Cel's eyes snapped open.26Please respect copyright.PENANA6LrCtQ8xdZ
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The ravine walls rose on either side, framing a narrow strip of crimson sky - red fading to burnt orange at the edges, offering light without a source. No sun. No moon. Just the hollow glow of a world that had died long ago.26Please respect copyright.PENANANgXOM14FSb
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He was back.26Please respect copyright.PENANAiH4Nehr3o5
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Back in the Hollow Realms.26Please respect copyright.PENANAKjPGYmVT8l
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Cel pushed himself upright. His body moved smoothly - too smoothly. No trembling weakness. No grinding pain from half-healed burns or shredded feet. Just clean, precise motion that felt wrong in its completeness.26Please respect copyright.PENANAJF8JEURkvr
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He flexed his fingers experimentally. They responded without hesitation. No stiffness. No scars.26Please respect copyright.PENANAwzYGl1QI9B
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The new body was perfect. 26Please respect copyright.PENANAQaGQluVy5j
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Almost like he'd never suffered at all.26Please respect copyright.PENANAx88Ph1uFqV
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The thought sat uncomfortably in his chest as he looked down at himself. Lean muscle where skeletal limbs had been. Whole skin where burns had carved through flesh. Even his hearing had returned - the oppressive silence of deafness replaced by the soft whisper of wind through distant stones.26Please respect copyright.PENANA7MS9yOvQvV
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Cel's gaze lifted from his hands to his surroundings.26Please respect copyright.PENANA6c0oR3cMWe
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The ravine hadn't changed.26Please respect copyright.PENANANZSOBU9kc0
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Rough stone pressed against his back, cold and unyielding. The walls rose steep on either side, casting long shadows in the dim morning light. This was where he'd bled out beneath the full moon.26Please respect copyright.PENANAZOhS2LmoUx
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Where he'd died.26Please respect copyright.PENANAFeIkeR0ne0
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The memory felt distant now - muted by resurrection and the trial that had followed. But the evidence remained.26Please respect copyright.PENANAkXOt1Q5ulC
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His eyes dropped to the ground where he'd fallen.26Please respect copyright.PENANAafVrOcIVjA
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Blood had soaked into the ground there - his blood. It had dried to black crust, spreading across cracked earth in a pattern that looked almost deliberate. Like veins. Like roots.26Please respect copyright.PENANAjj1Sr7lFEF
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Then a tremor pulsed from below.26Please respect copyright.PENANAbiPRnmtl1j
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Cel jerked backward, instinct screaming before his mind caught up.26Please respect copyright.PENANAkOlxKDLTbA
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The ground beneath his dried blood tore open with a sound like breaking bone. Not wide - just a thin wound in the stone. But through it, something dark began to seep.26Please respect copyright.PENANAAOxIeCiBOd
26Please respect copyright.PENANAtBiLfzS5z8
Not quite mist. Not quite solid.26Please respect copyright.PENANA54SMBP2A3C
26Please respect copyright.PENANAeJjxYPb22z
Something in between - pitch black tendrils that held their shape as they poured from the fissure. They moved with purpose, spreading across the ground like searching fingers. The air grew heavier as more escaped, carrying a stench that burned his nostrils. Decay. Corruption.26Please respect copyright.PENANAEMG0A8aDM7
26Please respect copyright.PENANAfqwyoSMjD6
The crack widened.26Please respect copyright.PENANAjlFfvIcwfy
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Then came the sound.26Please respect copyright.PENANApMFxg24ncV
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Not a growl. Not a roar.26Please respect copyright.PENANAvOLv8aplWe
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A breath.26Please respect copyright.PENANAVX71v0nWET
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Low and ragged, like something massive drawing air through a throat that had forgotten how. The ground shuddered with it - a rhythmic tremor that traveled up through Cel's legs and settled in his chest.26Please respect copyright.PENANAFUE8EA4r0r
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Something was waking up.26Please respect copyright.PENANA72D26AAZYC
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And Cel had no intention of finding out what.26Please respect copyright.PENANABkv926qUcd
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His body responded instantly - legs pumping, arms driving for balance as he lifted.26Please respect copyright.PENANAHV7NgOiHgI
