and weeping for relief. Trees sagged from decay, entire towns begging for mercy we could not give. My tongue paralyzed, unable to apologize or beg forgiveness.
In great numbers we uprooted life from the forests. Tattered and weak though we were, the opposition was weaker still. He sent us to slaughter those few villages that still held out in the chaos. Blood watered the fields as robed masters pulled my dead countrymen into damnation. When the last house fell to ruin he set us on the refugees, and they died begging me to spare them, to spare the ones they loved.
I remember the crying faces, so long forgotten. There is no thought of forgiveness in such an expression. I sowed death, brought others to the same hell to which I'd been consigned. How could any action I take absolve me?
I could not hate the Scourge or its cult without also thinking of him seated on his black throne, and his voice grew louder. My timid spirit could not endure. When the cultists wept, so did I.
We rested for short intervals. When we resumed, there were always a few who did not rise from the metal ground. Dotheron put his weathered hand on the brows of the dead, chanting the sacred words. The fallen rose with lightless eyes, walking to the bidding of the master they had joined.
"One day we too shall know that joy," promised Dotheron. "But for now, he has a purpose for us."
A second gigantic bridge stretched diagonally alongside the one we traversed, perhaps a mile to the south. Where it connected with ours, Dotheron turned and followed the second path back to the west. In lightning's glare, we saw Icecrown Citadel's bleak majesty standing many times as tall as the surrounding mountains, a god in metal. Cowled heads bowed in awe at the sight.
The sounds of wind and footsteps retreated from consciousness. Only his voice remained, an ocean of dead speech. Control slipped away, senses decaying into the numbness of servitude. Crushed by unseen forces I sensed his will in my body, endless orders carried through nerves and flesh. I strained to hear the speech of the cultists, his worshippers an unwitting link to reality, his voice an undercurrent to every word. I was fading.
"Are you all right?" asked Lennister.
"Yes. I am tired," I said, my voice weak.
"We will soon reach the Cathedral of Darkness. You can see it down there," he said.
The bridge ended at a lonely mountain ledge. A jagged path descended to the cathedral, black and flanged like the other Scourge monuments. The fools around me rushed heedless into hell while I struggled to remain free, my strength ebbing with every step.
"I am afraid," I whispered, and noise fell into the whispering torrent of his voice.
"I am too. These are trying times. Keep your faith in the Master. Though all seems lost, he will triumph. Think of the people in your home, still trapped in a prison of lies and ignorance. They need you to stay strong, even if they do not know it. We will put the world under his wisdom.
"When I doubt, I think of Aletta and my unborn child. I came of age in a cruel world, but he will only know the Master's wisdom. Doesn't that help? If you think the same of those you left behind? A wife, dear friend, sibling."
"Yes. Thank you."
I could barely recall anything. Memories gave way to the directives of the Lich King, orders meant for other victims forming the sterile symphony of a single voice. I had fallen in some harrowed Tirisfal forest, to a brief and merciful sleep, to dream of distant lands and strange peoples before waking in Icecrown. Had I ever been free? I no longer knew. Yet the colorful blank in my life demanded investigation.
Festul's tear-streaked face stood out with startling lucidity. Anchored by that grisly sight I remembered the circumstances of his death in that ruined city of the Dragonblight. I had found joy in his suffering at the hands of the humans, and killed him to end my obscene delight. Selfishness, not mercy, moved me to action.
Who mourned for Festul? I looked at the battered figures trudging through the endless night, convinced of their Master's beneficence. Each an unwitting victim of his evil. They thought themselves saints, unaware of the hell they'd brought to so many. Why should the ignorant deserve mercy? Who fights for those they cursed with unlife?
I longed to kill Lennister, to hear his sanctimonious tongue scream pain as I burned flesh from bone. How many could I slay before being overcome? The survivors would raise me and my victims, but what of it? I'd suffer any agony so long as I could inflict the same on them. His voice called to me, and I knew damnation awaited regardless of what action I took.
As long as I dreamed, I could cause pain, leave a mark on the world before awaking again to slavery. Let Lennister and Dotheron and all the others truly understand what it is to suffer. I summoned the arcane currents, heat prickling around my hands as the air prepared to ignite.
The spell died, arcane energy bleaching out into nothingness. The Lich King hadn't won yet, and perhaps I might find some reprieve. I had to survive. How? I wondered. Surrounded by his domain and his servants I saw no hope of rescue. But to give myself over...
The years of mindless servitude again unfolded in my mind and I began to shake underneath my robe. I still heard him, felt him taking control. Such was the reality I faced. Surely, I thought, the Crusade would destroy me once the Lich King fell.
Or would they? Who can say if they will find every last Scourge minion? It is often supposed that the Scourge will collapse without the Lich King, but who can really be sure? To be lost in some frigid valley, a shambling corpse frozen by his final orders, waiting as time ground the world around me into dust...
I had to maintain control. However slim my hope, I had no choice. Stemming my anger, I thought no more about killing the necromancers around me. Best to endure, as long as possible.
The sight of the cathedral, though ominous, took me out of my grim thoughts. Its size reflects the debased and brutal mind of its creator. A tremendous platform, carved from the mountain rock and sheathed in saronite, towers a mile above the dead earth. The cathedral squats on top like some monstrous insect.
I'd expected to see tents and starving cultists outside the cathedral, yet all lay still and empty. No dark hymn or chant emanated from within the saronite shell. Eternal and uncaring, the edifice betrayed no sign of life. My companions broke into a run, Lennister leading the way, somehow staying balanced on the narrow ridge.
I felt a sort of churning wrongness as I stepped onto the black saronite. The metal twists the rules of reality, preserving a single moment for all time. A fitting substance for the Lich King. Our feet clattering on the ground, we ran past the flanges to the cavernous doorway, an immense wound in dry flesh. Men in black robes stood at both sides of the gate. The chilled blue light of their eyes, their perfect stillness, showed their true natures. Dotheron fell to his knees and the rest of us followed suit.
"Chosen. We have come here on the orders of Scourgelord Tyrannus, seeking sanctuary under the Master," he said, breathing heavily between words. I saw Lennister risk a quick look through the doorway, his eyes wanting.
"Come inside."
A slew of questions filled the air, the necromancers asking the fate of loved ones.
"The Master reigns. That is sufficient," intoned an undead cultist. "Seek refuge in him."
Voices died down as they ushered us into the sanctuary. I first saw the column of crimson light descending from the tenebrous vaults above our heads, an altar of metal and bone bathed in the glow. Shadowed by the grandiose pillars, low gray tables ran up the length of the chamber, undead cultists hunched over the stone surfaces in silent prayer. Candles burned dim on twisting metal candelabras, a curiously mundane addition to the gloomy scene.
Control faded, my body moving to the will of another. The world lost clarity, a terrible heaviness in my skull drowning the senses. I tried to raise my head, clench my remaining hand, anything. Nothing obeyed. The voice grew to consume the world.
Some last twitch of the nerve pulled me back and I fell to the floor, the saronite like cold meat beneath my body. Shaking, I tried to force myself up with one hand, collapsing again.
"Brother. Here, let me help you."
Dotheron's voice. He put my arm around his shoulders and lifted me. I was once again rendered helpless, saved only by those I hated. I thanked him, pleading hunger and exhaustion. As he led me to the recesses of the cathedral, I heard the blessed sounds of mortal sobs and whispers.
Men and women slumped against the black walls. Many would never rise up of their own will, their bodies cold and stiff. Others hovered near death, starved forms drawing rattling last breaths. Weeping echoed in the sanctuary. A woman who'd traveled with me cried over a man's body.
"Why has he not been embraced?" she sobbed. No one answered.
Only a few possessed strength, and those few stepped forward towards the new arrivals. Cries of "brother," and "sister, and others wordless, interrupted the lamentations. I saw Lennister embracing a woman, both of them shaking with relief.
"Aletta. I thank the Master that he preserved you. The child—"
"Still lives, still lives," she wept. "The others who died here gave me food, so that our child might live. There's so little left."
Lennister stepped back and put a palsied hand onto his wife's swollen abdomen. Fresh tears dripped down his face and he knelt before her, his gratitude without end. He hugged her, pressing his ear to Aletta's belly, an exhausted smile daring to show on his face.
"I can hear a heartbeat."
"Yes," whispered Aletta. "I feel it too."
Though given better treatment than the other fleeing cultists, Aletta looked nearly as worn as her husband, her face lined and skin coarsened. She wore at least two robes, the outer too big for her. Perhaps it had been a gift from a dying cultist. Those in the Cult of the Damned care for each other, taking a simple pleasure in their shared love even as they irrevocably rob others of the capacity to do the same.
"Why haven't they been embraced?" asked Lennister, referring to the bodies.
"I do not know. The Chosen haven't said anything since I arrived a few days ago. I am afraid, Lennister. But at least you're here."
"The Master will prevail. Our child will be born into a paradise," he said, his voice cracking as he spoke. "There is hope. Some still heed our call. This is Brother Destron, a new arrival from Valiance Keep."
"Your husband is a kind man," I said, and hated it for being true. Kindness does not preclude evil, I reminded myself.
"I do as the Master wills, nothing more," said Lennister. "You are safe now. The Chosen reside here."
"Who are the Chosen?"
"Those faithful who continue individual service after being embraced. Theirs is a sacred duty, heavy with responsibility. Liches are drawn from their ranks. Many here were among the first to heed the words of the Wise One, Kel'thuzad."
"We will wait here to strike back?"
"I am sure."
"The Master will move soon," said Aletta, her words heavy with weariness. "He must. He won't let us starve."
"Can't the mages—"
"Only one came here with me, Sister Varinda, and she died. No one in the sanctuary can conjure food. Unless you brought someone with you."
"I can," I said.
Lennister's eyes widened.
"You're a mage? Why are you only an acolyte?"
"I knew little of the Art before I listened to the Master. I am not important enough to be anything else," I said, hoping to persuade him. The voice filled my ears, reminding me that it would soon not matter if I convinced Lennister or not, that the Lich King would win either way.
"Even so—forgive me. I do not mean to doubt."
"You understand that there are limits to what I can conjure? It's a simple spell, but a draining one. I cannot feed everyone here." I looked around, hoping no one had heard. The cultists seemed absorbed in their own dramas.
"They will understand. Our child needs it. Please, hurry."
Was a mage out of place among the acolytes? The others might not be so easily fooled. I called to the magic, bloodless fingers weaving within the voluminous sleeve. Conjuration is among the first spells a mage learns, and its familiarity reassured me. Moving so much mana at once is an easy matter; to move the finer amounts needed for more advanced spells demands far more care. Arcane energies took shape into a ragged chunk of bread. Tasteless and hard, it at least nourished.
I handed the bread to Aletta, and she accepted it with grateful hands. As far as the other cultists believed, I'd simply been carrying the bread since the Fleshwerks. Lennister watched his wife eat, love winning out over hunger in his fearful eyes.
With full knowledge, I had given aid to the enemy of life itself. What evils might Aletta or her unborn child inflict upon the world? Azeroth's war against the Scourge is one of survival. Better to let mother and child starve, if it kept them from serving him. War is cruel by definition.
I wish I could write that mercy had been my only motivation. I suspect fear played a greater role. This cult kept me from their master, their words a distraction from his. I helped those who postponed my return to damnation, though doing so might condemn others to my fate. I could have even let Aletta starve; there were other cultists besides her and her husband, and who knew how long they might linger? But the fact that I knew Lennister better than the rest was a form of strength. Like a child clinging to a favored toy, I could not give it up, no matter how little difference it made.
Nothing but shame awaits the Forsaken in Icecrown. All illusions crumble before the Lich King. We see in ourselves the evil that others recognize with ease. Why fight damnation, in light of such knowledge?
My heart sinking, I watched as Aletta finished the paltry meal, her face still stamped with need. She leaned against the wall, wan and aged. Lennister took her shoulders.
"Are you all right?"
"Better. Thank you, Brother Destron. We both thank you, and I am sure the Master does as well."
"I do as I must," I whispered.
I drew close to the dying couple. Removing my robe, I draping it around Aletta's shoulders. Nodding in grave acceptance, she drew it around herself.
"We will not forget this," she said. "I wish I could do more..."
I shook my head. She doubtless thought me near death. If damnation was inevitable, a last act of kindness would not matter. Before he regained control, I wanted only to listen to the thoughts and desires of others, no matter how misguided. Something final to take with me into the endless cold.
I am gone. One last desire guides the hand that writes. Nothing to feel. Nothing to hear save the endless current of dead words. I wish I could weep. Never again will this tongue speak or pray. It belongs to him. His memories settle on the soul. Another body moved by his will. Nothing here.
Living bodies recede from sight. There is only darkness. His voice speaks in the void, and the corpse moves. Small movements at the extremities as he reasserts control. I am gone, but I remain conscious. The hand is halting. There is no sensation there. Letters are scrawled, uneven. No control.
Last words here. Hearing his voice. Memories extant but vague. I miss Orgrimmar. Goodbye, Daj'yah. Regret coming here. Undeath is evil. They were right. Lich King is absolute. He is God over my kind and I am afraid. Do not want to say goodbye. No help for this body. I wish I could weep.
