#recessed curtain track

[flextrack]

Elevate Your Space with Ease: Discover the Versatility of Wall Mount Curtain Tracks

Explore the seamless fusion of functionality and style with our Wall Mount Curtain Tracks at TheFlexTrack.com. Transform your living spaces effortlessly while enjoying the convenience of a versatile and modern curtain solution. Visit our website [https://theflextrack.com/] to discover a wide range of customizable options that bring a touch of elegance to any room. Upgrade your home decor and experience the flexibility of wall-mounted curtain tracks for a refined and sophisticated ambiance.

[samblerg]

St Louis Traditional Kids Large elegant boy medium tone wood floor and brown floor kids' room photo with white walls

[criedhard]

Contemporary Living Room - Living Room Large trendy formal and open concept dark wood floor and brown floor living room photo with beige walls, a stone fireplace, no tv and a standard fireplace

[demonwolfgoodies]

St Louis Traditional Kids

Large elegant boy medium tone wood floor and brown floor kids' room photo with white walls

[timetravelingslytherinincamelot]

Contemporary Kids in Moscow Example of a large trendy boy medium tone wood floor kids' room design with multicolored walls

[schiphys]

Dallas Open

Example of a large trendy formal and open concept carpeted living room design with white walls, a ribbon fireplace, a stone fireplace and a wall-mounted tv

[bikerfish]

Open Living Room Miami

An illustration of a mid-sized, contemporary, open-concept living room with multicolored walls, a media wall, and no fireplace and light wood flooring.

[zatsmoopy]

Master - Bedroom

Bedroom - mid-sized contemporary master dark wood floor bedroom idea with beige walls and no fireplace

[vegetarianburrito]

Bedroom Minneapolis Large transitional master bedroom idea with a carpeted floor and gray walls

[90days-90reasons]

Living Room - Open Example of a large minimalist open concept and formal limestone floor living room design with a ribbon fireplace, a wall-mounted tv, white walls and a stone fireplace

[happythebluecat]

Living Room Miami Example of a mid-sized trendy open concept light wood floor and white floor living room design with multicolored walls, a media wall and no fireplace

[totheexperts]

Guest - Contemporary Bedroom An illustration of a medium-sized modern guest bedroom with white walls, light wood floors, and no fireplace.

[perhaps-in-anotherdream]

[CN] Victor’s R&S: Unknown Return Date (Eng Translation)

After all, in a world devoid of time, he wasn’t even allowed ‘death’.”

⌚ This post contains detailed spoilers for a R&S, 无所归期, that is yet to be released on the global server. ⌚

[Note]: The R&S covers the events from S2 CH 44 - CH 49, and contains crucial details inlaid with knives that set the premise for CH 49, so the R&S needs to be read before the chapter itself~ (⁠｡⁠ﾉ⁠ω⁠＼⁠｡⁠)❤️‍🩹

•─────⋅◍♡◍⋅─────•  

[Subbed Video: Fully Voiced]

──────────

Victor’s dialogue’s will be in bold and italics, and the others’ dialogues will be only in bold.

【Chapter 1】

As the curtain of evening hung low, the colorful lanterns adorning the eaves illuminated the entire lantern festival with brilliance. 

Victor’s gaze swept to the end of the sea of people, where the girl’s form had just disappeared. He gazed in that direction for a long time, as if afraid that he would forget something. Eventually, he simply released a heavy sigh, and his breath transformed into a delicate white mist, veiling the barely perceptible hesitation in the corner of his eyes. 

The time he had bought for himself by reaching an agreement with Zero is nearly up. 

Throughout these two months, he did everything he could possibly think of, mapped out a long-term strategic plan for LFG, entrusted Souvenir to Mr. Mills... everything seemed to be perfectly arranged, except for her. 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

Victor lowered his gaze to his wristwatch, where the hands quietly advanced to the next scale, wordlessly announcing the imminent moment. He hesitated for a moment before taking a tentative half-step forward, only to come to a standstill amidst the surging tide of people. 

She had no inkling of what was to happen, and for now, it might not be a bad thing after all. 

