Activating pending ability [Mnemonic].

…

My screams, the world, everything swirled away into nothing, like a vacuum cleaner had sucked up reality. It went dark and exquisitely silent and I could only observe, not even think.

Abruptly, things started to form, including my thoughts. Sporadic, abrupt, blood curdling screams appeared and disappeared, as if I was drowning in an ocean made of despair whilst desperately trying to resurface, and every time I succeeded, oxygen didn't greet me, but pure noise and fear. Flashes of light danced around and I felt..small.

Very small.

Where am..no. WHAT am I?

Warm sources of uncomfortable heat wrapped around me. I saw the glint of finger nails and..fingers? I'm in someone's hand? A giant?

Huge screaming faces appeared and roared at me.

The hand that held, thrust me forward and I was plunged into darkness before being pulled back out.

The hand that held, threw me into something with a thud.

Something squishy. Blood. Is this blood? And..Flesh!? I’m a knife??? What is this!!!

A familiar voice cried out "No! NOO!"

A girl's voice.

Light cast on me and I saw red everywhere. My viewpoint shifted up and I saw Tanner's face staring back, he was confused and tired. Extremely tired.

I’m the fucking knife. I feel paralyzed. Wholly..Dead, yet aware. Stop this. STOP. I WANT OUT. NO MORE!

The experience was horrifying. Being swallowed alive felt like a summers day picnic compared to being a completely still, absolute static, yet thinking object. I tried to scream but my brain couldn’t comprehend the concept of evening thinking about screaming with the absence of lungs or even a ribcage.

"I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T-" The muffled voice cried out as a screeching something slammed into me and Tanner and we flew through the air; my entire world thundered as we hit the wall with a sickening crack. There was a synth growl followed by a stream of loud pulses; the screeching something scuttled away.

"I DIDN'T-#####"

Everything started to fade out. With only screaming and ear piercing shrieks being the only sensory input to indicate anything existed at all.

"I DIDN'T KNOW ## ### ###!”

The voice was so familiar-

“WAKE THE FUCK UP GODU!”

I heard the distinct sound of a hard slap as it all went pitch black and an eternity of nothing trickled by.

...

Reality exploded back into existence and I found myself holding the knife, looking at Tanner who was screaming.

"AHHHHHHHHHHOOOHHHHHOLLLY SHIT!" He bolted upright, scaring the absolute fuck out of me after being in what felt like an eternity of dark. I fell back onto my arse, dropping the knife and I just stared in confused, absolute shock.

Tanner…what..what just happened.

My thoughts fumbled about but I managed to focus on skill, and as if I was recalling a memory, information was found.

[Mnemonic]

All mediums can store memories, to some degree. You can now peer into those memories..To some degree.-

"FUCKING GRIM! FUCKING-UGHHH! MY GUTS!!" Tanner shrieked at the sight of his organs. His voice sounded more 'ew there's a bug' rather than 'oh my fucking god my insides are now outsides'..

He's..Alive-

"UGH. Fuck sakes!..Godu?! Dude! Man am I glad to see you! Can you help me with this though? Any tonics? Alcohol? Drugs?? Knock me the fuck out? Anything will do at this point?-UGH!" He groaned and grunted in agony, cursing a slew of innovative swears.

He's alive! He needs help!

Without thinking too much about it, I immediately reached into my bag and grabbed a healing tonic and ripped the cap off, practically drowning Tanner with the contents.

"AG-BLARF-UKK-AHH-GODU-ACK-E-EASY!" He spluttered as my eyes frantically scanned him up and down, pouring the rest of the tonic onto his guts, manically checking his wounds and status over and over, even as he proceeded to vomit up black gunk into a mildly alarming puddle.

“Uaaggghkk. Ugh..Phew. Jeezus-” Everything was repairing rapidly and his HP shot back up to full in moments.

"W-Wooowwee that's some strong shit?! Potri must really be kicking his game up-OOOF-" I interrupted him with a bear hug, careful not to crush him, but I was just too damned happy to see him alive.

"Tanner!? Hahahaha! How the fuck are you alive?? I was just about to bury you for Pete’s sake! You-you bastard! You absolute bastard! Hahaha!" I released him and checked one last time that he was okay. There wasn't a scratch on him.

"Uggh is it too late to fucking go lie in there? I think you crushed my ribs and spine, Christ..” Rubbing his ribs he looked at his feet "Wow. Mummification. Really mate? Hope you didn’t take any of my organs, I know you’re jealous of one in particular eh! Hmm now where is my pyramid-.." he stopped and went wide eyed. "Where are...wait! What the fucking hell happened dude?! Everything is wrecked! Fuck fuck! My family? Where is everyone?? How long have I been out?" He kicked the wraps off his legs and started to get up.

