[Music] hey everybody I hope you're doing well all right so I wanted to give you another update on how I'm doing I was feeling better but um then this thing happened with my feret and it's kind of affected my sleep and I think that's made me sick again I'm not really sure but um what happened was that my fair topaz something happened to her eye uh just like one day it turned completely White we took her to the vet and they said that she has something called a melting ulcer in her eye and there's a
very good chance that the eye will rupture and that has to be removed so they said there's what we can try is giving her these special drops well there's actually three different drops two of them are antibiotics and then one of them is a something else I can't remember what it's called but uh they said that if we give those to her um Then that will help and we're only really supposed to give him every like four or 5 hours but we had asked that if we were to do it every 2 hours cuzz um
some of the drops you're supposed to give every 2 hours we asked if we were to do it every 2 hours would that increase the chances that she could keep her eye and the vet said yeah and so I you know that's that's just what we've been doing um so I uh at night I get about 2 hours of sleep at a time I wake Up at um 11: 1 3 and 5: uh to do those drops so yeah it's kind of been affecting my sleep I think that because of that just not getting good
sleep uh I started getting sick again again so yeah I'm still unable to record new stuff but that's what I got going on I uh I wanted to put out another compilation for you and this one is uh demonic encounters but yeah thank you all so much for being patient with me lately I know this last month has been really Wonky with uploads but we we'll get back to where it was before um but yeah I'll be in the comments like I normally am I hope you have a great day [Music] this is a set
of instructions for how to speak with the devil which as those of you with any sort of brains at all might note is a patent moronic proposition on the face of it one likely to culminate in any number of Thoroughly unpleasant Fates honestly it would probably be Smarter to publish your credit card number on Facebook or take up a career in crocodile wrestling but then that isn't going to stop you is it not if you're sincerely interested at least technically if you do everything just right there's a fair chance you'll walk away scot-free and that
seems to be reason enough for some people to decide that it's a good idea especially if you're the Fate tempting thrill-seeking scare junkie type or the desperate type Which brings me to a point of clarification I ought to make this is not a manual for making any kind of fan bargain you know the whole sell your soul type of deal although if you happen to bring it up in conversation he certainly wouldn't be one to refuse following through with such a fool hearty bargain however would necessitate removing some of the protections which you will put
in place for your conversation and I don't think I need to Spell out for you why that is a bad idea if you're really mathematically impaired enough to want to trade something that will last an infinite number of years for something that might last 90 tops there are plenty of other rituals out there for you to follow this one if performed correctly should only allow the two of you to talk this perhaps begs the question of why exactly you would want to speak with the devil in the first place maybe some of you just like
The idea of making small talk with extremely dangerous occult entities but for the sake of the human race I hope most of you aren't quite that stupid the short answer is he knows things things that some of you may have a deep vested interest in finding out I mean he's not omniscent or anything much as he might like to pretend otherwise he is not God but he's definitely got a supernatural advantage over the kind of knowledge any human would be able to obtain for Example he probably wouldn't be able to predict when the next World
War will happen or tell you the Cure for cancer but he could very well be able to predict the winning number of tomorrow's $500 million Powerball drawing or tell you what deadly undiagnosed condition might be afflicting one of your loved ones of course the Prince of Darkness doesn't just go around giving out winning lottery numbers to anyone who asks and trusting any sort of Information obtained from a being commonly described as the father of all lives is liable to land you in a worse situation than you were when you started however ever if you're really
dead set on finding something out and you've exhausted all other options there is a way to try to get accurate information out of the guy you see like so many of the more Urbane villains in popular culture the devil has a bit of a penchant for games and Gambling of course the reason he likes them so much is because he almost always wins unless you happen to be a fiddler named Johnny or are being represented by Daniel Webster you're probably going to get your ass handed to you but if you're determined enough to want to