Sure enough, the black vortex appeared on time, and the sensation of space-time distortion enveloped him instantaneously. He turned sideways and stood there, watching quietly, with the vortex signifying the path he was soon to confront. When it came to the unknown, no one could remain entirely unshaken, but Victor displayed no hesitation and even leaned into it before the magnetic force set in. 

He must ensure not to leave any room for error – this was a pledge he had made to himself in the deepest recesses of his heart. 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

When Victor opened his eyes again, an endless white desert sprawled across his vision, commandeering every color under the sky. 

“Now you’re finally being well-behaved.” 

The fiery sun was beating down upon the crest of the sand dunes, where an oddly dressed little boy stood, gazing down at him from the height. Victor knitted his brows and turned his gaze to the boy who was waving at him. He felt as if he had met this little boy somewhere before. 

“How about you just stick around here for now? You’ve got loads of time anyway.” 

Without leaving Victor any chance to inquire, in the blink of an eye, the white sand dunes stood utterly empty. 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

Victor glanced at the billowing sand and dust in the distance, and he fell into a brief moment of contemplation. The information obtained from the other party was far less than he had anticipated. But he didn’t remain paused in place for too long, turning around and heading toward the tallest nearby sand dune. 

Climbing to the highest peaks in the world often serves as a fast track to gain a comprehensive understanding of the entire picture, a feeling he had known from experience countless times before.  Even though, in his heart, he knew full well that there might not be any such thing as an “exit,” just like no one would leave the key to their shackles inside the cage. 

Nevertheless, Victor knew he must return, not only for his sake but also to honor the promise he had made to her. 

He was acutely aware of the girl’s nature, and Victor didn’t want himself to be the reason for her venturing into danger. 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

Victor lifted his foot and stepped beneath the sand dune, and the soft sand instantly swallowed his lower leg. Yet he merely paused for a moment before his other foot stepped onto the sand dune in the same fashion, only this time he was a bit more careful. 

As he stands now, he didn’t have the capacity to concern himself with these inconsequential matters. The sand dune at the top of his sightline was his singular focus right now. 

And by the time this goal was achieved, Victor’s palms had long been ravaged by the swirling wind and stand. Nonetheless, he unconsciously furrowed his brows, as his bright pupils seemed to mirror some kind of non-committal fact—— 

The farthest end of the horizon still held an endless expanse of white. 

—

•─────⋅◍♡◍⋅─────•  

—

【Chapter 2】

In the desert, there are several things that you’re prone to lose effortlessly: hydration, the perception to gauge distance, and the concept of time. 

Victor was well aware of this fact, especially when he found himself in a barren desert. Losing the sense of time could plunge a person into a quagmire of emptiness, much like having one’s soul being trapped in the quicksand. 

He could only silently engrave the feeling of time passing in his mind, and this was his way of combating this thing otherwise known as “deathly silence.” Yet, even so, his consciousness instinctively began to blur, and “time” gradually became a noun distant enough to be elusive. 

The blistering gravel imprinted searing scars on his body, and the bone-crushing pain began to become numb, but Victor never once considered giving up. After all, in a world devoid of time, he wasn’t even allowed “death.” 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

This place was akin to an infinite cage, imprisoning him relentlessly within its bounds. After enduring this repetitive cycle for who knows how long, Victor drew two obvious conclusions. One of which was, this world wasn’t just composed of sand; it also held various peculiar objects. 

There were vintage radios, sharp swords, casually discarded water cups... they lay quietly buried amidst the gravel, as if they were abandoned garbage left here by someone. 

He glanced down at his own feet trapped in the sand. In this space, the way he was being treated was no different to theirs. 

A fierce sandstorm blew in from afar, streaking pale traces of blood on his lips that had long been cracked. 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

Victor cast a sidelong glance at the vortex behind him, and this was his second discovery. He wasn’t sure when it had materialized or what it symbolized. However, his intuition told him that he must not allow this vortex to catch up to him; otherwise, it could trigger events he was unable to predict. 

The blazing sun shone on Victor’s face, and the dripping sweat had already soaked his clothes countless times. His toes forcefully lifted from the scalding sand, only to plunge heavily into even deeper gravel. Even though every step demanded his entire strength, Victor continued pressing on relentlessly, heading toward the next sand dune in search of a way out. 

