Sweat pours off your brow as your chest rises and falls. The sword within your hand feels alien. Wrong. You aren’t sure where it came from. You aren’t sure where the strange cloth armor came from, either. You aren’t sure what you’re doing here. You aren’t sure what’s happening. You…
The sickening feeling of impending doom churning within your gut is the worst as your eyes glance around you, trying to find some sort of answer or solution. The wheat looks wrong. The wind blistering past your ears could almost tear skin from bone. The animals are gone. Everything is gone. But there’s something - an inescapable feeling. Something bad is going to happen to you, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.
These past few days…everything has been off. The creature in the bathroom. The feelings of forgetting who you are. As though you’re drifting through the world half awake.
The dreams…of a boy who looks just like you. Who everyone calls by your name. But it isn’t you. You know it isn’t. It can’t be. None of the people you see there are those you know of. They aren’t even human.
You aren’t sure of so many things. Nothing makes sense, at all. But, worse than that…
The whole world - your world - is ending.
Everything has fallen away.
The farm is but a floating island in a sea of tumultuous clouds.
And something is approaching.
Something human shaped plods down the path towards you, the feeling of being utterly doomed compounding within your chest. You want to run…so, so badly, you want to run. But you can’t. You know you can’t. Dad’s not here. He probably…won’t be back. You’re the only one here who can try to stop this thing reaching your home. On the horizon looms the silhouette of a person…but even as it approaches, it stays as such. Heart pounding, you squint, fingers tightening around the mysterious sword that came to you in your dreams. When something within stirred. A memory…that you don’t have. That phrase - ‘don’t you have a sword on you right now?’. Those lightning reflexes, that adrenal burst. Like something out of a dream. A jumbled, patchwork silhouette, seemingly dancing and frayed around the edges comes closer and closer. Looking at this…thing…hurts. But somehow, you can tell, despite its blurred face…that it’s staring at you. Raising your hand in a simple gesture - to stop - your heart beats noisily within your throat. It’s now or never. You…You need to do something, Anon. Come on. Just…
“I-I don’t know–” You begin, voice hitching. “I don’t…know what you want, but just– leave us alone!”
“✋︎❄︎ 💧︎☟︎⚐︎🕆︎☹︎👎︎ ☠︎☜︎✞︎☜︎☼︎ ☟︎✌︎✞︎☜︎ 👍︎⚐︎💣︎☜︎ ❄︎⚐︎ ❄︎☟︎✋︎💧︎📬︎” The figure responds, its ‘voice’ hurting your ears as you let out a sound of pain, bringing a hand to your ear. Something like tinnitus rings in your ears… The silhouette tilts its head at your response, seemingly curious.
“What…what was– No, just…go away! Please! We don’t have anything! We don’t–
“🕈︎☜︎ 👌︎⚐︎❄︎☟︎ 😐︎☠︎⚐︎🕈︎ ☟︎⚐︎🕈︎ ❄︎☟︎✋︎💧︎ ☜︎☠︎👎︎💧︎📬︎” The figure shouts this time, drawing something from its hip. Heart sinking, you gaze upon the black edge of the blade, the silhouette raising it towards you. Cold sweat breaks out across your body. Something bad is going to happen to you. Oh, God. Oh, God… “❄︎☟︎✋︎💧︎ ✋︎💧︎ ✌︎☹︎☹︎ ☺︎🕆︎💧︎❄︎ ✌︎ 👌︎✌︎👎︎ 👎︎☼︎☜︎✌︎💣︎📬︎ 👌︎🕆︎❄︎ ✋︎❄︎🕯︎💧︎ ⚐︎☠︎☜︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ 💧︎☟︎✌︎☼︎☜︎ ❄︎⚐︎☝︎☜︎❄︎☟︎☜︎☼︎📬︎”
Without warning…the figure slides towards you, arms raised. Sword pointed. No movement of its legs. It merely glides across the floor. It isn’t human. It– Clumsily swinging your own up in an attempt to defend yourself, the figure knocks your blow aside effortlessly, retaliating with its own. Though you manage to deflect it, it follows it up with lightning speed; leaving you to yell out in pain as the figure’s blade stabs deep into your arm. You feel it scrape the bone. Hot tears flow from your eyes as you scream out, gritting your teeth and plunging your own weapon into the silhouette. A second version of the nightmarish swordsman appears, stabbing deep into your stomach as the air is ripped from your lungs. Bile and blood both erupt from your mouth, eyes wide.