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The first step launched him forward with explosive force he didn't expect.26Please respect copyright.PENANAdqIby4MYol
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His foot slammed down twice as hard as intended. The ground cracked beneath him. Momentum carried him forward in a stumbling lunge that sent him careening toward the ravine wall.26Please respect copyright.PENANA3JmxpjCVBU
26Please respect copyright.PENANAUz4R70t0Zw
Cel threw his arms out, catching himself against rough stone. His palm hit with enough force to scrape skin raw.26Please respect copyright.PENANA2QR2t9EBjE
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'Too strong—'26Please respect copyright.PENANAcd2gukqOQa
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The mist surged suddenly, no longer content to creep. It boiled from the widening crack in thick waves, coalescing into shapes that weren't quite constant. Forming, dissolving, reforming - each one writhing with hungry intelligence.26Please respect copyright.PENANAZ3FJ3OvCxn
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No time to adjust. No time to learn.26Please respect copyright.PENANA3ZzwlnWHWM
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Cel pushed off the wall and ran.26Please respect copyright.PENANA90W1LJIOng
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Each step was a controlled fall. His legs drove harder than they should, carrying him in lurching bounds that ate distance but threatened to send him sprawling with every stride.26Please respect copyright.PENANACuWzjM5HVG
26Please respect copyright.PENANAFjRI32f9Pn
Ash kicked up in clouds beneath his feet. Stones blurred past. He ricocheted off another wall, shoulder slamming into rock, using the impact to redirect himself down the twisting path.26Please respect copyright.PENANAOkSCrafy0P
26Please respect copyright.PENANAJuOddFjvmA
Behind him, the tendrils screamed - sharp and furious, like metal tearing through metal. The noise bounced off the ravine walls, amplifying until it felt like it was coming from everywhere at once.26Please respect copyright.PENANA7HduCXv5IX
26Please respect copyright.PENANA55aR1qg6X4
Cel didn't look back.26Please respect copyright.PENANAZUkO01TxCn
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The path kept going. And going.26Please respect copyright.PENANAKNNoOTkGJr
26Please respect copyright.PENANAQFnri1qc1j
He'd fallen into this ravine from above - plummeted straight down into its depths after the amber-eyed creature had thrown him. But the exit wasn't where the fall had been. The ravine stretched on, twisting, diving deeper.26Please respect copyright.PENANA4ZDbhSWrqu
26Please respect copyright.PENANAXvEEF4pKOw
His vision tunneled to the path ahead. Nothing else mattered. Not the gifts he'd received. Not the resurrection that had brought him here. Just movement. Just distance between himself and whatever was clawing its way from the earth.26Please respect copyright.PENANAdIXqPVq0aK
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The tendrils hissed again - closer now.26Please respect copyright.PENANAVZuhsVsLg1
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A massive impact shook the ground behind him - not stone breaking, but something heavy slamming into the ravine floor.26Please respect copyright.PENANAhtrsjRO6aW
26Please respect copyright.PENANAgvju9MgVjM
Cel's lungs burned. His restored body didn't tire the way the old one would have, but the unfamiliar strength made every movement a gamble. He stumbled again, caught himself on momentum alone and kept running.26Please respect copyright.PENANAlGvGSbRkU8
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The path began to climb.26Please respect copyright.PENANAolHa61ztbK
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A slope. Shallow at first, then steeper. His legs drove him upward in powerful bounds that would have been impossible before. He grabbed at jutting stones, using them to pull himself higher, faster—26Please respect copyright.PENANAqHYBQusZrs
26Please respect copyright.PENANAomDpNaNUdj
Then the ravine opened.26Please respect copyright.PENANAQrQWdhndMX
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The exit appeared suddenly - a gap in the walls he hadn't seen coming, leading out into the gray-red light of dawn.26Please respect copyright.PENANAe41uVsooXM
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Cel threw himself through it.26Please respect copyright.PENANAzeyZe0swGV
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His foot caught on the threshold. Wrong angle - he pitched forward, completely off balance, and fell.26Please respect copyright.PENANAat01vmdtl0
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He tumbled out of the ravine in a tangle of limbs, hitting the ashen ground hard. Ash exploded around him in thick clouds as he rolled down a shallow slope, finally slamming to a stop on flat earth.26Please respect copyright.PENANAPOKDe77WEm
26Please respect copyright.PENANA7wbWCOe98l
He pushed himself up immediately, coughing, trying to suck in air through lungs that had forgotten how to work. Ash coated his mouth. He gagged, doubled over, and retched - nothing but gray dust and bile.26Please respect copyright.PENANAyWCfu5237c