At this moment, he had lost all scales of time, and no matter how deep his footprints sunk, their trails would eventually be obliterated without a trace beneath the veil of shifting wind and sand. 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

The scorching sun continued to burn, and his pace gradually became sluggish. Beads of sweat constantly dripping from his forehead blurred his vision. Layer upon layer of memories projected before him like a kaleidoscope, occasionally flashing dribs and drabs of moments spent with the girl, only to disappear in the blink of an eye. He relied on the physical pain to remind himself that everything before him was merely a prolonged tug-of-war. 

Yet another sand dune, and he climbed to its summit once again. 

The distant landscape showed no signs of change, and it was still an endless expanse of white. He silently gazed up at the sky, feeling as though his body had been frozen in place by some force. A sentence floated to his mind, “Eternity is the greatest adversary of plans, not fleeting moments.” 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

But this “long-term failure” was also destined to be solved by long-term means. 

Victor felt the willpower he had been holding onto for so long quietly slipping away beyond his control, accompanied by sweat blurring his vision. He drew a deep breath, planning to take a short break and trying to regain some physical strength. 

This was the first time he had stopped in his footsteps, and he came to regret it soon enough. 

When he woke up again, what greeted him was the scenery of Loveland City projected in the sky, the sights that he couldn’t be more familiar with. 

His throat quivered slightly, and the sensation of being torn apart coursing throughout his body rendered him unable to move. He was left with no choice but to silently gaze at the sky. 

–  

[Tidbits]: Taking a break b/c I just want to commend Li Zeyan’s writers for such microscopic attention to detail. The long-term failure, though there’s no need to explain it but I love how it’s a clever call back to the exact phrase (长远的失败) from S2 CH 31, when we first saw the “oblivion” taking effect! (T⌓T)

–  

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

Even though Victor clearly knew the difference between reality and illusion, even though he was aware it was a fleeting glimmer of light not worthy of clinging to, he still couldn’t help but pause, even if it was for only a moment. Victor couldn’t help but self-derisively smile at himself— that he would actually be distracted by such a thing. 

Nevertheless, the scenery before his eyes etched an indelible mark in his heart, and at the end of that crevice was her image. Within an instant, the moments of the past gradually faded from his mind, reminiscent of sand dunes drying out in the wind. 

The girl’s silhouette kept appearing in his mind, and it was both vivid and hazy. At the same time, another question occupied his thoughts. 

She... who was she? 

—

•─────⋅◍♡◍⋅─────•  

—

【Chapter 3】

He gave a reflexive nod when the girl offered to purchase some things for him while they were taking a break. 

He couldn’t fathom where this natural acceptance had come from, as if everything was inherently meant to be this way. 

The girl had also given him a name, “Vic-Vic.” Even though he was somewhat reluctant to accept it, compared to that peculiar name “Mr. Benevolent Enigma,” “Vic-Vic” always sounded nicer to hear. 

And what’s more, this name evoked an indescribable sense of familiarity within him. 

Until now, he never felt a need for anything. After all, in his memory, the concept of “possession” had never appeared. 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

But as he thought back to how that tireless girl joyfully gave him nicknames and passionately introduced the city, he didn’t find it displeasing. On the contrary, it was the girl’s occasional daring and imaginative actions that made him irresistibly pay more attention to this person who had suddenly appeared before him. 

He shook his head, catching a glimpse of the girl’s busy figure through the store window. Toothbrushes, pajamas, even socks and razors... she didn’t leave anything out, stuffing her shopping basket to the brim. 

The corners of his lips formed a subtle curve. It seemed that just by looking at her, an entirely novel emotion surged up in the depths of his heart, something he’d never known before. 

Even he himself couldn’t put a finger on the reason; this girl always seemed so magical–– miraculously, she brought him out of that place, and miraculously, he was allowed to embrace “life” once more.  

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

He turned his head, taking in his surroundings. Mottled branches were sprouting tender, jade-green buds, and the area was crowded with people in a rush. 

Thump– thump–– 

Suddenly, the crisp sound of a soccer ball drew his attention. 

It was a very young boy, appearing to be at the age of having started elementary school recently. 