face the risks and the long odds there's a certain game the two of you could play to try to win the information you need first things first though we'll start off with the Description of the summoning process then get into the rules of the game some tips for how to play and finally of course the inevitable Litany of arcane that might go horribly wrong in order to contact your conversational partner you'll need to go to a church at midnight it doesn't matter what kind of church large or small old or new liberal or conservative just
as long as you're sure that it will be empty the last thing you will want is for some preacher To walk in while you're in the middle of this for the sake of the preacher's well-being as much as your own the process will probably work best if you try it on a new moon or a full moon or Friday the 13th or Halloween the actual day is less important than the psychological effect it has on you as long as you don't try it on Christmas Eve or something stupid like that you should be fine the
time is important though you don't have to start or end Your ritual at exactly 12:00 a.m. green witch atomic time or anything but as general rule of thumb you want to show up a bit before midnight and have everything set up by no later than 10 or 15 after show up a lot before midnight if you don't know how you're going to get in shockingly enough most houses of God tend to lock their doors at night at least if no one's there to watch over them and remember we want empty got it there are Of
course certain things you need to bring and certain things you can't bring for this ritual you will need a full can of salt you won't need to use all of it but it's always always better to have more than you need than to have less seven candles red and white being preferred something to light the candles with you would be shocked how often people forget this Ault ritual or not they are not going to magically light themselves a length of red string rope Yarn or thread a fulllength floor or wall mirror ideally you'll want to
find one of these already present in the church they're a bit unwieldy to be lugging around with you during a Breakin however if there really aren't any there you'll have to bring your own you might also find it useful to bring some markers pencil paper a flashlight and any sort of tools that might be necessary to secure your entrance into the church you will not be permitted to Bring in any electronic or timekeeping devices this includes all cell phones smartphones tablets e-readers MP3 players PD calculators wrist watches pocket watches kitchen timers hourglass etc etc etc
seriously it's worse than the SAT if you're one of those people that has your smartphone practically wired to your brain don't worry you can bring those things with you to the church as long as you leave them outside the room in which you will be doing the Ritual if you brought a flashlight helpful for finding your way around without attracting unwanted attention leave that outside too also don't bring any sort of religious paraphernalia to protect you especially if it pertains to the abrahamic religions and yes if those goofy black cross earrings you're wearing are hanging
right side up they count if you have any kind of holy symbols like that with you the devil will simply refuse to show up don't Worry you're not going in totally unprotected in fact most of the supplies with you are not for any sort of devil summoning ritual but for your own protection old superstitions and folk magic remedies to guard oneself from Evil from what I know of it the effects mostly based on the power of belief so there are probably numerous other objects artifacts and procedures that would work just as well if you'd like
to risk being left helpless at the mercy of The devil in order to test that theory feel free to experiment however for anyone without a psychotic death wish I'd recommend sticking to the ritual as follows once you're sure that you have all the right supplies with you make your way into the church and find some place to set up it can be anywhere from the main sanctuary where the services are held to a Sunday School classroom to a walk-in Supply Closet as long as you have a sufficient amount of open floor Space and are certain
not to be disturbed set up your mirrors first this is where the devil will appear when you summon him as such you mustn't complete the summoning until you've laid down certain Wards around it first surround the mirror with an unbroken circle of salt if the mirror is hanging on the wall lay down a semicircle around it instead making sure that the salt touches the wall at both ends then wrap your red String around the mirror several times the color red especially red strings is symbolic of protection in folklore of many cultures and religions this is
also why red candles are a good idea speaking of candles set them up around the outside of your circle or semicircle of salt spaced at relatively even intervals no you don't have to get out measuring tape and make it ex exctly perfect but at least try to make it look as though it was set up by someone old enough to Be trusted with matches light the candles in a clockwise fashion being careful not to disturb the salt if you break the circle you'll have to start all over again once all the candles are lit and