I noted that his movements seemed slow, like he was moving underwater. The logical conclusion was that it was due to our mag level gap and all the upgraded abilities I had.

"Woa! Woa! Tanner, yeah I know it's..fuck, there's no easy way to say this man but..I..don't..know where everyone is." I paused and looked up at a black dot hurtling towards us.

Siya was returning.

"..Eh. You wot?..What do you mean? How do you not know?" He gave me a bewildered look, glanced at the black dot, then back to me and then snapped back and forth increasingly anxiously as I continued.

“I’ve been in europe. And no, not on holiday..”

“Uhh Godu..” He tried to interrupt but I continued.

“ANDI had to bloody walk-well..teleport and fly, sort of, all the way from Italy and..I’ve seen some fucked up shit-” Siya thumped down and raised her hand in a greeting at Tanner as he started to freak out.

“DUDE LOOK-”

“Hmm? Oh heh, yeah that’s Siya, a flying moth girl. I’ve made some new friends and..discoveries over the past few months.”

“A flying..moth..girl? AND DID YOU FUCKING SAY MONTHS?” His eyes were bulging. But he still half heartedly waved back at Siya.

I sighed. "Let's go find somewhere to sit down..You are not going to believe half of the shit I'm about to tell you."

…

..

.

"HHHSSSSSSSSSAAAAAGHHH-"

"AHH-SHITFUCKER!"

A hissing demonic challenge was cut short by the sounds of metal thumping into flesh.

"Ugk..CHRIST. Fucker..shat-me..up..ha..haa..spitooey." Like a true gentlemen, he spat on the corpse and put his hands on his knees, gulping in mouthfuls of air, recovering from bludgeoning his 30th Slenderman creature with his newly upgraded sledge-axe. The weapon had mutated after he killed one of his first creepy, skinny fucks, and from there we had simply watched his back as he released his frustrations on them.

Mag level 23. Comparatively a tougher one, but he still killed it with one hit. A good hit.

"Yeah they are sneaky bastards. Even Siya can't sense them and that's really saying something." I cautiously checked around the corridor of the hospital. We were on the last remaining top floor searching for our families or any survivors either from the estate or otherwise; it was dark and dank, filled with things that were rusting, filthy and moulding. Fortunately Tanner could make his sledge-axe glow and I could just plainly see in the dark so we were pretty much unimpeded on our search so far..And yet not a single human soul was to be found.

Heck, not even a single empty crisp packet or sign ANYONE has been here..

Siya came from around a corner and skidded to a stop, making Tanner jump and yelp out another slew of curses.

His reaction times are noticeably slow. Almost like it’s delayed..

#Team#

Siya: Indeed. They are visually distressing but they are fairly harmless, around the baby bear level. To me and Godu that is.

Tanner, recovering from his mini heart-attack, gave her a flat stare and steadied his breathing.

Tanner: Agh! Comon' Siya. You can't just use the three bears from Goldilocks as a threat measurement for bloody horrors! I read that story to my kids! It's like, sacrilege or something!..Also, I'm not that defenceless or weak. I got it in one didn't I?

He actually pouted as Siya walked past him and bowed her head in apology.

Siya: Sorry, of course Tanner. Well done, your recent victory was very impressive. That one in particular was nearly triple your strength.

Tanner rolled his eyes and waggled his head in a “oh well, you know, I don’t like to brag but..” kind of way, muttering proudly to himself as he carefully stepped onwards and I watched him in amusement.

Siya: Sadly I could not find evidence of humans here recently.

She trilled a sigh as she gave the expected news, pausing to watch Tanner before shooting me a concerned glance alongside a private message.

#Siya# There were several nest clusters on this floor as well. I have removed 19 entities. The thin ones, they have been breeding here and they use other creatures as their..eggs. We must not leave Tanner for a single moment. He would not survive. The one he killed had been heavily weakened by my mental breach.

Acknowledging her update and sound, logical advice with a sharp nod, I looked around and tongued my cheek in thought.

Me and Siya could cover ground MUCH faster..but she's absolutely right, we can't leave him. He'd be dead in seconds. Properly dead this time..

"Hmm I guess that means they didn't come here..And they didn't go to the Store, nor did we find anything at the overpass where the demon-cager fight took place-" I was interrupted by the sounds of glass shattering and the sounds of tin foil wrappers scrunching.