Thunder crashed outside the cathedral, and his voice fell silent. The world flooded back to my senses, the sound of breathing, the sights of muted colors. Again I heard the rumbling detonation, a dull echo in the sanctuary.
He was silent. The voice had not become quieter, but had actually stopped. I stood up on trembling legs, not daring to believe it. Around me, the living cultists looked to each other in dread. A robed man near the door ventured outside as more rumbling explosions shook the cathedral.
"What is it?" I asked. The Chosen continued praying in silence.
Edging inside with backward steps, the cultist turned and wailed:
"The blasphemers are attacking Icecrown Citadel! Their airships—look!"
He pointed a quivering finger outside, his mouth open in terror. A sigh of dismay ran through the crowd, the air torn with the sound of fresh weeping.
"How dare they! We must go—"
"Our Master needs us—"
"Have faith, brothers and—"
"Be silent!"
Tongues froze mid-sentence, all eyes on the speaker. His eyes glowed in the manner of the Chosen, and the horned skull resting on his head marked him as one who stood above the others. He walked forward from the red light bathing the altar, his steps measured and without concern.
"The Master will prevail. Do not doubt in his power. Let him use you as he sees fit. Victory is assured. Stand up, all of you. Be glad in your hearts, for today you will be embraced."
At the last word, the rest of the Chosen stood up from the tables, mindless eyes shining bright as they drew black daggers from their belts. They turned to face the edges of the sanctuary, where the dying cultists huddled.
"Your responsibilities are lifted, whatever they may be. Accept the embrace, and enter into paradise. Together, your souls will form a new weapon that will turn back the blasphemers."
Aletta's hand went to her mouth, and she looked to Lennister. Her husband made a confused motion with his hands, his eyes not believing.
"What of the child?" he whispered.
"I am sure the Master will embrace our little one as well," she stammered. "The little one never had the chance to serve... high invoker!" she called out, the volume of her voice somehow shocking. "What of me? I am with child."
"All will be embraced, Sister Aletta," answered the skull-topped priest.
"But I do not want to deprive the Master of a worshipper," she protested, her voice pleading.
"Do not concern yourself with it."
She shrank back, Lennister shaking his head.
"What he said... must we?" he wondered. "It is for the best I am sure. We will be embraced, the three of us. Free from cruelty and fear. It is the best for the child."
The first of the cultists walked to the Chosen, praising the Lich King with gleeful voices made thin from hunger. Their faces impassive, the Chosen struck at their exposed necks, and the hymns turned to choking gasps. Blood sprayed from ragged wounds as they fell. Outside, the bombardment continued.
"We delayed the embrace of your fallen brethren so that we might cull many souls at once, strengthening what we create. Your bodies shall form new wonders, and your souls something greater still," promised the invoker.
Shivering, Aletta clutched her distended belly, searching her surroundings with frantic intensity. Chosen filtered into the recesses, taking the bodies of the already dead and bringing them to the center. With voices pure and hollow they recited the words that nurtured unlife.
"We will go together," said Lennister.
"Wait!" I interjected.
"Brother Destron?"
Sooner or later, they would call me to sacrifice. Beyond the doors, the Argent Crusade laid siege to Icecrown Citadel itself. A Chosen stood at each side of the gate, eyes locked in mindless observation.
I might be able to run past, though other Scourge minions surely roamed the wastes beyond. My connection to the arcane had not replenished since the conjuration, hindered by his presence. I'd be easy prey for them on my own. To stay invited certain damnation.
Of all those lost souls, I knew those few who might be convinced to join me. I told myself that mercy had moved me to save the wretched couple, but I could not believe the lie. I sought to use them. Escape was its own reward, and I hated that truth.
"The Master has lied to you; to be embraced is to enter hell," I hissed.
"What? Have you gone mad? Don't lose your nerve—"
"I am not what you think!" I whispered. My hand darted to my right socket and pulled out the glass eye, and the left soon followed. The voluminous hood prevented anyone other than Lennister and Aletta from seeing my ruined face.
"I was once embraced. Raised by a necromancer like you. All of us can escape to the Argent Crusade. They will not mistreat you." I spoke in a rapid whisper, praying that no one else would overhear.
"Can you not see? I am undead. Do not let this happen to you, certainly not to your child! We can run, the Argents are not far from here. Look: as each of those poor fools die, the soul goes into the Lich King's grip. You two will not be reunited in death; you will never see or hear from each other again.
"Undeath is eternal loneliness, being lashed to a master that cares nothing for you. I escaped, but you may not be so fortunate. You know I have experienced this."
"We know of the Forsaken. You rejected the embrace," countered Aletta, her voice trembling as more of her brethren fell bloody to the floor.
"And why would we reject it, if it is indeed so glorious? Tell me that! We can run outside. I have enough energy to at least get the Crusade's attention with a spell. I am sure that you have techniques of your own."
That time neither of them retorted, visible doubt gnawing at their faith. My words had tapped into the fears they already felt. Driven by instinct to protect their child, I am sure even the weakest argument would have compelled them. I had acted as a manipulator, nothing more.
"We cannot deny our child the embrace," mumbled Lennister, his chilled hands twisting a length of his robe as his faith crumbled around him.
"Are you willing to gamble your child's soul? We are running out of time—"
Aletta pulled away from Lennister's grip. Walking past the mobs of cultists rushing into the slaughter, I saw the shadows coalesce around her hands. She raised both arms at the Chosen standing on the right side of the door, and pitch flooded from outstretched palms.
The Chosen's robe frayed where the spell hit, his alabaster skin turning dark and spotted. I ran towards the stunned Chosen, shoving cultists to the side. The Chosen's floodlight eyes turned to me as he tried to right himself. Grabbing him by the front of his robe I threw him to the floor and jammed my knee into his back. The cold body twisted beneath my weight, and I saw the dagger's hilt on his belt.
Grabbing the weapon by the handle I pulled it free and set to work, stabbing at the back of the Chosen's head. His skull deflected the first blow and the knife ripped away a section of hood and scalp, the flesh beneath black and lifeless.
I stabbed at the side of his head, hoping to put out those glaring eyes. Moved by fear and fury I struck again and again. Screams of outrage echoed through the sanctuary, and I looked away from my work long enough to see a pair of living cultists running towards me.
At that moment, one of my attackers went sprawling, his teeth cracking on the saronite floor so that bloody white fragments spun across the polished surface. The other was shoved to the side as Lennister came into view, tears streaming down his face.
"Aletta!" he cried.
I sprang up from the Chosen, whose hands scuttled, spider-like, as he tried to lift himself from the floor. Aletta was halfway out the door, the other Chosen recovering from the same spell she'd used against the first. Holding the dagger tight, I ran to her side, Lennister close behind.
I gasped when I saw Icecrown Citadel, the menacing structure veiled in smoke. Concussive blasts rumbled across the desolate valley. Flying machines and zeppelins, little more than dots in the distance, hovered through the haze as they continued the assault.
"Hurry!" I ordered.
We ran across the freezing metal platform. I risked a backwards glance to see the two Chosen sprinting from the gaping entry. The eyes of the one I'd assaulted still glowed through the rents in his face. No other cultists joined the pursuit; perhaps their masters thought their deaths to be too vital. More explosions shook the firmament.
And then the voice returned.
Steady through the blasts it spoke, the words constant and without inflection, dead thoughts expressed out loud. I cursed, a frenetic desperation taking the place of resignation.
Aletta halted at the top of the grand stairway, the steps so sharp and steep that it resembled a cliff. Behind us, the Chosen gained ground. Lennister's brow furrowed in concentration, a fog of darkness bleeding out from his hands. He turned and flung the shadows at the Chosen. That time, they were prepared. Cold white hands outstretched, the Chosen absorbed the opaque cloud.
"Destron! She needs help!" he shouted. He grabbed Aletta's arm and slung it over his shoulders, casting me a despairing glance. They'd never be able to make it down before the Chosen caught up to them.
Hatred, not bravery, moved me to action. In that instant, all the suffering, all the shame that I'd endured in Icecrown turned into rage. Dagger in hand I charged the unwounded Chosen, wanting to make him suffer, to make his master feel fear.
Icy metal pierced my belly but I felt no pain as it tore through my side. Yelling, I stabbed downwards as I drove my knee into his gut. He buckled under the attack, losing his balance and falling backwards onto the ground. I gave him no respite and jumped to deliver the final strike. Though prone, his knife ripped into me again, cool ichor sputtering from the wound as my own weapon assailed his face, the blade's weight doing as much damage as its edge.
The other Chosen grabbed my coat to pull me off his companion. I twisted, my body wrenching free as I kept my weight on the first target even as he continued cutting my body to ribbons. Out of his grasp, I resumed the attack, the light in the Chosen's eyes still shining in mockery, though his jaw hung in rags and splinters, his brow deformed by repeated impacts. Luck guided my dagger into the Chosen's glowing socket, the blade's tip piercing the corrupted brain.
The light died, and still I felt no satisfaction, hitting the corpse again and again as the remaining Chosen bludgeoned me with kicks. A boot slammed into my back, pushing me down into the corpse. Weakness suddenly washed over me. My dagger fell from limp fingers, his voice ringing clear through the bombardment.
All at once, the weight on my back vanished. A shriveled body fell alongside my own, and I looked into sockets dark and empty. My vision wavered as I tried to stand back up, cold fluids leaking from my torso. His voice called to me as I explored the landscape of wounds. My innards quivered like soup as I forced myself upright, the fall and the fight taking their toll.
"Destron! Hurry!"
Lennister and Aletta huddled close at the top of the stairs. The second Chosen had fallen under their shadowy attacks. Nodding, I walked towards them as fast as I could, the world lurching with each step. There was no longer any doubt that I owed my freedom to those two.
No one ran after us as we inched our way down to the desert. The numbing dust came as a relief after spending so long surrounded by saronite. The explosions in the distance grew fewer; the crusaders had finished their attack. Airship silhouettes grew larger in the sky as they flew away from Icecrown Citadel.
"Thank you," I said, my voice a whispery whine. "I am sorry that it hurt so much for you."
"You promise that the Argent Crusade will not harm us?" demanded Lennister.
"I promise. They are good people. The even accept those like myself."
I knew I had but one chance. Mana rushed to the fingertips in my one hand, nurturing a spark that grew into a flame. The servants of the Scourge almost never use fire spells. My arm quaked as I raised it to the sky, unleashing a lone fireball into the gloom. I could only pray that they would see it and rescue us.
The couple shivered as they waited, eyes roving about, holding tightly to one another. The spell soared into the clouds, a burning light in the darkness. Two of the fliers slowed down, beginning a gradual descent.
"Here! Help us!" we called out.
Propellers churning, one of the fliers lowered the craft to the ground while the other circled us on high. I saw the pilot, a dwarf wrapped in furs.
"Who are you?" he shouted, his voice hard to hear over the engine's noise.
"I am Destron Allicant; I've helped the Argents in the past. I'm with two defectors from the Cult of the Damned. Can you get us to safety?"
He appraised me for a moment, eyes hidden behind the thick lens of his flight goggles.
"We'll call down an airship. Stay put," he ordered.
Lifting back into the air, he flew towards one of the zeppelins, pulling up alongside it. Minutes crawled by, Aletta and Lennister sobbing in hope, fear, and confusion. I'd taken them from the only sanctuary they'd known for years to deliver them unto what they believed to be an ultimate evil. I could not fault them for being afraid.
The zeppelin began to make its landing. A smaller model, it could still carry us all to safety. When at last it settled on the rocky surface, I said a prayer of thanks as I limped towards it, the former cultists right behind me.
"How did you get out here?" demanded the goblin pilot as I stepped on board. His bombardier, a grease-stained goblin woman, looked at us with doubting eyes.
"That is quite a story," I wheezed, lying down on the wooden floor. I still heard the voice, but it was distant, fading like a bad dream. "The cult is—" I paused, finding it difficult to sleep. More fluid dripped from my wounds and onto the cabin floor, viscous and dark.
"Hey, this guy's bleeding. Gozzy, patch him up as best you can."
"I don't know how to fix Forsaken—"
"It can't hurt to stop the bleeding!"
I tried to take off my coat, only to collapse from the effort. Gozzy, the bombardier, told me to lie down. Opening the front of my coat, she cut open my sodden shirt with a pair of scissors, biting her lip when she saw the damage. I felt the cabin lift off the ground as Gozzy began to apply the bandages.
"They are making some kind of a weapon in the cathedral," I said, taking long pauses between words. "You might be able to stop them."
"We dropped everything we had on Icecrown Citadel. It'll have to wait."
"Did we win?"
"This battle? Sure. The death knights gutted the Scourge's air power, and we blasted the citadel's ground defenses to rubble. I don't think the Lich King is going to be here for much longer."
Satisfied with his answer, I rested my head on the floor. I realized then, that in the end, the Lich King is but a single entity. His minions can only offer material support. None can give reassurance or hope. Each of the Lich King's efforts is conducted in total solitude, though thousands of bodies do his bidding. He seeks to perpetuate himself so that none might stand against him, but this is an impossible task. Even if he succeeds and rules a world of death, there is no reward, no succor, for him. He is doomed in such a total way that one can only feel pity.
For us, there is light. Whatever our causes, whatever our dreams, we work with and against our fellows, and it is in this interaction, this conflict, that the experience of life is forged. Perhaps these deeds amount to little in the long run, but they offer rich meaning to those who take part. Perhaps that is enough.
Posted by Destron at 10:53 PM 10 comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)