burning strongly your protective Wards are complete you are now ready to proceed to the actual summoning to do so you must get the devil's attention and demonstrate your resolve by performing some sort of sacri religious act in the Holy space turning A crucifix or cross upside down is fairly conventional but it's not the only option for example I know a kid who once fulfilled this requirement by scribbling obnoxious graffiti all over the paintings of Jesus hanging in his Sunday School classroom the nice thing about turning a cross upside down is that once you've finished your
encounter assuming you've survived it in one piece you can just flip it right side up again and no one's The wiser sidest stepping the relatively minor but irritating risk of having your Sunday school turn into a reenactment of the Spanish Inquisition for the next month and a half after you finish doing whatever offensive thing you decide on shut all the doors to the room and turn off all the lights so that the space is lit by only the candles face the mirror and stare deeply into it concentrating on your desired outcome there are no incantations
no arcan strings of Latin You have to recite just look into the mirror and wish as hard as you can for the devil to appear there after a few moments of this when you feel ready close your eyes and count to 10 then open them if all is gone correctly you will no longer see your own reflection you will be looking at the devil or at least looking at the way the devil has chosen to appear to you chances are he won't look like your conventional red horn demon with goat legs and a Pitchfork nor
any other sort of terrible Apparition no point in scaring you off now better to lure you in make you feel safe to that end he generally takes on the appearance of a fairly average non-descript human being if anything he's prone to vanity and will lean toward the more attractive end of the spectrum the only really frightening part of him will be his eyes no matter how hard he tries he can't hide the Sinister gleam smoldering deep within Them the malevolent amusement and hunger like the eyes of a a spider contemplating a fly struggling in its
web they're supremely confident those eyes confident and Without Pity don't look into them too deeply or you'll begin to feel helpless and paralyzed with Dread losing your hope and your will to fight since you'll probably be just standing there staring at him in shock for a few moments having on some level expected the ritual to fail he'll Initiate the conversation by asking you what is your desire from him if you can get gather your wits enough to string together a coherent sentence you should respond with something like I wish to challenge you in a game
of question and response even if you don't get the words exactly right he'll know what you mean and he'll accept your request with a wide predatory grin of anticipation he's been playing this game for a long time you see and he's very good at it most Humans on the other hand are very bad at it this gives him a chance to at the very least thoroughly mess with your mind and at most well we'll save that part for the Litany of that could go wrong you'll have to play it very smart to avoid justifying his
expectations the general rules to the game are very simple with a few caveats that can make things more complicated he'll Begin by asking you a question he always Initiates the game it can be anything from a piece of obscure trivia into a riddle to an extremely personal inquiry don't worry wor you won't be immediately plunged into hell if you get the answer wrong or anything like that as a matter of fact he won't even tell you whether you got the answer right or wrong after you've answered his question you get to ask him one in
return now here's where the consequences of your response come in if you answered his last question Correctly he will respond to your question as honestly and accurate as he is able however if you answered it incorrectly he is free to lie to you as he see fits perhaps if you've asked him something you're better off not knowing he'll tell you the truth about it anyway more likely he'll feed you the most Insidious damaging lie he can come up with either way after he's responded he'll ask you another question and the Process will repeat over and
over until you decide to call it quits now you may be sitting there thinking it sounds fairly easy to get the information you need all you need to do is wait for a question you can answer correctly and then take the opportunity to ask him what you really want to know ignoring everything else he said well it's not that simple the devil will never give you an easy question one that you can be completely sure of the answer to he may Instead give you questions that you have some vague knowledge of that you think maybe
you know the answer to but aren't really confident thus forcing you to endlessly second guess yourself obsessing over whether or not you can trust the information that he gave you next perhaps you'll think what he said said was a lie wish it was a lie but be eternally consumed by doubt unable to fully convince yourself that you were wrong or perhaps you'll have made a Choice based on the information he gave you and perhaps that of others as well rests entirely upon whether or not you were able to correctly recall some Arcane piece of trivia
that you don't even remember now you'll never remember the exact questions the devil asked you by the way that would make it too easy for you to go back and check your responses or maybe instead of testing your knowledge he'll ask you something personal something you even lie to Yourself about you'll answer back to him thinking you've gotten the question right no I don't resent my sister yes I would turn the money into the police but he'll know better he'll know better than you do that you're lying and he'll lie to you in return and