"Dude! Check it out! There's a vending machine and it's still loaded! Hell yeah!" Tanner started to scoff down his pillaged chocolates..

I smiled.

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He was in good spirits, all things considered, and he had taken everything I had told him surprisingly well. Except for the part where he heard that his family had been forced to endure months without him there to protect or comfort them.

He really struggled with that..and I can relate.

But with everything else such as the Slipfolding, the European trek, the corrupted, the arena, the cube and even the collassalls, he had just nodded for me to continue as if to say 'uhh yeah duh, of course that shit would hit the fan. It's the apocalypse, remember?'.

We had immediately started to make plans to find out families and so far we had decided on checking all the locations I had been, with Siya flying off to the store which had been heavily looted now, and then she checked out the location of the cager demon fight, to which nothing was there, not even bones.

Currently our last destination on the list was the hospital but that hadn't turned up much, with two buildings collapsed and the final remaining ones, riddled with nightmares and very little fuel for hope. We had also decided to ensure that Tanner could absorb as much EXP as possible to try and power level his mag value, after a rather sobering second almost deadly encounter where he had seen how easy it was for me to one-tap the low mag level monsters, and thought that it would play out the same for him.

'Surprisingly', it did not. He nearly died.

"Alright then. At least we have some snacks, let's load up and then find a place to sleep for the night. Any ideas T?" I started to load my pack up and Siya immediately started doing the same. Tanner sat propped against the wall, munching with chocolate around his mouth and his eyes closed.

"Good Lord-ononomyamnyam-this tastes like..heaven-" he swallowed and sighed. "Give me two ticks G, I'll have a think."

I smirked. For him, he explained, it was as if he had fallen asleep yesterday and woke up today. His Anabiosis skill had saved him but he couldn't remember how or why, and he didn't have anything like event logs or friends in his soul space, but I had witnessed through my own analyse skill that when I pulled the knife out, he came out of a 'dormant state'. He did look at the ability itself however, and he explained it reportedly functioned like a second wind. And according to his accessible knowledge about it, it worked by sacrificing any resources available to recover from a fatal wound but only temporarily until resources were depleted, so we put two and two together and guessed that the knife being left in triggered the dormant state somehow and he must have been running in some Majik hibernation-stasis. And if I hadn't been there with a healing tonic, he would have shortly died.

At least, that was our best guess.

But what was that weird vision I had..memories of the knife stabbing into him and…Did..Triya stab Tanner?

Tanner didn't remember much of it all and he mentioned nothing of the sort.

"Mmhmm yum-okay. So, our options are Steve's house, here, or..or.." he trailed off and stared in silence.

"You alright mate?" I asked him, concerned.

"Hmm? Yeah, yeah just..I just realised that Kelly..and the boys..I hope they've not been running around in the dark by themselves.. looking for somewhere safe to sleep..fuck!..And here I am eating chocolate and shit, leisurely pondering about where I should BLOODY STAY!" He slammed his fist into the vending machine and created a slight dent. Kelly, his wife, had taken his reported death hard, but she was a fierce and dedicated mother; she had powered on through, keeping her kids safe and even helped others, including Marri.

I heard sniffs and a few sharp breaths as he resisted sobbing and tried to cheer him up.

"We'll find them mate. They will be okay and they are tough. They kept going after we thought you kicked the bucket and heck, Kelly would kick your ass if she heard you missed an opportunity to grab her some chocolate..So make sure to save her some. Or she'll probably kick my arse too." There wasn't much else I could say but he barked a laugh and wiped his face with his sleeves.

"Yeah, yeah..I know, I know…Pah, bollocks to feeling sorry for myself! Alright! Let's not fucking dawdle. I say we go back to Steve's. Knowing him he's probably sending a bloody golem carrier pigeon to the house everyday just in case you turn back up eh-heh? And then tomorrow we get up nice and fresh, fuckin' get out there, and find our boys and lovely ladies." He hurriedly finished stuffing his bag and then moved towards the exit.

The giant stickman had not shown itself as we left the hospital. In fact, most things were keeping their distance or just ignoring me and Siya, with only the stupid bloody Notpidgys having a crack at Tanner, then sorely regretting it as he obliterated them with his sledge-axe. The strange weapon had started out as his regular work sledgehammer called-..Betty? Bertha? Linda?..And then it had changed into something new with a nasty spike after we took down the fucked up skullweaver adult that was impregnating humans, turning them into monsters and also had too many limbs..fucking nightmare that was..But now the weapon had an elongated axe blade on one side and a flat hammer head on the other.