text:
This is part of my Lily Pond collection. All shot with a Canon 40D using a Canon 100mm Macro lens. Up to my neck in water :)These images almost destroyed the camera, but I think it was worth it.Thanks for taking the time to look.
blue flower yellow reflection flora lily
Beautiful reflection!
Thankyou Mariann. I appreciate all your comments. Thanks for taking the time to look.
Loading more work by Mark van den Hoek...
10% off
for joining the Redbubble mailing list
Receive exclusive deals and awesome artist news and content right to your inbox.
Free for your convenience.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Netflix has just released a new update that officially supports Netflix on the DroidX with Gingerbread. Previous leaked versions have worked for a bit already, but now that Netflix has released their officially supported version we can be more secure if we need tech support. dancedroid Here's a Market link for you: Netflix Update Market Link Source: Droid-Life


text:
Separate names with a comma.
Discussion in 'General Culinary School Discussions' started by julio landim, May 23, 2012.
I don't think you are too old at all but.... Have you worked in the business at all? If you have not then please go get a job and feel the impact this career has on your family, friends, kids etc. Work in a small restaurant and you can probably move up pretty quickly and then after a year see if it is really what you want.
Julio, I'm in Australia and in a similar situation to you. I'm 20, I originally was completing an undergraduate degree in music but I spent all of my spare time reading books, watching cooking shows and researching on the internet. It seems difficult in Belgium, where I am it's not that hard (you can do a culinary course at any age, you can also do it part time, full time and even do the theoretical subjects through correspondence and we need more chefs in this country)... I take it that you are doing your PhD part time (my professor said that most people do, but I don't know much I'm only doing my bachelors ? Is it possible to get an apprenticeship in Belgium or even work as a kitchen hand and work your way up? How does the scholarship work (do you have to finish it within a certain amount of years?) All the best with your PhD, just out of curiosity what is your thesis on? All the best!
Keep looking for cooking classes or maybe join a club. Connect with other Chowhounds via social media or other web sites from your area. Look for a chapter of a Chefs Associon or world cooks congress or even try connectiong with the 33 Masters of Belgium for local leads.
Stay the course, finish your PhD and what ever you do don't screw up a scholorship over cooking.
Best of luck.