you'll believe him you'll believe him until you are no longer able to deceive yourself and by then it might be too late or maybe maybe he won't even give you a chance to get an Accurate response at all maybe he'll ask you an endless string of completely impossible questions making you more and more frustrated and disheartened as you realize you'll never be able to force him to tell you the truth questions like what was the exact height of Mount Everest in centimeters in the year 1666 or what is the airp speed velocity of an unladen
swallow although knowing his sense of humor if he ever pass the latter he might consider African or European a correct response there are a couple of ways to Short Circuit his particular strategy however additional rules and courses of action that make the game more interesting and prevent you from being stonewalled completely although in all honesty he probably wants for you to try one of these options anyway the first option is to ask him a riddle instead of a question if you somehow manage to stump him and he answers the ridd wrong or gives up He'll
be obliged to give you a truthful response to your next question if he answers the riddle correctly once again don't worry he won't pounce on you like a sphinx or drag you into hell what will happen is that he will get a pass allowing him to lie in response to one question that he would otherwise be obliged to answer truthfully honestly if he gets a pass you might as well just give up and quit the game right there it's nearly impossible to determine when Is telling the truth under the best of conditions adding another layer
of complexity by constantly trying to figure out when and if he's using his pass it's about enough to make any normal person's brain explode there's no way just forget it the second option for you is to take a dare from him if you accept it and vow to follow through then once again he'll have to answer your next question truthfully if you choose instead to reject it he'll get another Pass now before you freak out and reject that whole idea completely you should know that he won't ask you to do anything overly dramatic or unspeakably
evil like blow up a hospital or murder somebody as a rule of thumb most dares won't involve direct loss of life or any major felonies however they certainly won't be easy inflicting severe pain on yourself doing something that terrifies the out of you cutting off a treasured Relationship publicly humiliating yourself for someone you love all those things and more things you might not even be able to imagine are completely on the table if you're willing to go that far to put yourself in that kind of position you'll get your answer however if he manages to
come up with the one thing you know you simply can't or won't do well then once again you might as well just quit one last thing don't think you can't just tell him you're Going to do something and then not do it if you accept a dare and then don't follow through with it well let's just say there will be consequences just suck it up and keep your promise no matter what it was trust me you're better off that way finally when you've either gotten the information you wanted or given up on it completely you
may end the ritual by simply thanking the devil for accepting your request bowing politely at the Waist and bidding him farewell the surface of the mirror will seem to swim and flicker for a moment and then you'll be looking at your own reflection again only when you are absolutely sure that you are looking into your own two eyes again may you turn away from the mirror flick the lights back on and begin dismantling your protections now and this is important even if you haven't gotten the information that you wanted you must end the ritual in
this manner Before 66 minutes have elapsed well I suppose that technically you have 66 minutes and 6 seconds subtle right but if you're seriously going to try to cut that close without any kind of timekeeping device you're probably screwed anyway I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that you keep to this time limit I'll save the reason behind that for the end but don't skip ahead I've still got a few important tips on how to play one be very careful What sort of personal information you give out try not to talk about yourself especially
your emotions and problems any more than absolutely necessary this guy knows human psychology like the back of his hand and will get inside your head it's like talking to Hannibal Lecter give him enough to work with even if you don't believe a single word he says he will still find a way to with your mind like nobody's business if anything he asks makes you even remotely Uncomfortable do not hesitate to lie through your teeth there will be plenty of other questions two on a similar note try to keep the game on track and moving briskly