“Huarak…” You gag, pain overwhelming your system. You can feel the sword within your stomach shatter away as the specter vanishes, leaving a heavily bleeding wound where your belly button should be. Yet, you persist. Your legs stand firm, even though it feels like you should merely collapse and die now. The silhouette doesn’t so much as flinch. “Get…away…from…”
Almost cruelly, the monster rips the sword from your arm as you stagger back, blood gushing from the wound as you stay standing despite everything. You want your father. You want anyone, anything who can help you. Please. Please, someone. God, please…!
As the swordsman steps back, he raises his arm in a strange manner. Compelled to do the same, you fight through the pain - running on adrenaline as you begin to bleed out - and, for some reason you aren’t sure…you throw your weapon. It impacts pitifully with the creature as the monster’s blade passes through your side, slicing deep into your torso. Screaming out as you stumble back, you’re quickly knocked forward as the silhouette raises its hand, its weapon flying right back to it. Two more of the silhouettes appear again, each attacking you on their own as your voice fails to carry, throat screamed raw as you collapse. Mom. Mina. Everyone, please. Run. Please, get away. Hide. Do something. Please.
Blood pouring from your body in thick rivers, your weak arms barely manage to lift your upper half. Everything feels cold. Numb. You just want everything to end. But you can’t. You can’t just…give up. Nearly vomiting onto the ground as you glare upwards at the monster, something within wells up. Willpower? Bravery? A sense of duty? You aren’t sure. But…
Even if you die here, you pray to God that it’s giving your family enough time to do something. You can be content with that. If your death…means something to the people you care about. You…
You’re going to die here. The thought forces your already steady stream of tears to worsen.
As the monster begins to slide along the ground once more, you clench your eyes shut and stick your hand forward. Reaching out for your sword, somewhat pitifully…your eyes widen just a touch around the edges as it slides back towards you, much to the silhouette’s apparent surprise as well. It spins around and knocks the sword flying towards it aside, but it still comes to your hand regardless. This is a bad dream. It has to be. None of this makes sense. You’ll wake up in bed with soaked sheets. It’ll be okay. Just– Gripping the handle and using it to push yourself up as you plunge the blade into the ground, you sway unevenly as you use the momentum from bursting upwards and rupturing your already deadly wounds to swing. Your lungs burn. The pain is beginning to subside. But you know that’s bad. The world spins.
As the silhouette raises its own arm in defense, a tendril fires from its hand, catching your sword and sending it crashing to the ground as it swings its arm down. It slashes across your chest - puncturing the armor as though it was nothing - as you send your left fist across its ‘face’, fighting with everything you have left. You need to do something. You can’t just…please. Please, be enough. Let this mean something. Let this–
Swinging your sword with all the power your dwindling lifeforce can manage, you catch the thing across the arm before sending your knee up and into its gut, the action forcing more blood from your wounds as you yell out in pain, the creature not so much as making a peep, even as you fight through grit, bloody teeth. Parrying a blow, you manage to land a second punch - this time actually managing to knock it back a step.
This proves to be a mistake.
The creature’s “face” twists and contorts until a mouth is finally visible. Snarling at you in raw, animalistic fury. Sharp, jagged teeth held in a grimace of anger. You freeze.
And in that moment, it runs you through. The blade’s crossguard pressed deep into your stomach, you’re all but lifted off the ground.
Two more blades join the first, the trio of hateful shadows glaring at you.
As the sword leaves your stomach, you collapse to your knees, hands clutched at your terrifyingly grotesque wounds, you give one final look at your assailant, words failing to leave your mouth as the last vestiges of your strength fades.
The creature isn’t a creature at all.
As you watch it rear its arm back to throw its sword once more, vision blurry and ears ringing, you gaze horrified at what could very well be your twin.
The weapon flies with all the speed of an arrow, and the world goes black after a final, sickening squelch.
And then…silence. You feel yourself slip away, falling through nothing as though you were weightless. The pain finally washes away, leaving a cold emptiness in its place.
It’s over for you, now.
You’ve met your match, here at the base of your home.
Your life has been snubbed out.
But death is not your end.