text:
Don't Get Too Excited Over Dow Highs
The media is abuzz this morning with the prospect of whether or not the Dow will close at new all-time highs. I am amazed that people still pay such close attention to this lackluster group of stocks.
Now you are probably thinking, lackluster? Then why are they at new highs? But one of the reasons is that these stocks have done nothing for years. So the fact that they are finally getting a bounce this year is reasonable.
But do you think you have done well by owning T, PFE, GM, etc. for the last 4 years? The Dow is a traditional concept, but should not garner the headlines the way it did pre-1950, when it actually was an index of leading stocks.
The rest of the market is mixed to lower in the first hour of trading. Oil is hovering around $63, and the 10-year yield is up to 4.62%.
In other news and notes:
- FMCN reits guidance; featured in IBD today
- FDO beats earnings by 3 cents; stock lower
- AMGN gets FDA approval for colorectal Vectibix
- CHK shuts-in some production due to low nat gas prices
- CRAI beats earnings, raises guidance
- Final Q2 GDP revised to +2.6% vs. +2.9% consensus
- TXI beats by 5 cents
- MSFT: Zune to be available Nov. 14th
- ENER ups buyback, improves corp. governance
- Kerkorian files to buy more GM
long AMGN, FMCN, MSFT


text: I am coming from an OG which has seen quite a few Roms over the past 2 years. I'm planning on unlocking, rooting, removing bloat and seeing how it runs on the stock rom before becoming a serial flasher. I wanted to wait for the latest and greatest but, the $50 upgrade was too good to pass up. Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk


text:
Showroom / Warehouse Address
9617 West Grand Ave, Franklin Park, IL 60131, USA
No Tax on Orders Shipped Outside IL
We Ship Worldwide!
220-240 volts 50 Hertz
The Whirlpool WTW4740YQ is an Improved Efficiency Top Loading Super Capacity Washer. With new sensing technology that checks the balance of your load, and Spray Rinse technology, clothes come out cleaner, faster, with less trouble. Large loads, not a problem for this washer as it has 8 cycles to handle any load.
The New Whirlpool WED4800YQ Super Capacity Electric Dryer is one of the newest Automatic Dryers manufactured for 220-240 volts/50 Hertz use. With a Hamper Door, and a built-in interior lint filter, this Dryer also comes with Wrinkle Shield technology to dry your clothes better.
This appliance is not designed for use in America. Only for countries that use 220 / 240 V 50Hz electrical outlets.
For Large Appliances above 80 pounds the shipping rates may vary depending upon state. We do Worldwide shipping via Ocean Freight and Air Freight. To get the rates please contact us at 1-877-220-8658 or send an email inquiry to email@example.com
Online shipping charges are the approximate charges.


