The endless night sky dazzled between the translucent fog, revealing the remnants of the dark fog Crowley vaguely remembered as it dissipated into the vast expanse of space; Shooting stars captured his attention, drawing it toward a figure standing nearby.
This person had long, straight hair, shaved sides, and spiked-up back.
The spikes triggered a memory of the monolithic structure he had seen in his dreams. However, the memories, fleeting as they came, vanished along with the figure who waved a silent farewell.
With the last trace of the man, represented by an eye, a voice echoed in Crowley's mind. "I won't be gone for long."
After the eye disintegrated into dark particles, the endless night sky released rain, showering the entire plain.
Lightning illuminated the sky, revealing a crackled galaxy branching out like the lightning itself.
Reality shifted, swirling and vibrating into static, forming the faces of millions.
Their eyes mirrored the night sky, projecting dark fog tendrils, and their jaws detached in a way that stretched into emptiness, an unsettling sight that felt like staring into the void.
Crowley pulled back with the shift, the images scribbling away, dispersing into white particles.
{●}
Lin hurried to his tent, and as he opened it, the fabric vanished into finite particles, seamlessly transitioning him into an entirely different dream.
From his perspective, the shift felt natural, and upon entering the room, it transformed into a studio apartment, viewed from above.
Lin felt momentarily confused, but memories of this particular place flooded back to him.
He believed that he had lived there once-when he was much younger.
The memory was faint, almost like a stone-colored picture in his mind, but he was sure this was the place.
He shifted his gaze to his old bedroom, where he saw someone else lying there.
Their arms were folded behind their head, tapping their feet to the rhythm playing in their headphones.
Lin's perspective blended with that of the individual lying there. The beat resonated, and the foot bounced in perfect synchrony.
Dark particles formed lightly within the apartment, creating iridescent static that seemed to obscure the surroundings.
They collected together, creating an illusion of darkness, almost like a misty black hole. Unaware, Velern continued to move to the beat, the dark particles lashing at him, infiltrating his nostrils and mouth.
The man had assumed they were tiny invisible insects, attempting to swipe them away, but failing in their efforts.
The music shifted to a different tune, an orchestral composition.
They swayed to the rhythm, and a newfound clarity washed over him. His surroundings became vibrant and clear, and even his breathing felt sharper.
His attention was drawn to a figure, glimpsed briefly behind a standalone cooler.
Another figure appeared, catching his eye, but as he looked, it hid itself behind the machinery. Fear coursed through him, yet he let it pass.
The figure became clearer-faceless, with barely a mouth visible. Their eyes were sunken in, forming a band around their heads; Where the eyes once were.
Their skin appeared cracked and dry, ready to fall off by a single fragile touch.
The body...
pitch black, with hints of purple lining the cracks and flesh causing the illusion of vast emptiness.
He called out, and one of the creatures advanced. Reality cracked from its very fabric as its fingers burst through, spreading dark fog that seeped into the walls, floors, and even behind it. As the arms breached through, a dark fog emerged, filling the room.
{●}
Lin's perspective suddenly shifted back to his original dream. He found himself back in the tent, waiting for his friends to join him so he could share "scary stories," completely unaware of the unsettling experience he had just witnessed.
"Not just yet," a voice came from beside him. Lin jerked back, seeing Kellic.
"Kellic!"
"Not ready for scary stories just yet, Lenny..."
"Are we waiting for Opel?"
"If he even shows up..."
Lin looked down, awaiting the arrival of his third "best friend."
{●}
Octavia nearly escaped, but did Vem? She wondered.
The shock of what happened was unbearable; her ears bled from the thunder, and when the sky screeched, the very sound of it rattled her bones - still aching from the shake She was still wearing bandages of ripped fabric around her head, softening any amount she could from the piercing sound.
She regretted not saving Vem; if things had aligned perfectly with her plan, it all could have worked out.
"What went wrong..." she pondered as she continued to shuffle towards any sort of safety, coming across an abandoned "village."
"I hope the orphanage is fine."
"I hope Krissy is doing okay too.." remembering her final days at the orphanage.
She tightened her grip. "I can't think of negative influences. I need to think positive."
"They're just fine! - they could handle everything...totally," she tried to convince herself.
"Ah, forget it..." Octavia turned around, heading back to the district, straight for the "put-together home."
Her worry drove her back into the chaos.
{●}
Octavia entered through an alleyway, sprinting across, doing her best to keep her footsteps light.