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His eyes watered. The world blurred into streaks of red dawn and swirling gray. He couldn't see.26Please respect copyright.PENANAndGfG5oeIQ
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Panic slammed through him.26Please respect copyright.PENANALuiCgCaEQT
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The entrance. Where was the entrance? Where were the tendrils?26Please respect copyright.PENANAHayvFfzEay
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Cel spun blindly, blinking hard, tears cutting tracks through the ash on his face. His chest heaved. Every breath pulled in more dust that made him want to gag again.26Please respect copyright.PENANA3g8wQwa7aD
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Then his vision cleared enough to make out shapes.26Please respect copyright.PENANAFvCVtZJr9e
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The ravine entrance. Perhaps twenty steps away.26Please respect copyright.PENANAov0UxMtn0f
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And pouring from it - writhing, reaching, searching - came the tendrils.26Please respect copyright.PENANAcqPPhboOzg
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They spilled out onto the open ground, spreading like oil across water. Black mist coiling forward with hungry intent, reaching for him—26Please respect copyright.PENANAqxQfybQlGO
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They stopped.26Please respect copyright.PENANAPdeYKvbbwz
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Right at the edge where dawn's red light touched ground.26Please respect copyright.PENANAXWcjzyoVsC
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The black tendrils hissed like water on hot stone, recoiling from the illumination. They twisted back on themselves, writhing in what might have been pain. Within seconds, they'd begun retreating - pulling back into the shadow of the ravine, back toward whatever depths had spawned them.26Please respect copyright.PENANA5qCzjjAjoX
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The last tendril lingered at the threshold for a heartbeat longer before snapping back into darkness.26Please respect copyright.PENANA0P6oyYKUqp
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Silence crashed down.26Please respect copyright.PENANA1vf1aRTnE4
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Cel stood frozen, staring at the entrance. Waiting for movement. For the tendrils to surge forward anyway. For the hunt to continue.26Please respect copyright.PENANAfbDNOdbcxV
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Nothing happened.26Please respect copyright.PENANAQEwzx3lRTw
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The dawn light held them back.26Please respect copyright.PENANAwzNY5RQKvH
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His legs threatened to give out. He locked his knees, forcing himself to stay upright while his mind slowly caught up to what had just happened.26Please respect copyright.PENANAbPzVtenht9
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'If I'd stayed in my soul even a moment longer…' The thought turned his stomach.26Please respect copyright.PENANAVJQsK3pZIq
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He would have died - again.26Please respect copyright.PENANAEq5tPL57Mk
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Cel exhaled shakily, the sound loud in the sudden quiet.26Please respect copyright.PENANA28EyWfbtVw
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His hands were still shaking. His breath still came too fast. But beneath the adrenaline and fear, something steadier settled into his chest.26Please respect copyright.PENANAFlC0svRwRj
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Gratitude.26Please respect copyright.PENANAWFtlJxaIiH
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Selina had warned him. Urged him to leave when he might have lingered, studying the monolith, marveling at his gifts. She'd known that every second mattered.26Please respect copyright.PENANAjlOSl5MUvd
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She'd saved his life without even being here.26Please respect copyright.PENANAtTFJPdgr4T
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'Thank you,' he thought, not sure if she could hear him across whatever distance separated his soul from hers. But he meant it. Once more.26Please respect copyright.PENANApDRd2l9l16
26Please respect copyright.PENANAkKqHhUbhyM
Cel took a steadying breath and dragged his gaze away from the ravine, forcing himself to assess his surroundings properly.26Please respect copyright.PENANANGcZXS1jzh
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The wasteland stretched endlessly in every direction.26Please respect copyright.PENANAUYYQhbDFN1
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Cracked earth stretched in every direction, split by occasional fissures that ran like veins through stone. Ash lay thick and undisturbed across the ground - no wind to stir it, no life to disturb its perfect stillness. In the distance, obsidian stones jutted from the wasteland at irregular angles, their dark surfaces catching the dim red light of the sky.26Please respect copyright.PENANA1asTcsto1T