text: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=98524 I don't daytrade anymore, I pick something to hold for 3 months - 1 year. usually around 1-2 months, I focus on the entry meticoslouslly where I know its under valued. then I tell myself I'll close it out @ 25% profit and then 50% profit 1/2 1/2. ------------- This is after 2 years of trading almost full time on and off. Market is close to random on a day to day basis, but time always arbitages to the correct value in the long run (1 month can be a long run) -------- One of the keys in long term investing, is to understand how to calculate value for stocks, how to tell if its actually undervalued or just overvalued being sold to normal value. I don't like the value investing calculation methods, cause its more of a perspective then a reality, it can change on whim with the S&P valuations. good luck!


text:
NEOM Organics Reed Diffuser: Tranquillity 2014 (100ml) boasts a floral fragrance that combines the sweet scent of English lavender with sweet basil and pretty jasmine to create a heavenly relaxing blend.
Helping you to induce the perfect night's sleep, lavender has been proven in countless studies to relax the mind and body when inhaled.
The diffuser is made from the finest natural ingredients to change your mood as it fills the air with natural goodness. Scented with 20-25mls of the purest essential oils, the 75% organic oils will leave you with a scent that you will love for up to 6-8 weeks. -SA
Directions of use:
100ml / 3.4 fl. Oz. / 6 Reed Sticks
Please remember to add postal time (2-3 working days) to obtain a complete estimate of delivery to your door.
You will receive an email to confirm when your item has been sent.
You can also check the status of your order and individual items by accessing My Account details and following the prompts.
Please allow 10 working days from dispatch of your order before notifying us of any late deliveries.
It may be advisable to check with your neighbours to see if a parcel has been left with them, check any outhouses you might have where it may be left if it cannot fit through your letterbox and contact your local sorting office to see if the item has been returned to the depot as undelivered and awaiting collection.
Please see our returns policy.
Average connection time 25 secs
There are currently no reviews.


text:
News and commentary about Canon and Nikon DSLRs written in 2017:
For the past 17 years, byThom Press has provided quality ebooks on Nikon cameras, with the most detail and clarity you'll find. #1 reader comment about Thom's books? "Thom should have written the Nikon manual [for that camera]."
What's New: bythom.com
DSLRs: dslrbodies.com
Film SLRs: filmbodies.com
Compacts: gearophile.com
Mirrorless: sansmirror.com
Mom's Art: yvonnehogan.com
The following are the highest priority items in Thom's review queue at the moment:
Nikon Z6
Nikkor 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5
Nikkor 19mm f/4 PC-E
Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF
Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 Z S-line
News and commentary about Canon and Nikon DSLRs written in 2017:


text:
Check out My Chevy, the latest from Tum Tum which features a guest appearance from Fat Pimp on the assist. The track was released on Saturday, June 4th, 2011. Tum Tum's chances in this game are improving with each new release, and My Chevy is no exception - quite the opposite, in fact. It's a nice addition to the impressive catalogue Tum Tum has been building over the years. We're definitely anticipating the next move.
Have you heard Tum Tum's Let Her Ride (R.I.P. Pimp C), featuring Big Sant & Killa Kyleon? If you're down, make sure to visit Tum Tum's profile page for the newest info, news, songs, and mixtapes.
What do you think of the features on this track? Can you appreciate the bars here?


text:
Buried or Frozen: How Animals Survive Winter
"Boys, I need your help."
It was a cold winter evening and I was walking the boys home from daycare.
"What do you need Mami?"
"I need a topic for Wild City," I replied.
As much as winter can be wonderful in the city, I was fresh out of ideas.
"Why don't you write about snakes," suggested six-year-old Ray.
Lucas, who is three, disagreed, "No see snakes in winter."
"Where do they go?" asked Ray. "Write about where they go."
Good idea.
Many animals disappear over the winter. Some, like certain birds and insects, migrate to warmer climates. But what happens to the animals that stay? We sometimes see warm-blood animals, like birds, squirrels, rabbits, and humans. But what happens to cold-blooded animals like snakes, turtles, frogs and insects?
Strategy 1: Go Underground
Garter Snakes are Toronto's most common reptile and, like most snakes, they spend the winter hibernating underground, perhaps using a mammal burrow, the stone foundation of a building, or an old well. These places are very important to snakes and many will return to the same place (hibernaculum) year after year. Though many snakes hibernate alone, some species will gather by the hundreds in warm underground dens.
American Toads are also a common sight in Toronto. These terrestrial (land living) amphibians also dig deep in winter, as much as 3-4 feet into the soil, to stay safely below the frost line. Other animals like salamanders and centipedes also use this strategy and crawl into tunnels, created by rodents or tree roots, to spend the winter underground.
Strategy 2: Go Underwater
Aquatic (fresh-water living) frogs and turtles have a different strategy. They choose to stay underwater where temperatures are usually between 0 and +4°C.
Turtles dig into the mud at the bottom of ponds to hibernate. But how do they breathe? Snapping Turtles poke their heads out of the mud and absorb oxygen from the water across the membranes of their mouth and throat.
Painted Turtles are even more impressive. They have altered their metabolism to survive without oxygen. If the water is cold, they can stay submerged for three to four months with zero blood oxygen. Just imagine holding your breathe that long!
Leopard frogs and American Bullfrogs also hibernate underwater, but unlike the turtles they do not dig into the mud. They must be near the oxygen-rich water so that they can "breathe" by exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide through their thin skins. They spend a good portion of the winter lying under the water, but on top of the mud, only partially buried.
Strategy 3: Create Your Own Antifreeze
Not everyone can go underground or underwater, so many animals have to deal with temperatures at which their body fluids would normally freeze. What do they do?
Many insects and other small animals have perfected methods for staying liquid. This is called freeze avoidance. First, they produce special antifreeze proteins in their blood. These proteins bind to early ice crystals and stop them from growing. Second, they build up high concentrations of sugars or sugar alcohols in their blood and tissues. This lowers the freezing point of their body water – the same strategy we use to prevent the water in a car radiator from freezing. In fact, some insects actually make the same antifreeze chemical that we put in the car (ethylene glycol), though the less toxic chemical glycerol is more common. Third, they avoid contact with molecules that cause the formation of ice (ice nucleators) by wrapping themselves in water-proofing. For example, by thickening their waxy cuticle or spinning a water-proof cocoon. Sounds a lot like wearing a water-proof coat doesn't it? Insects also eliminate ice nucleators from inside their bodies by emptying their guts.
Strategy 4: Freeze Solid (or Almost)
No question: Freezing solid is an extreme strategy and no animal can freeze completely. The formation of ice in body tissues is deadly. Sharp ice crystals puncture blood vessels, pierce delicate cell walls, and collpase internal cell support structures.
Yet some animals like the Wood Frog can freeze almost solid! Because of their amazing ability to do so, Wood Frogs are the only amphibian found north of the Arctic Circle. Unfortunately, Wood Frogs have almost completely disappeared from Toronto, though they can still be seen in the Greater Toronto Area in places like the Kortright Center for Conservation.
Wood Frogs combine freeze avoidance and freeze tolerance strategies so that parts of their bodies remain unfrozen, while other parts freeze solid. Large flat ice crystals form between their skin and muscle and their eyes turn white because the lens freezes. Ice fills their abdominal cavity and forms all around the outsides of their internal organs. This sucks water out of the cells leaving behind a thick syrupy solution so the delicate cells do not freeze (the old antifreeze trick). A partially frozen frog will stop breathing and its heart will stop beating. There really is such a thing as the living dead!
What is interesting about Wood Frogs is that the antifreeze solution they use is glucose; the blood sugar used by all vertebrate animals, including humans. But the frogs can survive glucose levels that are 100-fold (or more) higher than normal, while human diabetics suffer massive injuries at much lower levels.
Next time you visit a wild area in your city, remember all of the amazing adaptations being put to use by the animals hibernating underground, under the ice, or frozen beneath the leaves.
And please don't step on any frogsicles!
Deborah M. Buehler is an ecologist, an editor and a writer in Toronto. Catch up on Wild City here.