Instead, you are made to watch.
Nothing reacts when you try. You attempt to throw a punch, to kick your legs, something. But, formless as you are, nothing happens. You scream, but you lack a voice. Bodiless, yet present. Conscious. Made witness. Terrified, you shout and yell and fight with everything you can as you watch the monster enter your home. You can feel your heart beginning to crack and splinter as you weep desperately, attempting anything you can to warn your seemingly ignorant mother of the impending doom. You watch as the thing that wears your face mutilates your mother despite everything you did to attempt to buy them time to flee or hide. You watch in heart-wrenching horror as she tries to talk to you, tries to stop you. Tries to do anything she can to stop herself needing to hurt her son. And when it all fails, you watch her die a grotesque, miserable death, her throat impaled as her dying thoughts are of heartbreak from the betrayal of her ‘son’. And no matter how much you try to move away, to watch anything else, as the demon steps away, you’re left there with her. Her eyes open, jaw slack. Blood everywhere, hair matted…massacred and cut down, alone.
Why is this happening? What did you do?
The home you grew up in begins to twist and contort around you as something happens involving your sister, Mina. Despite needing to watch the death of your mother in such horrid detail…whatever goes on with her is obscured. It’s just a gut feeling. A tense moment. Yelling.
All you can do is continue to whimper silently in the dark. No voice carries when you yell. Nothing moves, nor gives any sensation of feeling. You just…are.
And when whatever happens involving your sister concludes, you are left behind in the dark. The farm falls away. The corpse falls away. It all fades into nothing. Consumed by an impenetrable gray mist, that eventually leaves black in its wake. A minute passes. Then another. Another, and another still. You try once more in vain to yell. To mutter a prayer. To do anything. But left alone as you are, eventually even the quiet gibbering within your own mind from undying anguish goes silent, annoyed by its presence after the heartache fades. The pain of loss subsides, after much silent weeping and screaming. Gradually, it’s replaced by a fear of the unknown. Of what “comes next”, if a next exists at all.
Is this what death is like? Just eternal darkness? A mind left to spiral upon itself until it becomes silent for all time? Eating itself away…
You would think so, but at times, there’s something. Snatches of conversation that seemingly appear at random, startling you back into focus as you begin to die away after what feels like eons of silence, everytime, without fail. Dreaming about slipping on ice. Your name being called by voices you don’t recognize. Feelings. The pounding of a heartbeat. Colors. Orange, red…white, green, pink. Fury. Hatred. Love. Fear. Remorse. Longing. Joy. All these nonsensical bursts of sensory input. None of them yours.
And finally, something pierces through the dark.
Letting loose a horrid, choking gasp as you collapse on to your hands and knees(?), the first sensation you are reintroduced to is pain. Screaming out in agony as your arms give out, you curl into the ground as what feels like a lifetime’s worth of burning torment pulses up and down your nerve endings, mentally and physically. Your heart feels as though it’s going to burst. Your skull threatens to crack. Your throat bleeds, your fingers dig into the conspicuously jet black ground…all of this persisting until something touches your shoulder. Electricity shoots up your spine as your screaming is stopped dead.
“Shhh. Calm down, calm down…” A familiar voice says soothingly, the pain washing away as quickly as it slammed into you. “There there. It’s okay.”
“M…Mmmm…” You struggle, mouth uncooperative. Shivering, you turn your head back over your shoulder as you fail to push yourself back upwards. “Mmuh…Min…a?”
Though startlingly different, the voice is unmistakable. The strange woman in stranger garb smiles to you sweetly as her hand finally detaches from your shoulder, allowing you to take another gasp of breath as you cough horrendously into the ground. Rolling on to your back with a pained groan, she stands upwards…offering you a hand.
“Is that better? It always hurts at first, but–”
“Is…is that really you??” You ask, heart stirring. Joy. Confusion. Happiness to the point of tears. “What happened? What happened to you?! Where…where am I, where’s the farm, where’s–”
“Shh. Quiet, quiet. Let’s get you up. You can stand, right? Can you move your arms?”