The boy was exerting himself to swing the soccer ball under his feet, but his amateurish footwork denoted that he was still relatively unaccustomed to instep control. 

If he keeps up with this level of force, the next kick will probably send the ball flying out— Victor subconsciously made this assessment to himself. 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

Sure enough, as the boy’s toe tapped the soccer ball, an overly vigorous pull at that instant caused his body to lose its natural balance. The ball, previously under control, drew a distant arc through the air following his touch, flying directly toward the middle of the road. 

“Ah, my ball!” 

As the soccer ball soared toward the center of the road, the boy could only stand there with his mouth agape, helplessly watching it move farther away from him. 

“Stopping a ball like this might not be that hard for you.” 

As this thought suddenly crossed his mind, Victor’s body reacted as if by reflex. 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

He nimbly chested the ball in front of him, and then his thighs moved up and down in fluid and graceful movements as he steadily controlled the soccer ball at his feet. 

“Here you go.” 

He gently passed the ball back. 

But the young boy simply froze in place after he caught the ball. 

“Whoa! I actually kicked a ball that had a curve! That’s so cool! I have to show everyone!” 

The young boy excitedly ran off while hugging the ball in his arms. But Victor simply remained rooted in place, gazing in the direction the little boy dashed. 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

It was a small park. There were swings, seesaws, a slide, and a sandbox teeming with children. Tiny little figures huddled in the sandbox, crafting a multitude of unique sand formations using their shovels and imagination. 

He found himself taking steps toward the sandbox. He couldn’t explain why; he just felt like he was following some sort of subconscious judgment. He squatted down and scooped up a handful of fine sand from the sandbox. The solid, fine grains slowly trickled through his fingers, creating a tiny cascade of sand in the air. 

He kept his eyes downcast and watched in silence like this— until the reflection of fine sand in his eyes unexpectedly rendered him somewhat lost in thought. 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

In a certain sense, his world had once been nothing but a boundless expanse of sand and illusory goals. He had grown accustomed to silence, accustomed to facing the future with action, and had never once considered stopping. But now, for the first time, he felt the urge to pause, as if the surging tide of time had unexpectedly encountered a minute moment of stillness. 

Suddenly, the girl’s shout reached him from a distance, akin to a gently turned gear, propelling his time forward with force. 

Everything felt so strangely familiar, as if he had already lived through all this before. But he knew for sure that he had never been through any of this in the past. Even so, in this moment, this sweeping sensation, reminiscent of a tidal wave, bestowed upon him something he had never had before. 

“Memories.” 

—

•─────⋅◍♡◍⋅─────•  

—

【Chapter 4】

Countless shimmering starlight danced on the floor, and underneath the gigantic clock face, two small chairs were placed. It left one wondering whether it was a courtesy to welcome guests or the setting for some sort of interrogation. 

This is the place the man named Zero brought him to. 

“Victor, I think it’s been a while since we’ve had a chat like this.” 

...Victor. 

He silently repeated this name to himself, which felt unfamiliar yet familiar at the same time, and sunk into a sudden contemplation. 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

Even though there was no indication that he had found the answers to his questions, it didn’t matter at the moment; the clues were already laid out before him. 

Seemingly picking up on the wariness in Victor’s eyes, Zero attempted to change the topic. 

“You seem to be much more cautious than the last time we met.” 

“Is that so?” 

“However, apart from caution, I also see something else in your eyes.” 

“Unknown.” 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

The stifling air reverberated in the space as the two locked eyes, each seemingly filled with an element of probing. 

Zero carried on with his line of words, as if he didn’t intend to give Victor too much time to ponder. 

“I hope this doesn’t affect the deal between us.” 

Faced with Zero’s words, Victor had no plans to hide anything. He slightly straightened his posture, and his gaze held no sign of evasion. 

“You should know very well that currently, I have no idea what the deal you’re talking about is.” 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

In Zero’s probing and evaluative gaze, Victor gleaned certainty and confirmed his conjecture. 

During the brief, tense silence, Zero lifted his gaze, but his eyes were sharper than they had been moments ago. 

“But that won’t have any impact.” 

He paused, 

“For the Space-Time Bureau, the existence of ‘Victor’ in and of itself is enough.” 