un structured interactions of any kind are to be avoided chances are that at some point he will try to draw you off on a tangent discussing something that fascinates you analyzing a response you've given him or finding some other excuse to speak at length without moving the game forward this is Not only a waste of valuable time but also another excellent opportunity to mess with your mind three if you choose to give him a riddle use one that you've made up yourself if your riddle has ever been written down anywhere at all from the page
of The Hobbit to some long lost Tome of ancient magic he will already know the answer that said it still has to be a legitimate riddle with an answer that makes logical sense from some angle you can't just ask something like what's Green has 10 legs and hops then claim for some inexplicable reason the answer was marshmallows nor can you ask him a straight question like what have I got in my pocket he probably already knows that anyway there are no hard and fast rules to determine whether a riddle makes sense or not but you're
a reasonable human being your ancestors ate from the Tree of knowledge please for love of crap use common sense four if you choose to take a dare There is a slight chance that the devil will ask you to do something seemingly easy deliver a letter for instance or scribble a 10-digit number in a public restroom stall if he does ask you for something like this and you even have a shred of common decency in you do not accept chances are that he's using you to further some Sinister plot one liable to ruin a lot of
lives and harm a lot of people who knows maybe you're the type of person who really doesn't mind Throwing an unknown number of total strangers under a bus to find out what you want to know but at least be aware that that is what you're doing five last but not least be wary of the time it might be helpful to do some practicing beforehand and get a feel for how long an hour is without a watch the devil will probably put off discussing the things you're most Keen with to find out for as long as
he can and as you near the 66 minute deadline he'll start Trying harder and harder to distract you Captivate you and otherwise keep you playing until it's too late he'll string you along feed you little glimmers of false hope and keep you thinking just a few more minutes I'm almost there don't fall for it don't go over the time limit no matter what now you might be thinking that this game really doesn't sound that dangerous so far threats of psychological damage rarely seem to carry the same we as threats of physical Damage even though their
costs are often just as great well I hate to burst your bubble but the game is far from safe there are plenty of ways for you to seriously screw yourself over both physically and mentally not to mention spiritually and it's with these that I will conclude in the vain hope that they may make some sort of impression first while you're speaking with the devil do not let him out of your sight keep staring into the mirror no matter what Happens he will undoubtedly try various tricks to make you look away you will hear a noise
behind you feel eyes in the back of your neck see shadowy Phantoms writhing in the depths of the mirror a cold breath will blow upon you from behind smelling like the Crypt a dead silence will settle only to be interrupted by a loud smack directly behind behind your head giving you about the worst jump scare you've ever had hell the devil may even abandon a Measure of his own dignified facade and give a sudden jump of Fain shock shouting loudly and pointing behind you with a very convincing look of Terror on his face whatever he
might test you with you must not look away from him if you look away if you lose sight of him completely even for one second you will look back at the mirror and find him gone well not gone out of the mirror here in the room with you exactly how much of your body the police will find The next morning and what state it is in will depend entirely on the sort of mood he's in the same goes if you break any of the protections you laid down before beginning the ritual interrupting the circle of
salt letting the red string unwind knocking over a candle or letting one go out any of these things will free him from the mirror and then well you're all a bunch of creative horror Junkies I'm sure you can fill in the blanks on a different topic you may reach a point in The game probably after a series of maddeningly impossible questions where the devil asks you the decep inly simple question what is your full name you must not give it to him names can be things of great power although the devil will of course already
know your name telling it to him yourself is akin to inviting a vampire into your home your name is deeply synonymous with your own inner self thus giving him your name is powerfully symbolic to giving him Yourself and if you are foolish enough to make that mistake all of your protections will be for not and he will seize upon your unwitting offer with malicious Glee stealing away your soul and dragging it back with him into hell at least this way the police will find a complete identifiable body as a matter of fact your vacant shell
will be totally unblemished seemingly having dropped dead of sheer Terror last but certainly not least there's the matter Of what happens if you go over the time limit this is arguably the worst thing you can do you won't think so at first the devil will give you no indication that you have in fact exceeded the time limit and you will conclude the ritual as if nothing has gone wrong perhaps as the devil's image in the mirror trembles and gives way you'll see a particularly triumphant smurch flash across his face but this will be easily dismissed