She heard other guards knocking on doors. "What are they doing on the outside? They've been moving through the whole district.."
She stopped on the side of the wall, pressing herself against it, observing the guards' next moves. Looking closer, she saw them barging into the home after countless knocks; they had grown tired of waiting.
Octavia's face marked concern due to the guards' behavior - this wasn't the normal routine if an individual didn't answer a guard's call.
"Sorry, guys...I'm going to have to put you on the side for now," she muttered to herself, thinking about the orphanage, Vem, and Korith.
With her last thought of Korith, she took a plunge after the guards, entering within a moment - a mixture of speed and silence.
{●}
Vem barely managed to escape the chaos and the guards that were swarming after a warm embrace. His hands reached for the cloth the girl had given him.
"Octavia...was it?" His face crinkled as his mind wandered, hands fully grasping the cloth, then tossing it onto the hard cement with a grunt. He leaned his head against the wall he was leaning on.
"I can't rest until I find her," he murmured, looking up towards the ceiling in desperation.
"And I'm sure that strange, quiet child is off doing his own thing already," he thought, recalling Meir, who had a habit of appearing and disappearing mysteriously.
"Hope he found that weapon I found at that house, alright. I'm sure he's putting it to good use... I hope he's smart enough to... right?"
When Mier first came to him, he was spewing something about markings, the storms stalking him, and some sort of 'vision,' he was skeptical at first, but due to him already investigating anomalies within the phenomena, he opened his mind to the possibilities.
In the silence that followed, a faint static emanated from another room within the abandoned building.
[ "He*distortion*lo?"
"Ca-"
"Do you copy?" ]
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Vem looked in the direction of the sound, making out the last structured words.
"A radio?" He determined, with a slight doubt about his recall.
[ "Can any-"
"Please -" ]
He nodded.
"Gotta be."
The detective shuffled, managing to pull himself up, and then proceeded towards the static radio.
Rubble scattered across the cement got booted across the room from Vem's shuffle, hitting the trim of the door from which the static feedback loop emanated.
The radio stopped with a beep as a knob turned.
[ "What was that..."
"I don't know...a mouse?"
"Right, because a mouse will be out in this freezing weather."
"Well..." ]
Vem sat there in silence, listening to the tiny argument unfolding within the room. It brought a little less tension to the situation he was in. He thought about the best way to stabilize a potentially tense encounter with these unknown individuals.
[ "Do you want me to check it out to make you feel better?" ]
His eyes widened.
[ "No, who knows, it could be one of those...' things.' Can't be too safe." ]
Things...? The detective made a quick connection to a flashback.
"You're right. There's no such thing as too safe. - Turn on the heater to blast and point it at the door. I'll make a small fireplace with the junk that's lying around."
Vem's eyes squinted with intrigue.
The footsteps from the other door grew closer, accompanied by some metal scratches against the flooring. The sound of a ticking knob, then the sheer power of the heater's motor kicked in.
After that, there was nothing but silence, albeit more muted than before.
The detective slouched down, contemplating how he went unnoticed by these two individuals in another room when he came inside.
"Maybe the screeching affected something?" He thought aloud, tilting his head up in a panic at his own words, hoping the two strangers didn't notice.
The sound of the heater brought him back down from his momentary attack.
"Right." He got back up, feeling healthier than before, besides his ears, which stung slightly if touched.
Vem made a quick decision, leading him into another neighboring room. Untouched by dwellers, the kitchen seemed cozy enough for Vem's stomach to growl. He shrugged his shoulders and looked for any type of "snack" food he could grab and get away with.
He opened a cupboard, finding some rectangular chips and another small bag of food next to it.
"Of course."
"But before I start digging in..." He looked around, noticing another heater, debating whether to create white noise or not.
He decided against it, proceeding to grab the chips and head out another door and into the cold, snowy night, thoughts of his coworker in his mind.
The lights from the guards caught his attention, leading him closer to the edge of the district, where he heard banging on a door with a guard's rough voice following closely behind it.
They're really searching this entire section, he thought. He saw an unmarked path and took it.
"I'll find you, you should be in this area... You could've moved, however..."
Vem entered what his best judgment described as a newly built house.
He searched around for the key to unlock the doors; usually, houses like these had a key hidden somewhere nearby in case workers needed to get in.
His hand found a rail, feeling inside it and grabbing the key. He unlocked the door.