“Since you can use your Evol, it won’t hinder the normal progress of the plan.” 

Victor never broke his eye contact with Zero. He was well aware that what the other party had revealed was merely the information he wanted Victor to know, and what he was purposely holding back was the crucial point. 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

In any case, he had to find a breakthrough in the conversation. Suddenly, something flashed in his memory: the girl’s astonished expression the moment she saw Zero. Did she also know this person? He firmly held onto this seemingly inconspicuous lead, and a notion sprang to his mind. 

It’s highly likely that his existence is connected to Loveland City. 

Victor pondered for a moment, and his mind had already formulated the next strategy. 

“Tell me about the deal you mentioned.” 

“You have to use your ability to bridge the gaps in time.” 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

“You have my word.” 

Victor’s sudden lightning-speed response caught Zero off guard. 

“However, I too have my own conditions.” 

Victor straightened his posture and cast his gaze toward the doorway. He was taking a gamble, betting that Zero wouldn’t dare to let him walk out of here, betting on his own importance in this deal. And he won the gamble. 

It seemed as if Victor had Zero’s lifeline firmly in his hands, and Zero’s expression gradually began to sink: 

“What do you want to know?” 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

“The execution of the deal will depend on what you’re willing to offer in exchange.” 

Victor cast a sidelong glance at Zero, then sat back down in the seat opposite Zero and lifted his head. 

“I want to know everything about myself.” 

—

•─────⋅◍♡◍⋅─────•  

—

【Chapter 5】

The corridor was silent, and it was so spacious that it felt like observing the infinite expanse of deep space with the naked eye. 

Aside from the darkness of the faraway cosmos, nothing else could be seen. The clear and crisp footsteps echoed from afar, reminiscent of a tiny speck of light descending from the distant starry sky. 

Victor came to a halt at the entrance of the Space-Time Bureau, and the doors behind him silently opened. 

“Remember, do not try to use your ability to probe time.” 

“After all, your existence itself is already wrongly placed. At least, that’s what it appears for now.” 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

Victor lowered his gaze in acquiescence, while his feet had already taken a step forward. He had already been delayed here for too long. 

Although during this time at the Space-Time Bureau, he had finally managed to find some leads in his quest for finding himself, it was far from enough. He had never forgotten everything that happened in the disordered space, and that voice still echoed in his mind. 

Move forward, and then go find her. 

The girl’s visage appeared before him once again. He wasn’t sure if it was a hint of some sort or simply a lingering imprint of his own thoughts. Nonetheless, he had already firmly decided on his next destination: Loveland City. 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

When Victor returned to Loveland City again, he found himself standing on a bustling street teeming with vehicles and pedestrians. 

The hurrying crowd brushed past him. Just like before, everyone was oblivious to his existence. He took a step forward and blended into the stream of people, heading in the direction he had planned. It was all thanks to the girl’s incessant chatter back then, which had left him with enough clues. 

“Next stop: Loveland City Center.” 

Victor remained silently in place, not letting a single passing figure escape his gaze. The days continued to follow the nights, but the girl still hadn’t shown up. He brushed off his shoulders, dampened by the drizzle, and proceeded toward his next destination. Loveland City wasn’t that big, at least not as vast as the desert he had walked through. 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

In the garden of the central hospital, the setting sun beneath the distant overpass... and in the park where the stars adorned the sky time and time again. 

These were all the places mentioned by the girl, but Victor still hadn’t found a trace of her. 

Victor always kept thinking back to the girl’s chirping, her excited manner as she introduced these places to him, and how she would insistently clamor to have him experience them fully – and the way her eyes overflowed with sparkles when she spoke. 

Victor couldn’t help but lift the corners of his lips. He had etched these seemingly insignificant memories into his mind without missing a single detail, and it was through them that he had solidified his next goal. 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

A lofty building stood in the distance. 

“Loveland Financial Group (LFG).” 

He quietly murmured the signage in front of him, recalling what the girl had previously mentioned about her connection to this company. 

What appeared to be a vague hint now held a substantial hint.  “If you go there, you should be able to see her.” 

With this thought, Victor took a step forward, leaving the bustling crowd behind him. 