as your imagination you'll turn the lights On gather your belongings and go to leave the room but when you open the door you'll see nothing that's right nothing just a flat white void extending infinitely in all directions only the room which was reflected in the mirror will now exist incidentally if you turn back around to face the mirror again you may catch a glimp of your own reflection perhaps it will even turn and favor you with a smirk and a cheeky wave before sweeping out the door and into the Perfectly normal Church hallway outside as
you may have already figured out you yourself are no longer in the church your soul is now trapped in the mirror and the devil has taken the liberty of possessing your body now that you are no longer using it pound on the glass and scream all you like you'll never get out on your own and no Exorcist can help you but don't worry it's not like you're in hell right at least not necessarily what you have to Understand see is that a human soul stripped bare of its flesh is a deeply volatile and vulnerable thing
especially when trapped in the land of the living you are now an entity of purely mental properties and as such the barriers between what is real to you and what is imaginary have been completely dissolved as you fill that reflected room with your anger your s sorrow your fear at being trapped these emotions will begin to coales given form by your mind if You're not particularly imaginative these creatures may not be too terrible may not be able to inflict too much horror and pain with time you may even be able to teach yourself to get
rid of them if however yours is a mind haunted by monsters a mind that is vibrantly creative and imaginative and more than usually Twisted well there's no telling what hores might come crawling their way out of the Maelstrom tasting sweet release from the confines of your Subconscious hungering for your Terror and suffering they will refuse to be banished dragging you kicking and screaming into an endless positive feedback loop of pain and fear needless to say if you're a regular patron of stories like this you're probably pretty well there's only one way to find release from
the mirror and the world that you've created they in they say that if you call to the devil once more and ask him to free you from the mirror He'll be willing to take you out for the usual fee of course who knows maybe if your imagination is twisted and powerful enough to create a personal hell that leaves you begging for the real thing those talents might be put to good use there are over 7 billion people in the world after all even the Devil Himself can't be messing with all their minds at once talented
help is always appreciated of course the quarr to being trapped inside the mirror is that the devil now Gets to do whatever he wants in your body until sunrise at around that time your body will mercifully drop dead from the strain of The Possession autopsy will probably identify the cause as some kind of coronary event don't be too relieved though he's perfectly capable of stirring up plenty of trouble in those few hours for instance he may decide to do something big and dramatic like purchase a large meat cleaver and go on a murder spree starting
with the Names in your address book and working his way out to complete strangers if he has time or perhaps he'll focus on only one person someone who trusts you completely using your persona to get him or her alone and vulnerable and then well no need to describe it here once again I'm sure you can think of a few things starting to see why I called this the worst outcome yet of course there's also the chance that he won't lay a finger on any of your loved ones instead Deciding to do something a little more
subtle more Insidious like drop off a few nondescript unmarked packages on certain doorsteps in dangerous parts of town or locate a particularly Dusty and aged yellow text in the store room of your local library and intentionally misfile it with the young adult literature section or whisper seven very Choice words into the ear of the distracted looking young red head waiting for the 3:00 a.m. subway train Or maybe he'll decide that in this age of waning Superstition not enough people are getting interested in his games and the knowledge of them is in danger of being lost
maybe he'll decide he needs to get the word out a bit more do a bit of networking attract some new suckers Challengers maybe he'll take a quick peek at your browser history and see where the impressionable curious minds are hanging out these days maybe he'll even record a quick tutorial in Modern parlaments rather than some unscrewable obsolete demonological text and post it on the internet to see how many bites he gets well maybe I really shouldn't have gone there but if you've made it this far without shying a little twist at the end isn't going
to put you off is it dear listener I'm sure there are plenty of intrepid adventurers among you with burning questions you'd like answered And you're all the SM SM Bunch you know the pitfalls you know the conventions you live and breathe this sort of thing don't you there's no way you'd fall into any obvious traps right you're not some dick or Jane off the street after all you'd bring a whole new level of competition you would oh excuse me just a moment I think I hear someone calling from me what you want out that badly