Confused but more than welcoming of any sort of guidance, you attempt to right your body for the first time in… You aren’t sure. But, with some work, your limbs comply. Limply pushing yourself up and on to your jellied legs, you even manage to stand without your sister’s help. The tentacles behind her sway slowly as she claps her hands, leaving you to get a closer look at her. It is, undoubtedly, your older sister. The facial structure is still the same, as is the body type, sans…extra limbs. Bereft of spectacles and having more tentacles, though, doesn’t change who she is…yet, you can’t help but wonder what the fuck is going on. Did the swordsman…do this? You could never see what happened then. But–
“Look at that. Already making baby steps.” Mina coos as you struggle to approach her, limbic system numb but warming. Flesh and bone. A body. But more than that, a familiar face. One you’ve missed…
“Mina…” You trail, eyes beginning to water. “I…I’m so glad you’re okay…I…I’m sorry I couldn’t– Mom, she–”
“Don’t say another word,” She says with a soft yet concerned smile, bringing a hand to your head as she stands on her tiptoes. Your heart twinges as your eyes continue to bubble over with tears, clenching your fists. It really is her. “You did your best. That’s why I was able to save you.”
“S…Save me? What??”
“Give you a second chance at life,” She nods. Examining your confused features, she simply lets out a little huff of amusement. “Are you a little lost? You have that look on your face…”
“I just…” You begin, looking around you. The same as before, there’s darkness all around. Yet now, you have a body. And a sister. Despite this, however, you’ve no answers. “I don’t know…what’s happening…I…I died, right?”
“Mhm.”
“And…Mom, she…”
“...Yeah.” She replies, somewhat sadly.
“But I’m…I’m here. I’m…where is here? Is this…Is this Hell?” You ask, craning your neck. Nothing at all.
“Nope.”
“Is it…Heaven?”
“Not that, either.”
“Then–”
“We’re in a pocket dimension.” Mina states matter-of-factly, leaving you to give a confused sound.
“...A…A what?”
“Something outside of regular reality. I used my powers and my contract with God,” She gestures widely. From within the dark, something huge - like an eye - opens. You try to scream, but Mina quickly waves at you, silencing you; quite literally, as your mouth slams and is held shut until your scream concludes, even as you rapidly back away from whatever it is that looks at you. “To bring you back from nothingness.”
“What the fuck is going on here, Mina?? What is–”
“Anon asked me to save you.”
That brings you pause, eyes widening as you look to your sister, her expression unfaltering. That name. Your name. But…someone else with it.
“What?”
“What, you don’t remember him?”
“I…are you talking about me? I asked you??”
“No. Well…uh…yes? But, no. The other you.”
“What…other me?” You continue. Bringing a hand to the side of your skull, something within it pounds, drawing a groan of pain from your lips as your ears begin to ring in alarm. “What are you saying?”
“You’ve seen him. Been him. Fought him. You know who I’m talking about,” Mina presses, eyes shining in the dark. Fought him…
“T-The…The swordsman?” You whimper, head aching worse and worse. Something that could very well be your twin. People calling your name that you don’t recognize. Dreams of a boy who looks just like you.
“That’s him! See, you do remember!”
“But…he…he’s the one who…c-came to the farm and…”
“He is.”
“Then…you know him!?” You bark, teeth gritting through the pain into an expression of anger, looking up to your sister. “What?! Why are you talking to him?! He’s alive?!”
“Well…he sort of beat me. For all these arms, he’s still better at using arms, you know?” Mina jokes. Your scowl worsens.
“He…He killed our mom! He killed me!! Why are you talking to him, why are…why did he ask you to…what am I even…”
“He just…did. Felt terrible about the whole thing. Wasn’t really his fault, but–”
“Then whose fault was it?!” You yell, wincing as your brain screams in pain. “What the fuck happened to our home?!”
“...It was destroyed after he managed to break through everything I had worked for,” She sighs, expression finally melting into one of stoic sadness. Something within cracks. “You, and everything in it. I’ve managed to get bits and pieces of it back, but not all of it.”
“But…why? Why would he come and do everything he–”
“God wanted it, Anon,” She sighs. Your eyes widen once more. “They wanted to trick him - trap him - in a place where they could reach him. He just managed to find his way in before they could, he destroyed everyone and everything inside, then beat me in a fight, fair and square, before escaping.”
Staring up at your sister in something like horror, you take a further step back, still holding on to your head as your heartbeat pounds away within your chest. The eye watching this all unfold blinks slowly, lids coming in from the sides rather than the top and bottom, as you stand in silence.