text:
System 2.0 Self Anchoring System Runs Indoors
On January 8th, 2010 the Houston International boat show first time ever saw a 100% portable cable system which needs no anchors run indoors. Even though the Sesitec System 2.0 is portable you typically need to anchor it, whether that is with in ground anchors or above ground anchors. As displayed in Houston at the Camp Wake booth we incorporated the anchoring system into the towers. You can put this anywhere you can imagine without a customized anchoring system. It also comes with an electric winch, which will pull up and drop down your System 2.0 towers with no effort. The System 2.0 can be set up and ready to ride in a couple hours.
Klint Calone purchased his Sessitec System 2.0 from The Wake Park Project in early November. He will be using it for a wakeboard camp he is launching this summer in Houston named Camp Wake. Since he had the system early he decided to bring it into the boat show to pull demo rides. The interesting part is that he was not pulling riders across water in a pool. He was pulling them across carpet. It was amazing to see how many kids actually tried it and learned some of the basics. Camp Wake pulled over 2,000 kids during the week long boat show with the System 2.0.
For more information about Camp Wake check out http://campwake.com/
For more information about the system 2.0 check out http://www.thewakeparkproject.com/
h-o-u-s-t-o-n , houston. yes thats right, there's a u in there somewhere


text:
For more information, please see full course syllabus of AP World History
Start learning today, and be successful in your academic & professional career. Start Today!
This is a quick preview of the lesson. For full access, please Log In or Sign up.
For more information, please see full course syllabus of AP World History
For more information, please see full course syllabus of AP World History
Download Lecture Slides
Table of Contents
Start Learning Now
Our free lessons will get you started (Adobe Flash® required).
Membership Overview
Period VI: Demographic Shifts Occur Because Of Innovations, Disease, & Modern Warfare
Lecture Slides are screen-captured images of important points in the lecture. Students can download and print out these lecture slide images to do practice problems as well as take notes while watching the lecture.
- Intro 0:00
- Science And The Environment 0:51
- Demographic Shifts
- Diseases Of The Poor 1:05
- Malaria
- Hepatitis
- Schistosomiasis
- Intestinal Parasites
- Emergent Epidemic Diseases-1918 Flu 6:42
- Pandemic
- Emergent Epidemic Diseases-Ebola 7:56
- West African Cities
- Irrational Behavior
- Chart
- Lifestyle Disease 11:22
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Sedentary Lifestyle
- Effective Birth Control Emerges 13:03
- Birth Control Desirable- and Not Desirable 14:06
- Effects Of Birth Control Availability 16:14
- Why Opposition To Birth Control 17:42
- Genocide
- Control Amount Of Children
- The Chinese One-Child Program
- Moral Issue
- Abortion
- Changed Society
- New Military Technology 20:11
- The Tank
- The Airplane
- Nuclear Weapons
- New Military Tactics 21:50
- Firebombing
- New Military Tactics-High Casualties 22:23
- Dresden City Center
- Tokyo Firebombing
- Atomic Bomb
- Hiroshima
- Nagasaki
- Science And The Environment 25:10
- Key Concept
- Demographic Shifts


text:
Luxury Cottage. 2 Bedrooms en suite downstairs and a loft bedroom come playroom with shower upstairs
Each cottage has a large indoor fireplace to braai South African style or just to sit around at night and drink a toast to this paradise of peace.
Interiors are Yellowwood and Oregon Pine furniture. Red clay tile floors and comfortable bedding. All cottages are as fully equipped as your own home. CD-players, mini-bars, microwaves, laundry facilities, hairdryers, television etc.
|2018 Rates
|Double Occupancy
|Per Night
- After the first two guests, further guests pay R175pppn


text:
Known as BFC to their customers, they offer custom solutions to schools, academies, councils and academy trusts on Microsoft technologies.
BFC Networks were founded in 2009 as part of a joint venture to host the Learning Gateway Conference at the Belfry in Birmingham, UK and then again in 2010. In 2011 they started fully trading offering consultancy in the SharePoint and education industry.
Since Microsoft announced the free offering of Office 365 for education, they have deployed their customised solution to over 250 schools across the UK helping the teaching and learning of thousands of students.
BFC Networks are always on the cutting edge of technology and always looking at how other industry wide products can be used with Microsoft solutions such as Moodle and mobile devices. You will soon see new and exciting products coming out that will allow you to connect to SharePoint and only be 1 click or one figure swipe away from getting the information you require.
BFC Networks are very proud of the relationship they have with Microsoft which allows them to understand future changes to products and features. With Microsoft cloud technologies always being updated, it is important to have a supplier/partner who understand these changes, how they affect you and any custom solutions you may have.
BFC Networks have been awarded Microsoft Cloud Essentials for the technical knowledge and delivery of cloud solutions.
Alex is the Managing Director & founder of BFC Networks.
With over 14 years' experience in the IT industry, Alex has work on numerous private and public sector contracts in the UK and aboard. In 2001 he started working full time at BFC Networks (Founder and CEO), an education supplier of SharePoint & Office 365 Education who have now effected the teaching & learning of millions of students across the world.
Alan is the Cloud Solutions Architect of BFC Networks.
Alan Richards has been working in IT for over 17 years and during that time has been at the forefront of using IT. He has led teams that have been among the first to roll out Windows, Exchange and SharePoint, many of these successes have been showcased in Microsoft case studies.
cloudclassroom is your all in one assignment tool in Office 365. Create your classroom and add students to your class before assigning them their own work which you can monitor, comment and provide feedback.
Read, watch and learn about cloudclassroom from our range of Sways and Office Mixes ranging from Creating a Classroom, Assigning Work and uses of OneNote in your classroom. Let us know of others you may want.
OneNote - One of the best educational tools around is fully integrated with cloudclassroom allowing you to share class notes in the browser but also add handwriting & audio commentary on the work required by the students. Read more.
Office 365 Education is free and so is cloudclassroom. We take all the great features of Office 365 and bring them to you in an education context for you to us in your classroom with students. Read more.
Quickly create your classroom in the cloud and work with students in and outside of the classroom with ease.
Assign students work and use the features of Office Online in Office 365 to see where they are working in real time.
Leave comments on their work while they are working or as a review once the assignment is complete before giving a final mark is given.
Share class material using OneNote while students can take any notes from the class in their personal Notebook all accessible in the browser.
The need to have parents logging into Office 365 has been around for some time now ever since the product was made available to the education sector.
When schools were deploying SharePoint On-Premise, the licensing options allowed them to have parent log into different content across their environment.
Parent365 from BFC Networks allows you to have content in your Office 365 Education made available to parents through a secure login.
They can either login through a custom identity that you control the usernames and password and enable Multi Form Authentication (user receives a SMS and then enters the code) or they can log in with their Facebook, Google or Microsoft account (you allow the email address access).
Parent365 doesn't require Office 365 Education licenses so you know you are able to share this information as well as keep it secure
Parents can securely login into Parent365 and Office 365 to see content that only you have decided for them to see
Add the latest news from the school, share the parent handbook in OneNote and let parents see the latest school calendar
Enable multi form authentication so parents have to enter a code as well as their username and password to log in at no extra cost
Through our SharePoint App, you can access student data in their OneDrive. Students land on their normal SharePoint page and don't realise the magic is happening.
As the only person who can give permissions to their OneDrive is the user themselves, they are giving access to whoever you have configured.
Teachers can access the students OneDrive through the Directory App by typing their name and opening the link allowing them full access to content, the recycle bin and all OneDrive settings for that user.
Maybe you don't want it for teachers accessing students but instead you as the IT team want access to all users so you can provide a better support services when they have issues.
Its easy in OneDrive Config as we change the query to IT Staff see all users.
Easily access student OneDrive for Business allowing you to control what they are doing within their area
Manage the recycle bin, administrators, version history of files, much more than any other solution
Update students OneDrives to remove the blog features, set a theme and delete the Shared with Everyone folder
Teachers & support staff can access students OneDrive from the OneDrive Config directory
Whether it is creating 600 Office 365 Education tenants, creating over 60,000 users and migrating over 29 million email items or migrating 1 TB of Exchange 2007 and SharePoint 2007 content to Office 365 or migrating shared storage space from any location on your servers to Office 365 - BFC are your specialists.
A snap shot of some of our key projects to date:
Talk to us about your identity requirements for your school, groups of schools, single tenant or multi-tenant.
Migrating from Exchange On-Prem, RM EasyMail or any other system, we will migrate it for you, even from another Office 365 tenant
While we migrate, we can ensure you fit into best practise for the cloud allowing you grow under the cloud conditions
Any custom developments can be done through Office 365 Add-ins, Next Generation Portals or custom styling.