It had also grown thicker, longer and generally looking bigger all round. It reminds me of Graves huge axe, only smaller..Speaking of which, I need to check in with him when I have a free moment.

We returned to Steve's house and spent the remaining evening blockading the front door and setting up a place to sleep that would be safe. On the way, I had noticed the grinner's corpse I had obliterated at the entrance had been scraped off the ground with nothing but a dried out stain and cracked tarmac to show it had been there, but that was pretty much the norm; there were scavenger's everywhere.

I had carefully tried a few times to trigger my new skill mnemonic, mainly by touching things like I had done with the knife, but to no success. There had been no flood of information or knowledge given to me that usually came with my skills so I was left a little puzzled. I need to talk to Tanner about what I saw..But not now. I was tired.

Me and Tanner flopped down onto our makeshift beds as Siya finished making hers and not even 30 seconds had passed before Tanner started to lightly snore, didn’t even say goodnight the bugger! The noise caused Siya to giggle with her typical trilling noise as she watched with amused interest; she caught me smiling at her ruefully and returned a sympathetic one in kind.

#Siya# Tomorrow. We’ll find them. I can feel it-

Tanner snorted and groaned painfully, drawing our attention. Red and violet lights raced around his visible skin and softly illuminated his clothing materials as they moved around his entire body. Still sleeping, he clenched his teeth as the strange lights raced up and down, emitting a familiar metallic glass rain noise mixed in with tearing sounds like when you rip grass up out of the ground.

#Godu# Woa! What the hell?

Alarmed, I started to get up but Siya motioned for me to remain.

#Siya# It is okay. Have you not seen..Hmm. Now that I think about it, I suppose you would have not. He’s undergoing a heavy change after all the experience he has absorbed. The first time you did this I was also alarmed; now it's just your regular routine..But use your analyze on him and you will see.

With a frown I did and I watched as his MAG level and his resources ticked up and down, as if unsure as to what they should be, until finally turning into unknowns.

Label: Tanner

MAGN: ??

HP: ???/???

Notes: A Bysr.kyr class human. Currently undergoing intense EXP integration.

Tanner relaxed on the surface even though there was plenty of disco action still going on and I watched with concerned fascination as lights raced around and the rips and tears continued; I winced uncomfortably as a particularly loud crack and pop came from his lower spine.

#Godu# So this..has happened to me before you said?

Siya gave me a pursed smile and nodded.

#Siya# Oh most certainly. In fact this is extremely tame compared to some of your extremes. There was one time where I watched your boots and gloves extend claws and you pierced the rock floor as your body was bathed in blue and black fire. It is the body adapting to extreme changes to the soul. But like I said, it only happens after big jumps in power. He will be fine. I shall watch over him. You should focus on rest.

Well that sounds dangerous as shit!

I smiled apologetically and nodded, giving in to the alluring offer of getting a proper night's sleep and pulling my covers up to my chin. My body has no trouble keeping me at a pleasant temperature, so I didn't actually need the blanket, but the ritual was extremely soothing.

It reminded me of a more normal, happier time..

#Godu# Thank you Siya. You're a star.

She cooed and I heard the tip taps of feet as she went over to the table and grabbed one of the water bottles. I listened to the sounds of her softly drinking and realised that the ambience outside had fallen into the usual nightmarish screeching, booms and thuds that came with darkfall.

They come mostly at night don't they..

..mostly.

The hellish white noise didn't actually bother me much at all; another tick for the PTSD bingo card. But I think it was more due to the fact that I had finally made it back home and had even somehow assisted Tanner in returning to life.

There was comfort in familiarity and that was in abundance here, and now I just needed to go find everyone else. But most importantly my family.

My thoughts started to wind down as I went through my mental list of things to do when I got up.

Need to head to town tomorrow. Check for the others and if they are not there, grab new clothes and a few supplies. Hopefully Tanners all good and that he gets some nice abilities..it looked quite painful to be honest. I never really thought about what was happening on the outside whilst all these upgrades were kicking off, but it makes sense.

I pondered if Marri ever saw me in that state and then started to worry if it was even safe to sleep near others, for fear of impaling, roasting or even Slipfolding them!

Note to self to not sleep near anything after a heavy day's..worth of…fighting….

…

..

.

For the first time in ages, I slowly peeled my eyes open and I felt at home. There had been no soul space dreams which was unusual, and my sleep had been deep and regenerative both for my mind and body. I was ready to tackle the day and get out in search of my wife and son.