“...Mina…what the fuck are you…?”
“My name is Ninomae Ina’nis,” She states flatly. At a measured pace, you watch in abstract horror as she begins to float from the ‘ground’ you stand on, levitating upwards inch by inch…before her figure is central before the same eye that watches you, dominating the space where its pupil once was. “I am the Priestess of the true God - Gods - The Ancient Ones. And you…”
She grins down to you, extending a hand. Without warning, you feel the ground beneath you vanish. Looking down in horror, you watch your legs lift upwards below you as you begin to ascend, moving closer and closer to Mina - Nina? Ina?? - as she chuckles.
“You are my newest ally, once again.”
“What are– What are you doing?! What’s–”
“Do you really want to know the truth, that badly?” She asks in an almost teasing tone. The confusion and anger within you melds with the fear as you’re lifted closer and closer to the thing she calls God behind her. You grit your teeth.
“What truth?!!”
“Mm…you really are just like him, you know? I think I did a great job…”
“WHAT’S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?” You continue to shout. Finally held level with your sister by the invisible force, she leans forward, grinning as her center of mass shifts. Her legs go up behind her as though she was laying on her tummy…before she gently glides forward, corkscrewing in an incredibly slow manner towards you, her eyes locked upon yours the entire time as her smile grows.
“Sooo much like when we first met…but, are you really sure? Don’t you want to live in ignorance…?”
“Just…tell me, damn it! Stop picking on me…!!”
As the girl leans in next to you donning a macabre grin, her lips part close to your skin.
As the words spill into your ears, you can feel your blood begin to run cold.
Though you want to deny everything she says, her gentle touch fills your battered mind with all the evidence to back up her claims. The painting. The memories.
The home you loved with all your heart.
The family you would do anything to protect.
The life you lived and loved, day by day, second by second.
All of it was a mere illusion to trap one person.
Your entire reason for being was merely to be overshadowed and cast aside. Your life, taken over.
By him. The one who bears your name. Your face.
The one in your dreams. The one who ruined your ‘life’.
Your loathsome copy. Your look-a-like.
Your murderer, in more than one way.
“Now do you understand?” Ina asks you, taking her hand from your cheek. Your eyes unroll from the back of your skull as you stay silent, knuckles white and hands trembling from fury. “...Mhm. Going to count that as a yes.”
“...Are you really saying none of it ever mattered? Everything I’ve ever done…?” You ask limply, head hanging low. “It was all…I…just for him?”
“You wanted to know,” Ina says, her voice moving away from you. “And now? You do.”
“...To what end? For what…could all this be needed?”
“...Trying to save the world.”
“What?” You ask. This brings your head up. Ina looks at you with a crestfallen smile. The eye of God behind her has vanished…and instead, something shines within the inky black. A light. “What do you–”
“I said what I said,” she waves dismissively. Snapping her fingers, something appears above you in a cloud of smoke. Arms outstretched on reflex - your eyes darting to the strange glossy black material that covers your arms - you catch it. “Here. It’s a real page turner. It should get you up to speed.”
It’s a book. Something you…think you’ve seen before. The Hero’s Record.
“We’ve got a long road ahead of us, so do your homework. It’ll be important.”
“...Why do you keep saying ‘us’? Why would I help you?”
“Easy. Not only did I make you, I could unmake you with a thought,” Ina deadpans, voice entirely devoid of humor. Her gaze pierces with immense pressure as you shrink back in place. “But more than that, it’s a mutual exchange, y’know?”
“Mutual how? It’s bad enough you fucking made me ot be thrown aside, now you’re blackmailing me!”
“Don’t you want to go back to that nice, peaceful life?” She coos. Your blood begins to freeze once more as you posture forward, fingers tightening around the book.
“...You said it was destroyed. And even then, you just told me it was all fake. That everything I know was fake. There’s no reason why I would–”
“And what if I were to cut that bit out, hm?” She continues. The light behind her grows closer. “I could just have you wake up without annny memory of…well. Everything that happened. Another day in paradise…”
“And I’m just supposed to take you at your word?! You lied to me for years!...Was it even years?!”