text:
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Swimming in Raas Hotel Jodhpur
An inviting swimming pool in the strong Jodhpur sun. This is the heritage Raas Hotel in the walled city of Jodhpur beneath the Mehrangarh Fort (image from Blacktomato).
Financial Times
Raas, Rajasthan's most innovative boutique hotel. Last December, it became the first luxe hostelry to open in the heart of an Indian walled city. Snazzy blue-painted tuk-tuks ferry guests and baggage from the clock tower through buzzing bazaars; a wooden gateway opens into a calm courtyard and pillared reception; beyond rises a modern 35ft wall of rose sandstone; above it, blue cubes merge into the city's skyline.
Besides the pool and terraced gardens are a 19th-century pleasure pavilion for dining; and 300-year-old ornamental buildings of the women's purdah quarter, which now include a spa – all juxtaposed against a second block of suites clad in geometric jaali-work. Dhananajaya Singh, a Cambridge-educated farmer, purchased Raas in 2007 from an elderly feudal chief; his brother Nikhilendra found two British investors and engaged architects, Amrish Arora and Rajiv Majumda. Each of Raas's rooms is a statement in cool, pared-down style, from their black terrazzo floors to the private balconies with 11ft-high stone jaalis in metal frames that roll back, like shutters, at the flick of a finger.
Posted by Admin at 8:22 PM
No comments:
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Blog Archive
AVANTIKA RESORT Located on the main highway from Ahmedabad to the port of Kandla in the vibrant state of Gujarat