I'm so glad to be back but..Their absence..I..It hurts more than ever now I'm back.

Go find them man. Fucking find them and never ever leave them again.

As I got up out of the creaking cot, the noise jolted Siya awake who noticed it was just me and trilled a sigh, running a hand through her hair as she laid back down.

My stomach turned sickly as the moment threatened to overwhelm me.

It's..strange, waking up and seeing friendly faces and..being free. Feels unreal and also as if I'm constantly on a knifes edge, only a single mistake away from finding myself captured and thrown into a shithole and forced to fight and kill and have nothing to do except stare at bars all fucking day smelling piss, shit and blood, waiting for shitty raw food or my next fight-..

I closed my eyes.

My teeth had clenched and my fists were shaking like leaves as fear and anger started to override my thoughts. But I took control and forced it all into submission. Something that was getting easier to do knowing the fate of those shitfuckers that orchestrated the entire hellhole.

Fuck them all. We got our revenge and we survived and then we fucking made it back. Don't give them the power to cause more pain even when they are just skidmarks on the ground. Just forget them and let them evaporate from memory.

They are erased.

They are nothing.

A wave of cold, grim satisfaction settled my mind and a silent, lip curling side smile had formed by itself as I relived some of the scenes where the guards and management were surgically dissected. My vision started to get a little dark around the edges-

Tanner snored loudly, snapping me out of it and catching my attention. He was drooling with his mouth half open.

Right. Yes. That's all in the past. New things to worry about now.

I moved over to a window that had been modified and reinforced with Majik, and looked out a small gap.

"Good morning sunshine." I called out to him as I scanned outside. It was a bright, warm morning, and there were several Grinners skulking eerily around some of the abandoned house carcasses.

"Ugh…Morning deary, any chance of a bacon sandwich? With ketchup?" He grunted and then groaned as he reminded himself of one of life's simple pleasures.

I barked a laugh and shook my head, not tearing my watchful gaze from the creeps outside. Two of them had found a bucket of water and were seemingly sharing the contents; drinking sloppily and then passing it to the other.

Damn what I wouldn't do for one of those as well..

Tanner let out a long and unnecessarily loud yawn.

"Take that's a no then? Ah well..You spying on the Johnson's again mate? Are they playing hide the sausage eh?" He chuckled to himself as he got up and picked up a water and one of the tins of fruit from the table and proceeded to tuck in.

"Hmm not quite." I replied absentmindedly. "Just watching a couple of Grinners sharing a bucket of water.."

There was a silent pause filled only with his chewing and I could almost hear the cogs in his head grinding away, trying to come up with some way to spin what I'd said into a sexual innuendo.

"Yeh yeh I bet they're shagging ain't they. You're a dirty perv Godu. Give the fuckers some privacy." He chuckled to himself as I turned and shook my head with a smirk.

Siya quickly hopped up and immediately moved over to a pile of papers that I realised she had sorted into piles. She moved towards me holding a single sheet carefully in one of her clawed hands, giving a good morning wave to Tanner with the other.

#Team#

Siya: Good morning. I wanted to show you something Godu. I think you'll be extremely excited by it.

She had an eager smile as she presented the page. I looked as she held up the paper and it was squiggles and incoherent shapes drawn with crayons.

"That's..great? Did..did you draw this?" I wore a perplexed expression. "Well done?"

She frowned lightly and shook her head.

Siya: No, Godu.

She almost rolled her eyes at me.

Siya: Last night I decided to organise these objects based on scent and I found two that are unique and also familiar.

"Okay..That sounds..I'm confused. Familiar? As in you recognize the scents from other things?" I scratched my bearded chin. Really need to get a trim soon.

Siya: Not quite! The scent, it smells like you! But it isn't you! The other one there smells like Tanner but isn't Tanner as well!

My heart thudded in my chest as realisation kicked in. Tanners spoon clattered in the table as he dropped it and stared with his mouth half open.

NO way. He's..too young to be drawing right?! That can't be...right??

I gazed at the seemingly simple paper with Crayola scribbles, previously I had given it not a second glance, but it was now suddenly becoming a potentially priceless artefact in my eyes.

"You can smell that?! Is it a boy? Is it my boy??" Tanner stammered as he hurried over to the piles of papers.

It can't be..there's no way.

I reached out delicately and plucked the paper from Siya.

[Mnemonic] triggered.

Then everything went black.

…

..

.