“I’m not a liar. You just never asked. And I told you the truth when you did, right? You can ask Anon, he knows how nice I can be!” She teases, grinning almost sadistically. Your temper flares, but she continues. “Besides…you don’t know anything else, right? That’s the life you want, deep down. I know it is - I put that ‘want’ there. All you need to do…is help me save this world from being destroyed. And I’ll be more than happy to remake yours, and put you back in it, happy and with your family again.”
. . .
“Why me?” You squeak out, anger melting away. “Why…even bring me back at all? Why not just let me stay dead? Or…something close to dead…”
“Because he wanted you back. I told you. He wanted…to give you a chance at happiness. Both you and your mom both. But right now, I need your help. You’re more than capable. I made sure of it…and made a few adjustments to your new body to help you keep up with your ‘brother’.”
“Don’t you dare fucking call him that.” You spit through grit teeth. “Just because he has my face–”
“It’s the other way around.”
“Just because he has MY face doesn’t mean we have anything else in common! I’m my own person, no matter what you say!” You yell, posturing forward almost aggressively. The book drops from your hand as you gesture forward with your arm, stabbing your finger forward in pointing motion.
In a flash of black electricity, something manifests within your hand. An ebony blade, its edge a deep purple, thrums with some untold power within your grasp. Letting out a startled sound, you drop the weapon, the same sort of flash appearing again, this time resulting in its disappearance. Ina chuckles grimly, offering you a round of applause.
“Hey, you figured that out! See, you’re a natural.”
“...What the fuck do you want me to do…?” You ask, bravado thoroughly drained. The light is closer now. You can vaguely make something out behind it. It’s…something. Buildings. Tall. I’m…I’m not a fighter. I’m not a swordsman, I’m not a…knight…I’m not ANYTHING he is.”
“You aren’t. But you know what you are?” Ina asks, the bladed edge to her voice finally dissipating. The light behind her finally stops approaching. It’s more than anything you initially thought. It’s…a castle. An entire castle city. “You’re someone with potential. You always used to tell me that you wanted to go on an adventure, right? This is your big chance. You could either stay here in the dark again, alone, with no guarantee of a future...or, you could help your big sister and make your own. I can force you, but I really don’t want to. So, I’m asking you, Anon.”
Extending her hand, she gives you the smallest of earnest smiles. The same look she would give you after you would do something she found worthy of praise. Looking at it in disbelief as the moon hangs over the city behind her, she poses her question.
“Do you want to see what lies beyond the painting with me, if only for a little while? To be part of something greater?”
Staring at the open palm, your mind races. The painting. She referred to your…everything…as just the painting. It sours your stomach. But…more than that…if she’s true to your word, you can go back to it. Back to your home. Right? What other options do you even have…? Try to stake it out alone in a place you’ve never seen? You aren’t a survivalist. You aren’t…anything like that. You were never trained for this. And you aren’t going back to the dark. You can’t, not again. You don’t even know how long it’s been…and you don’t want to ask.
But…back to your home…
…Even if it’s not real, it’s still something. And you wouldn’t remember this at all. It would just be… wiped away. Clean, pristine. It will all be like it was just a bad dream. You can wake up. See Mom again. Maybe even see Mina again. And all it’ll take is you…helping save the ‘real’ world. But…
What if this world is the fake, and the ‘painting’ is the real one? What defines real? She said she created it. But what if she was created herself, huh? And that guy…
That other ‘you’...he’s here too, right? If he didn’t exist…you wouldn’t. But that’s only assuming he existed first. Maybe this world is just…something someone else created in yours. You don’t know. Maybe you’ll never know. But there’s two things you do know.
One: You’re not going to let some copy of you get away with what he did if you can help it. You want - and will get - answers. Some kind of reckoning.
Two: You’ll never get anything accomplished if you play the coward. Even if it gets you killed…you need to do something.
The future is and always has been in your hands. And just like Ina’s palm…
All you need to do is reach out and grab it.
Arm raising, you silently shake Ina’s hand, the girl’s smile melting into one far more genuine as she begins to turn in midair, lightly tugging you forward as if to lead you out of the dark room. Heart thumping as you step into the unknown, the fire within your heart begins to burn with something like anticipation.
It’s something small, you think, but it’s a comforting thought nonetheless. These feelings…they’re yours. They’re real. And no one can take them from you. You’re your own person. You’re not just a tool. You’re not just a part of a scheme. You’ll make sure they all know that.
Your damned doppelganger most of all.