Vem looked at the door behind him, then around seeing that the house was furnished: a TV clung to the walls, couch, and a few end pieces with a cushioned chair.“Nice home...seems cozy,”
He took his gaze elsewhere, seeing a stair piece, deciding to take them. He found a room he could use, his hand reaching into his pockets and grabbing a lighter.
Flicking it once, twice, and then on the third time, the room glowed with a red-yellowish flame. Warmth reached his hands, the sensation bringing him a sigh of relief.
{●}
Kellic's mind raced, attempting to evade the dark tendrils forming storms within his memories.
He found himself ensconced within the outer barriers of dreams and memories, cells within cells of movie-like scenarios of the past, and fantastical dreams.
The sight of the dark fog wrapping its tendrils around a memory cell sent shock-waves through his mind, triggering migraines that followed a path of abyssal veins scattering across his temples and into his forehead.
He clutched his head, hoping to ease the pain, but it persisted, the darkened veins curdling within the center of his mind. A scream tore through him as the intense flow of dark blood pulsed relentlessly.
Finally, it burst, spewing the blood like vomit across the foggy floor.
The blood convulsed and spread upwards before violently plummeting back into the foggy ground beneath him, staining parts of the white fog with its abyssal color.
Panic surged, but the overwhelming desire to faint overpowered him.
Kellic struggled against it, but the nightmarish fog lunged a tendril, curling around his leg with a grip so tight it paralyzed him. With a snap of a finger, the tendril brought him down.
The darkness, once contained, now spread further throughout Kellic's mind, transforming everything it touched-the ground, the air, the dreams, and any memories in its path.
Amid a congregation of memories, a collective of emotional responses still fought on Kellic's side.
These emotional memories constructed a barrier between the encroaching darkness and themselves.
Within this barrier, versions of him began to form a consciousness of their own, creating a vessel for what was and what could be. One took the form of the original, weaving a thin fabric of a bridge between it, Kellic, and the depths pulling him in.
{●}
Opel's consciousness hovered on the edge of despair as the relentless cold closed in around them, threatening to snuff out the last flicker of life. "Opel~" The rapid, flowing static stretched their name, a haunting reminder of their desperate situation.
"You won't die if you merge with -" the voice began, its tone laced with an eerie calmness.
"No!" Opel's defiance cut through the static, sharp, and resolute. "I'd rather die than become -"
"Oh? But your friend Kellic is sure to be lost," the voice chimed in, taunting and cruel.
"Don't you dare..." Opel's voice quivered with anger and fear.
"Aw, you can't do anything...if you accept it, you can," the voice persisted, its words like venom.
"Shut up!" Opel flung their hands towards the encroaching cold, their eyes widening in horror. There, lying in the grip of the darkness, was Kellic, his skin ashen gray with dark veins snaking across his body.
"Is that..." Opel's voice trailed off, the realization hitting them hard.
"Of course, it is...take the hand and become what you truly are," the voice hissed its words, a sinister whisper in Opel's mind.
Opel screamed in frustration, torn between saving Kellic and succumbing to the fate the voice offered. The very essence of who they were hung in the balance.
"Go save him... just take the hand," the voice coaxed, its temptation powerful and seductive.
Opel looked down and to the left, their gaze falling on the outstretched hand that would change them forever. It represented a version of themselves that resembled those "Fallen" entities, a reminder of the horrors they had witnessed.
"I...can't. I just can't do that," Opel whispered, their voice barely audible. With newfound determination, they turned away, showing their back to the sinister temptation and the alternative version of Kellic. At that moment, the mind space opened up, the dead end collapsing like a crumbling facade.
Opel looked up, their eyes locking onto a strong, vibrant memory. A giant gap lay before them, awaiting their descent. The memory exuded a warm, yellowish glow, a beacon of hope in the darkness. The static voice slithered away, defeated, as the alternative versions of Opel and Kellic dissipated into tiny dark molecules, following the retreating cold.
"Come," a voice within echoed, and without hesitation, Opel took a faithful step. To their surprise, they didn't fall into endless depths; instead, they walked on air.
A warmth enveloped them, and the feeling of a hand pressed gently against their body, guiding them toward the distant memory.
"You'll be safe in here, but you're running out of time," the voice warned, its words heavy with urgency.
The warmth kept Opel calm as they traversed the path. Finally, they reached the memory, the very campsite where they had met Lin.
"Where I met Lin..." Opel murmured, their voice filled with a mixture of nostalgia and determination.
"Go," the warmth urged, pushing Opel forward. With a tumble and a fall, Opel descended into the warm daze, the fog gently guiding them into a car.