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈ 

Clack, clack, clack. 

His ears caught the hurried rhythm of footsteps, contrasting with the composed demeanor of the other people in the hall. Victor instinctively lifted his head, and in a trance, he caught sight of that familiar figure. 

His time, which had been suspended, resumed its flow forward in this very moment. 

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

[Translation Update Notice]

—

[wangxianficrecs]

The Housewife's Guide to Causing Chaos by dvasva

The Housewife's Guide to Causing Chaos

by dvasva (@dvasva)

M, WIP, 117k, Wangxian

Summary: “Of all the rotten luck I could have!” Outside, in between the gentle embrace of an imposing misty mountain and the caress of soft wind, stood the Cloud Recesses. It wasn’t a section that Wei Wuxian had recognized from his time in the sect, but the motifs of clouds and cranes in the buildings, the impeccable feng shui and carefully manicured paths, and the utter silence as the sect members slept peacefully, all burned themselves into Wei Wuxian’s eyes. No wonder the curtains were so firmly nailed to the walls! Any bit of demonic energy escaping the room could call down a veritable army of righteous cultivators! What sort of person in their right mind would dare to summon a spirit into their own body using resentful energy in the Cloud Recesses of all places? What kind of person would scoff so rudely at the Lan Clans most important rule, ‘Do not fraternize with evil?’ After being dead for four years, Wei Wuxian wakes up in a body he doesn't really feel comfortable with, in a place that he's sure wants him dead, and married to a man who surely hates him. Kay's comments: Another story that I'm currently following and which always makes me shout in excitement when the notification for an update comes! A story in which Wei Wuxian gets brought back to life way earlier, but a) now he's stuck in a woman's body, b) it's a woman of the Meishan Yu Sect and c) he's married to Lan Wangji. I really love the character developement in this and the life this story gives to background characters and it's always good to see Wangxian reunited and married sooner. Poor Wei Wuxian only has to deal with a dysphoria and transphobia now, but at least the Lans are supportive and help him to the best of their abbilities when it comes to this. I also really love the relationship between Wei Wuxian and Lan Sizhui here - our little radish is a lot younger too after all. Excerpt: “Wei Ying.” Lan Wangji said it so softly, so tenderly. It almost hurt to hear. Wei Wuxian had never heard Lan Wangji’s voice so soft, and yet it felt so familiar and inviting. Any guilt that Wei Wuxian felt for being on the receiving end of such care was whisked away. He wanted to melt right there. Instead, he tensed. “Ah, isn’t interrupting people breaking the rules? How did you guess so fast? I barely made it a single day without someone recognizing me. What gave it away?” He blabbered, fast paced and without a breath. “Listen, Lan Zhan, I’m really not going to do anything bad, I’m not eve-“ Lan Wangji grabbed his hand, and Wei Wuxian stopped in his tracks. It wasn’t a very strong grip. If he wanted to, Wei Wuxian could break free or tug his hand back. Lan Wangji’s hand seemed to tremble as if ready to pull back at any sign of discomfort. But, Wei Wuxian did not move, simply waiting. With no resistance, Lan Wangji turned Wei Wuxian’s hand over so that his palm was up, then placed the jade token on it. With both of his hands, he closed Wei Wuxian’s fingers over the token and pushed it towards Wei Wuxian’s body. “What?” “I will not trap you here.” Lan Wangji stood up. “Please let me attend to your wound.”

pov alternating, canon divergence, trans male character, trans wei wuxian, love confessions, getting together, transphobia, good parents lan wangji & wei wuxian, mutual pining, misunderstandings, arranged marriage, gender dysphoria, cultivation sect politics, hurt/comfort, corporal punishment

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[extraordinaryhistories]

#18 – 'A Sun Came' (A Sun Came, 1998)

The candles are snuffed. The incense has all been burned. The choir is in recess. The text is closed. The pews are empty. The acolytes have departed. The organ is silent. Only the bishop is there, with his green Michigan t-shirt. He is holding a guitar. Softly, he begins to play.