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The silence was absolute. Empty.26Please respect copyright.PENANA0p7pmjstjg
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No hum vibrating through his bones. No crystalline song drilling into his skull. Just pure, suffocating quiet - the complete opposite of the maze that had nearly driven him mad.26Please respect copyright.PENANAalN9dVV11b
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Cel remained still, scanning for movement. For shapes that didn't belong. For any sign that something else shared this desolation with him.26Please respect copyright.PENANAJhej9bYZDQ
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Nothing stirred.26Please respect copyright.PENANAuFhtq4lgy5
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Only when he was certain did he begin walking.26Please respect copyright.PENANAKvNUyOIbMT
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Away from the ravine. Away from whatever slept beneath the cracked stone. His footsteps left shallow prints in the ash, a trail marking his passage through this dead land.26Please respect copyright.PENANAiJLdB8DnAd
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The sky remained unchanged - that same hollow crimson glow. No sun climbed toward zenith. No shadows to mark time's passage.26Please respect copyright.PENANAYtE9OCoS1f
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With each step, the reality of his situation settled over him.26Please respect copyright.PENANAgCz3oQvDso
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He was trapped in one of the Hollow Realms' forsaken dimensions - a place where life had withered and died, leaving only twisted things to crawl through the ruins. The cult had thrown him here as a living key to seal a rift, and now that rift was closed. Gone.26Please respect copyright.PENANAZib5rBks1n
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His only way home was to find another rift. One that connected these ashlands back to his world.26Please respect copyright.PENANAkU53cUWjie
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An impossible task.26Please respect copyright.PENANAi7IUbG3vzh
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It wasn't without reason that even the most elite Chosen rarely returned alive from rift-sealing missions. Stepping through to close a breach was regarded as one of the highest noble deeds - and also as a sacrifice. Because death was almost certain.26Please respect copyright.PENANAxM87ARWUDe
26Please respect copyright.PENANAZFcXt5l0Ks
Finding a rift in a dimension this vast was like searching for a needle in an endless field of hay. He could wander for weeks, months, and never stumble across one. Some dimensions had multiple rifts. Others had none at all.26Please respect copyright.PENANA9QXDWnZk97
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In the end, it all came down to luck.26Please respect copyright.PENANAKhV0XE3y1O
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Cel's jaw tightened as he walked.26Please respect copyright.PENANAGP2pD1TeXZ
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But dwelling on the odds wouldn't help. The first step was survival. Just like in the crystal maze - stay alive, keep moving, find a way forward.26Please respect copyright.PENANAKwsEPboPLT
26Please respect copyright.PENANA6FgQuybNr7
The only difference now was that he could fight back.26Please respect copyright.PENANAtrNZScA6Fz
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He had a weapon. Powers granted by the goddess herself. He wasn't the helpless, broken prisoner stumbling through that nightmare anymore.26Please respect copyright.PENANAUnPnsUQsK2
26Please respect copyright.PENANACUASCgOO4P
His fingers flexed at his side, anticipation cutting through the weight of his situation.26Please respect copyright.PENANAlqa8EUi8Vh
26Please respect copyright.PENANA2Ct6oU1zWB
Cel walked until the ravine disappeared behind him, swallowed by the endless gray. Until he found a twisted pillar of blackened stone jutting from the ground like a broken fang.26Please respect copyright.PENANAmeq3w8QW7A
26Please respect copyright.PENANAMI8vgQhPKX
He stopped there.26Please respect copyright.PENANAa5v03gJKnQ
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If anything in this place could be called safe, this was close enough.26Please respect copyright.PENANAnsgIgMwOW0
26Please respect copyright.PENANAB9lYRRRzwJ
He scanned the surroundings one more time, then turned his attention inward.26Please respect copyright.PENANA28E18eqFvE
26Please respect copyright.PENANAP3i9eW2rNS
Now was the time to see what the goddess had given him. Not in description, but in truth.26Please respect copyright.PENANA5atMahlCVD
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Lunar Legacy
Author:
Celastos
ISSUE #24
Chapter 23: Hollow Dawn
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Lunar Legacy
Fantasy
Action
Dark
Last updated: Dec 28, 2025
Total word count: 68,377
Total reading time: 317 Minutes
Writer:
fantasy
horror
dark
mystery
tragedy
demons
darkfantasy
betrayal
psychological
monsters
revenge
gods
fantasyrealm
survival
medieval
maleprotagonist
goddess
mysterious
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