text:
Having problems with your Hoover SteamVac Carpet/Upholstery Deep Cleaner Vacuum ?
I have an f5833-900 hoover steam vac that i cannot put back together. where do i find the manual for this model
Answers :
This should take care of you:
Repair Help & Product Troubleshooting for Hoover SteamVac Carpet/Upholstery Deep Cleaner Vacuum
Tips for a great answer:- Provide details, support with references or personal experience .
- If you need clarification, ask it in the comment box .
- It's 100% free, no registration required.
Suggested Questions/Answers :
I have an f5833-900 hoover steam vac that i cannot put back together. where do i find the manual for this model
This should take care of you:\015\012\015\012http://www.hoover.com/pdfs/manuals/F5835900.pdf ... Hoover SteamVac Carpet/Upholstery Deep Cleaner Vacuum
Need the manual on how to run (put together and all) the hoover steam vac v2 (widepath) with auto rinse) we tried today and when we leaned it back (so we could run it on the carpet) water started pouring out all over the machine and got the carpet (like flooded) wet :( this one was me mom's and she passed on approx 2 1/2 years :( she always kept the manuals for everything but we caint find this one :( ... thnx
God Bless Your Mom.\015\012\015\012Hope this was helpfull to you. Sawdust46\015\012\015\012http://www.hoover.com/pdfs/manuals/F7411900.p ... Vacuums
I also have a Hoover upright and I need to replace the electrical cord. I have dimantled the back, where the tools are stored, and the hose. I still cannot find the screws or whatever, to get to the area behind the cord, so I can replace it. I think I will have to take off the bottom too. Has anyone out there tried to do this? It seems crazy. This machine works great so I hope I can also put it back together. Thanks for the help.
Since I do not know your specific model I can only supply you with general instructions. Be aware that most of the time you only need to gain access to the on/off switch to replace the power cord. Also Make sure that you are replacing the existing co ... Vacuums
I am a professional maid and one of my clients just had her Hoover Elite Vacuum belt break. I bought the belts ... but cannot find a manual online and do not know what the model number is. I am scheduled to be in her home in exactly one hour! HELP! HOW DO I CHANGE THE BELT -WHEN I CANNOT FIND A MANUAL? Many Thanks! Lynn
This is no problem! You will need a flat blade screwdriver and about 10 minutes! \015\012 \015\012*Always use genuine hoover parts for repairs, discount store belts can be as much as \015\0121" longer than OEM parts ... Hoover Elite U5061-900 Bagged Upright Vacuum
I had a manual, beung disabled, prop[le come over a help clean and put stuff away, but now the problem, is the vacuume won't stay put together and i can't find the damn manual, is it possible to get another it's a bissell power force model un sure of can i get anotrher manual. thomas d. silvia
BISSELL User's Guides can be downloaded at www.bissell.com\012On the front page under Customer Service click on User's Guides and enter the model number of your unit.\012User Guide will be displayed as a PDF file. ... Bissell 3522 PowerForce Bagged Upright Vacuum
Filter I bought this Hoover a few years ago-- just now about to use it first time. I cannot find my user's manual and don't know how to change the filter-- or to clean it or whatever I am supposed to do with it. Also, there is a handle on one side of the unit that seems to be attached to an empty chamber or canister kind of thing. It looks like it should pull out, but it does not budge. I really would like to have a manual, but can't seem to find one. Is there a similar model that is still
This is not for the exact same model, but should help you out:\015\012http://edge.maytag.com/epipubs/56511B47.PDF ... Hoover U8143-900 Upright Vacuum
I have a Hoover Slider, Model #S2105, Serial #050500084989, and I need instructions on putting it back together; with parts and assembly of parts. I took it apart because it was making a noise, and I believe one of the belts had come off. However, when I took the screws out of the bottom to check the belts, the whole thing fell apart. Now I can't get back together properly. It will not come on, and I believe it is because the switch that makes it come on when you lower the handle is not posi
Greetings from GoVacuum,\015\012\015\012Please see the link below for a parts schematic to your Hoover Slider, hopefully this will help you put the machine back together. If you find a part that is missing, and would like to order one, j ... Vacuums
I have a whirlpool personal valet steamer system that is mounted to the wall. The system was in the house when I purchased it so I would suspect it's about 8 - 10 years old and I cannot find the manual for it. When I push the start button it automaitcally cancels the set up and will not run. I have unplugged it for a while and then put it back in and it's worked before but not anly longer. How do i get a manual or can I find a repair person to look at it.
... Vacuums
Hello I can not find my manual for my vax vs19 swift vacuum cleaner and I am having problems with the cleaner not picking up. It is a 1600w machine and is fitted with a hepa filter, my son took it apart and without the manual it is difficult to reassemble not sure if he has put it back together properly.
Check out this site;\015\012\015\012http://www.vax.co.uk/support/vacuum-cleaner-user-guides\015\012\015\012Scroll down to the one that's applicable. ... VAX Appliances Vax X5 Bagless Upright Cyclonic Vacuum
The spinning brush on the side kept falling off. I would put it back on as the little screw usually remained with the brush. Last time it fell off (it has every time I've used it) I lost the tiny little screw. I cannot find reference in the manual to its specifications. As I have had it for less than a week, I am considering returning it.
Its so annoying to find Roomba after he's finished cleanin only to see that once again he's lost his brush. How to keep your Roomba from losing his brush- items needed: quick steel putty (local hardware store), crazy glue, original screw (or similar ... iRobot Roomba 530 Robotic Vacuum
How do I put the bobbin case back together? - SewShop.com Singer Model 522 Instruction Manual
Click this link for manualhttp://www.singerco.com/uploads/download/97c8866f3501ae8f2e7ea570ce3dd88d210aa50c.pdf ... SewShop.com Singer Model 522 Instruction Manual
Hoover model U6476910 I was cleaning out the bearing sections of the brush when a spring type pressure washer fell on the floor. I did not see the washer when I took it apart and I can't tell where it goes in order to put it back together. It is very thin and measures about 5/8 inch with an 11/32 inch hole. Frank Nething
Hi frank this sounds like its a compression washer, you normally find these on the end of the roller to even out any movement from side to side, as you look at the hoover's brush head, it should slip into a groove on one side with the roller...hope t ... Hoover Self-Propelled WindTunnel Bagless Upright VacuumVacuum
I took my vacuum cleaner apart to clean it because it was clogged inside and now I am having trouble putting it back together. I am looking for a manual of some kind to show me how to assemble it. It is a Kenmore Progressive Model # 11636933502
... Kenmore 31912 Progressive Direct Drive Bagged Upright Vacuum
Model number U5763900 Serial Number 090400013588 Handle broke off just above the four screws that attach it ti the boby of the vac. Hoover does not list parts for models that are more than two years old. The vac operates perfectly but without a handle my wife cannot use it, where can I find a part replacement. easy to remove four screws and replace. dont want to drive 100 or more miles to find a authorized repair shop. Oh yes, this is a Hoover Preferred Wind Tnnel Bagless
Get over it and buy a new one!!! ... Vacuums
I own a singer sewing machine model 4562 and tension assembly came unscrewed and now I don't remember how to put the pieces back together. Do yo have a diagram that can be emailed to me so I can put it back together? Thanks
... Vacuums
We have lost the manual for your Model 75224 can opener. This belongs to my elderly aunt who complains that she can't use it now because the handle was taken off and she can't get it back on. I recall this problem once before, and after looking at the picture in the manual, it was a cinch to put back on. Without the manual, however, I am having no luck.
I entered a search on Google, and I saw several pictures of the Can opener-- would just seeing a picture help?If not-- here is a site that claims to offer the manuals-- You will have to register, and dig into it a bit-- ... Vacuums
I can not get the water, normal heavy traffic selector reinstalled after taking unit apart, i replaced the pump, and now i cannot get it back together, there seems to be a special way it goes together, and i'm not finding it. Are there any videos, or pictures that show how it should go back together?
... Bissell 1698 PowerSteamer ProHeat Upright Wet/Dry Vacuum
The back wheel came off and i went to put it back on and the other wheel that connects to the mechinism/gear height ajustment that goes up/down with a spring in it came off as well. i have been looking for a schematic to put it back together but cant find any.
You do not need schematics, it is fairly easy. Clean and lubricate the teeth on the inside of the front wheel shaft assembly. Insert the spring into small pedal and place the pedal designated opening on the Kirby front fan casing with teeth facing ou ... Kirby G6 Bagged Upright Vacuum
I need to know how to put together a Hoover Slider vaccum. I had to take it apart and now i need to put it back together.
... Hoover S2105 Slider Bagless Stick Vacuum
I have a hoover spinscrub carpet cleaner model F7221-900 I need to download a user manual for.But hoover website tells me they can,t find this model number. I have checked # several times and it is correct. whats up?
I just needed to clean the brushes I finally just found the clips on each side of the brush roller and pressed in towards center and was able to pull brushes out. ... Hoover SteamVac Carpet/Upholstery Deep Cleaner Vacuum
I'm trying to find a manual for my weather genius EM3302A indoor/outdoor remote thermometer, purchased from XS Cargo. I need the manual to tell me how to change the clock from a 24 hour clock to the 12 hour am/pm clock. It was correct until my kids played with it and now I cannot find what sequence of buttons to push to get it back.
Weather Genius EM3302A Remote Weather StationOnce all settings are complete you press the UP button to toggle back and forth between the 24 hour clock and the 12 hour clock. ... Vacuums
Lost manual for emeril by t-fal bread machine model series bo1 or b01 can't really tell which number 0 or letter o.where can i find one most other products have an on line manual..i can t find one can u help me locate one..thanks
Hi - welcome to FixYa,\015\012\015\012Not easy to track these down and I can't find information relating to B01 or BO1, but I'm pretty sure this is the manual you're looking for:\015\012\015\012 ... Vacuums
Replaces the belt on dirt devil dynamite pluse model put everything back together started it and it burt the new belt up that fast. I put it around the beater brush and the metal bar I thought it should go around, yet it seemed like there should be something else there to put the belt on. What do you suggest? Do you have picture I could go by?
The metal bar you put it around if the bar itself does not spin it is going to burn the belt up. Every thing that the belt is supposed to go around has to turn or the belt will rub on the piece not moving and brake. ... Vacuums
Hoover Model U8185-900 beater bar part keeps smoking and burning up We've replaced the part Hoover PCB Display Bridge U8172 three times and the vac beater bar works for about a minute then the part starts to smoke and burns out again. I've taken everything apart but cannot locate anything that would cause this part to burn up. I think if I did not disconnet immediately, he vac would catch my rug on fire. Help? I didn't send back the warranty card, so I can't get any help from Hoover. Any suggest
I'm not sure why this is happening. Perhaps if you would contact Hoover and explain the problem to them such that it appears that there is a safety issue with their product, they might be more cooperative. If that fails, I have had luck writing let ... Hoover U8185-900 Upright Vacuum
HI, I'm trying to find a part for a Sharp upright vacuum. Its the back part of the handle where the cord is stored. I have taken it off but can't find any part # on it. The model number for the vacuum is EC12TWT4. I was thinking that if I could find a free owner's manual, that would give me the part # and then I could look for it on the net.
Any vacuum repair shop should be able to get it ... Sharp Twin Energy EC-12TWT4 Bagged Upright Vacuum