If A Sun Came (the album) is a wild and stormy night, full of an enveloping chaos that insists on keeping the listener alert, ‘A Sun Came’ (the song) is the smell of petrichor that rises from the earth the morning after. It is light finally filtering through the curtains, catching on the dewdrops that rest on the window and releasing tiny glints of amber and blue. It is the final benediction before Sufjan goes out to enjoy the beauty of the universe. It is bright, elevated, full of vitality. It is not perfect. But things rarely are.

There are denser sets of lyrics on Sufjan’s debut, but none are of the quality that ‘A Sun Came’ reaches. The album’s title track isn’t at the level of sophistication achieved by just about any song released between Michigan and Planetarium, but it comes real close, and for a college-aged Sufjan, that’s an achievement in itself. To reiterate what I said elsewhere: Sufjan was never an intuitively prodigious boy wonder-type musician, like a Thom Yorke or a Paul McCartney, who more or less emerged fully formed into the cultural consciousness. He certainly had an exceptional gift with literature and poetry, but committing that to song was not an instinctual process. What Sufjan was, was a hustler. He worked and worked and worked. It was through a little bit of natural skill and a lot of tireless refinement that he became one of the most astronomically talented songwriters ever to live.

And in many ways, the song ‘A Sun Came’ feels like a turning point. It bridges the slightly disproportioned earnestness of his earliest writing with the radical economy and emotional devastation of his post-2000 work. This song has its gaze unquestionably pointed forward.

One nice feature of A Sun Came is its reciprocity. Two songs, an opener and a closer, both concerning themselves with God in a very specific way. ‘A Sun Came’ is much more succinct (and thereby more effective) than ‘We Are What You Say’, but its subject matter, and approach to that subject matter, is broadly the same. This is an explicitly Christian set of lyrics, and like ‘We Are What You Say’, God here is awe-inspiring, devastating, wrathful – both a protector and a destroyer. Where the song ultimately differs from the opening track lies in its manner of address. ‘We Are What You Say’ is a battle cry from the gathered masses of a congregation to the gathered masses of non-believers. It is, ultimately, a war song. ‘A Sun Came’, conversely, is a song of pure worship, one man’s peaceful, open expression of love to his creator.

All this is achieved in just barely more than ten lines. The song’s first lyric is stunning in its economy: ‘Everything You are is everything we have’ really expresses everything that Sufjan is looking to say, doesn’t it? It is loving, to be sure, but with that ever-so-subtle undertone of existential horror. God is the power above power, with the capacity to take everything away in an instant. He is everything we have – so we own nothing – but we have everything. It is the paradox at the heart of the song, and more widely at the heart of religious devotion.

Because God is undeniably terrifying. He is both ‘the only good thing’ and a wrathful being; to worship him is to accept that basking in his presence ‘burned our faces brown / Burned our faces red’. He is ‘the rage’ and ‘a cage for the enemy’ – you cannot spurn God and not expect retribution. The sun metaphor at the heart of this song, beyond the obvious sun/Son pun, is effective at communicating the notion of God as this indescribably enormous force that humans cannot fight, resist or reckon with. To be faithful, Sufjan says in ‘A Sun Came’, is to accept this and willingly give your entire being to him. Thus the beautiful final couplet, the last words Sufjan would sing on a core album until ‘it’s the same outside’ rang out over mournful piano on ‘Flint’: ‘I’ve never felt so lonely / A sun came’. God surrounds you like a warm shroud. If he’s there, you’ll never walk alone. Thus we have a song whose remarkable brevity is exceeded by an even more remarkable clarity of message, and one in which undercurrents of terror are bravely acknowledged and excepted. For this era of Sufjan, one really couldn’t ask for anything more.

Perhaps they could ask for a more inspired instrumental, though. Not that it’s poor by any stretch of the imagination; as with the song’s lyrics, the guitar playing here anticipates the shifting fingerpicking of his post-Seven Swans work in a way that feels more mature than the other acoustic tracks on the album, even ‘Happy Birthday’. Its multi-tracked acoustic guitars fire out eighth notes onto four-track with workmanlike confidence. Hardly his strongest music – and very reminiscent of the guitar part to ‘Wordsworth’s Ridge’, which docks it some points for me – but borderline masterful compared to the worst of A Sun Came.