Their perspective shifted, and they found themselves in the back seat, sitting beside Kellic, who remained untouched by the creeping abyss.
Hope and determination filled their hearts as they prepared to face whatever challenges lay ahead, determined to save Kellic and themselves from the encroaching darkness.
{●}
In the carrier, the "blanked" subject tossed and turned, her body drenched in sweat. The guards glanced at her uneasily; one of them elbowed the other.
"You think she's alright in there?" the first guard whispered.
"You know better than to ask. Stop before they blank you," the second guard warned.
"Oh, come on, they wouldn't do that."
The driver overheard. "Yes, they would."
"I'm one of their best. I don't think-"
"Exactly. You don't think. Focus on your job and avoid digging yourself into a deeper hole."
The guard gazed down at the girl and then back at the driver's seat, thoughts racing through his mind. What have I gotten myself into? I need more information for Clyista, but if that means potentially losing all my memories, I don't know if I can do this.
"Hey, lighten up. Learn from your mistakes and move forward, understand?" the driver said, snapping the undercover crew member out of his thoughts.
He nodded in silence, and the driver gave him an approving look.
The girl's hand shot out, grabbing onto the guard's pant leg, her screams echoing through the carrier, a manifestation of her inner terror.
"She shouldn't be like this. This is the first time for blank subjects..." the passenger riding shotgun remarked to the driver.
"I think we should give her another dose," the doctor suggested.
"No, doctor - administering another injection might turn her into a-"
"Vegetable?" the guard who had spoken up earlier suggested. A heavy silence hung in the air, accentuated by the girl's agonized cries.
The carrier continued to bump and rattle along the road, heading toward the girl's house.
I shouldn't have said that... The guard thought, his fellow guard giving him a blank look - a silent, "You've done it now" expression.
"No!! Don't... no!" the girl yelled, her grip released, her arm flailing and smacking hard against the interior, leaving a bruise on the unconscious Vel.
The remainder of the drive was torturous for the undercover guard, listening to the girl's screams and thrashing while everyone else sat idly by, doing nothing to help her.
"Don't touch her," the passenger said, his voice cold, not giving the guard any response to his internal turmoil.
The doctor signaled, and the carrier came to a stop, its suspension settling under the weight of the occupants.
"We're here," the driver announced, stepping out of the vehicle. The doctor followed suit, but the guards remained seated.
The undercover guard felt a prickle of anxiety as his fabricated guard companion continued to stare at him with a blank expression, analyzing his every move.
"You seem tense," his fellow guard finally spoke after what felt like an eternity.
"Yeah, just the child screaming in pain before us."
"It's something you'll have to get used to."
Get used to?!
"Yeah, you're right."
"Follow orders, and you'll be fine. You won't end up as a 'vegetable,'" the other guard concluded, intertwining his last statement with the guard's own.
The agent nodded. The girl shrieked again, her eyes snapping open. Both guards jumped in their seats.
"Now there's something to worry about!" the skeptical teammate exclaimed, swiftly pulling out his radio. Static crackled to life as he turned it on.
The click of the radio was a balm to the girl's "sleeping" ears. The agent leaned over to examine the rigid girl, her pupils clouded, the color in her irises fading into a gray-toned milky white.
The driver and the medicalist, standing beside the carrier, debated whether to enter the building, fully aware of what awaited them inside.
"Don't be-"
The radio cut off the doctor's attempt to encourage the driver to open the door.
"We have a serious problem, Code 1.1.2. I repeat, Code 1.1.2," the guards' panic seeped through the transmission.
The medicalist signaled to the driver, who hesitated before opening the door.
It opens unleashing a wave of heat.
"I'm on the way," the talkie beeped, ending the transmission. The girl stirred, her cloudy eyes fixating on the radio.
"Hurry," the Guardsmen reiterated, his breath forming mist in the cold carrier.
"It's getting rapidly cold," he reported back. The door creaked open, and the doctor swiftly injected a serum into the girl's neck. She screamed, grasping the syringe.
"Don't do it!"
"Get him outside!"
"I'll handle the girl!"
Chaos ensued inside the carrier: shouts, cries, and the clanging of metal against metal.
The undercover agent was forcibly ejected from the vehicle, snow cascading onto him as he tumbled.
His sword flew out of reach, clattering in the distance.
feet planted firmly on the ground. Snow kicked up as it did - the other guard.
"I knew something was off with you!" the guard yelled into the freezing darkness.
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