And melodically? There’s a lot to like here. Not many specific melodic lines (which, for someone as masterful as Sufjan, is far from a detriment), with each one contributing something: the melancholy resignation of ‘you’re the only good thing’, the lingering question of ‘burned our faces red’, the tremulousness of ‘a run from the enemy’ – each adds to the song’s musical narrative. Then, with twenty seconds to go, the music box runs out, there is the sound of the universe’s background hum, and then the song ends.

There is one lonely live performance of ‘A Sun Came’ in all of Sufjan history, from a solo show performed on the Seven Swans tour at Calvin College in 2004. It is quite substantially better than the studio version, to the point where it feels like a near-reinvention. The core elements are still there – Sufjan and an acoustic guitar, unaccompanied – but there is a refinement and intimacy to this one that feels like the learned product of six years of experience. The key is raised, the melody is altered (listen to that one melisma he sings at the end of ‘there is still the Lord’, which anticipates a very similar melody that he would soon use on ‘The Mistress Witch of McClure’) and the vocals are softened to honeyed perfection. Imagine this version being the closer on Sufjan’s debut. Remarkable sophistication.

I fully understand why ‘A Sun Came’ is so widely overlooked. It is the closing track on a deeply exhausting, patience-testing debut album, one in which the rough tends to smother the diamonds. But the fact that this little piece of music closes out A Sun Came is a beautiful thing in and of itself: it is the album’s North Star, a passage that links Sufjan’s nascency as a songwriter and his glorious, storied future. This, Sufjan promises on ‘A Sun Came’, is a glimpse of what’s to come. He was wrong. What’s to come is perhaps the greatest body of work in modern popular music; but ‘A Sun Came’ gets halfway there, and that’s all I could ask for.

[didanawisgi]

Some people have asked me why I believe the Ark of the Covenant is an electrostatic device, and I would encourage them to look into the work of Maurice Denis-Papin, who was a descendant of the famous inventor, and who determined that the Ark was capable of holding 500-700 volts per vertical meter when contained in a dry space, dischargeable to the earth by means of it's garlands- and this is even before it has a superconductive substance in it like monoatomic atoms (manna), and before it is placed in something like the Great Pyramid, which has its own electrostatic potential. I would also point out Bruce Rux's research in his book Architect of the Underworld, where he mentions:

"The story of the flood is the conclusion of one of those mythical, epic conflicts. There were others. Sitchen pieces together the story of two civil wars in his work, "The Pyramid Wars", taken largely from the Sumerian "Myths of Kur" tablets, the Lugal-e epic, F.Hrozny's "Mythen von dem Gotte Ninib", J.Bollenrucher's "Gebete und Hymnen an Nergal", and George A. Barton's "Miscellaneous Babylonian Texts", as well as fragmentary tablets from the region. These texts constitue strong evidence for the two Great Pyramids at Giza having been in existence long before Egyptology claims they were. A cylinder seal shows the symbol of Ninurta (Horus) with a victory wreath, between two objects which could only be pyramids- not only are they triangles, bit they are composed of tiers of rectangular blocks. Reference to one of these is given as "the mountains the gods assembled". Inside it were lethal "stones" , with which "the Great Serpent" nearly killed Ninurta in his battle against (the serpent), with their "strong power". ..to "grab and kill, with a tracking which seizes". The "stones" glowed in the dark in different colors, set in various recesses which may be found in the Great Pyramid....one of the weapons was a net, the device of which was located in a secret chamber in the Pyramid." It should also be pointed out that the ancient name of the Sphynx is ARQ UR, possibly related to where the name "Ark" itself came from...

Now even if such an Ark wasn't placed in the Great Pyramid, but instead was placed in a tabernacle in the dessert with WOOL curtains, which, of course, pick up static on their own, then what do you think the Ark would do inside that location? It would just absorb more static electricity of course, until it began to discharge out of the top- as the "presence of God!" Our Order has found six arks, and we know where there is another four, and it is possible that there were hundreds in the ancient world before they got melted down for the previous metals... This reasonably suggests that they were being used for that electrostatic potential in different ways. They are depicted all over the Egyptian temple walls...yet people only think of the Torah or Old Testament when discussing it...