already must be one hell of an imagination You've got on you perfect [Music] [Music] we'd all known Dennis had less than a week and we'd all braced ourselves for all the good that would do this was going to tear us apart and leave a ragged gaping hole in our lives but that would be it it would fit within our understanding of things and we could all assume that he went wherever we thought people go that would have been so much Easier so much less troubling than what actually happened Dennis had been diagnosed with cancer a
couple of days after his 10th birthday and and it was all downhill from there there was never an upswing never an opportunity for surgery all of the scans showed the same thing the oily black webs having grown larger and denser the fact that we were Twins and had looked identical right up to when he started chemo just made it worse there I Was right beside him a perfect image of what he used to be before his hair fell out and his color drained and his cheek sunk down into a skull an emaciated ghost constantly contrasted
with what he should be and then finally the doctor shut the case snuffed out the last wisps of Hope Dennis will most likely not last more than 4 days a week at most so we'd all set up camp in his musty room at the hospital the walls were freckled and PE green the only light slanted in from Between the shutters glaring bars stretching out across the floor to end just short of Dennis's bed the staff managed to bring in another simpler bed for me my parents slept in the old wicker chairs Dennis looked really bad
at this stage you could as good as see a skull we all wanted to talk to him to make the most of whatever time we had left but he slept for most of the day and when he woke up there' just be silence nobody knew what to say there Were no right words and there was this underlying fear that the moment anybody interacted with the situation they'd somehow make it real and it would hit everyone the first sound would knock us all off the tight RPP and we'd fall into tears and chaos and we wouldn't
be able to pull ourselves back out so there was silence my parents occasionally forcing Smiles that never made it to their eyes the third day was when it finally happened and Dennis began to shake Feebly as the dry crackling sound rose up from his mouth my parents exploded out of the chairs my mother heading straight to Dennis grabbing his shoulders and pleading at him to stop it and be all right my father was at the room door screaming down the hallways for help the doctors and nurses at the hospital changed lately they' started treating Dennis
differently before the resuscitations were always these frantic desperate efforts like 100 meter Sprints There was a desperate desire to succeed in every single moment now it was different more like a steady jog these were people who were going through the motions taking off things they were meant to try from Little checklists in their minds I don't think it would have made a difference either way the cancer had finally tipped over and his system just couldn't shoulder it anymore they called it and left offering their condolences and saying they'd take the Body away when we were
ready the doors click shut behind us me dad mom and Dennis's corpse we all inched closer up to the side of his bed and just looked my mother cracked breaking into great howling tears my father pulled her close trying to keep it together but losing it in his own way no sobs from him just the occasional tear running down his face and sharp breaths bursting through his clenched teeth I was just quietly staring at Dennis's face we all stood There for a long time I finally realized that this wasn't just one thing this wasn't a
single event for the first time my mind started running away with itself and unfolding all the endless implications of this every one of them causing my gut to sink and for me to miss him so much even though he'd just been here I was never going to talk to him again he was never going to laugh at me again we were never going to eat dinner again we were never going to School together again we were never going to be in the same class in school again or talk during classes at school again it just
kept going and going as I realized that this wasn't just one person I'd lost I'd lost a million things something that was meant to be this constant presence was gone and and nothing would ever be as good as it should be again everything was going to be soured by the certainty that I wouldn't be Doing it with him or that I wouldn't be able to tell him about it later it had only ever been a childish assumption that any of that would happen I was the first to see his lips quiver mom dad his lips
are moving my parents froze still clasped against each other my mother curled over supported by my father we looked down as his lips continued to quiver my parents went quiet again they must have been trying to hold back hope assuming that it was some kind of Nervous Tech but it kept going and finally in a Dusty horar voice so faint it was like you were hearing it on the Wind he said my name Harry my father sprinted across the room yelling for the nurse to come back my mother was clutching her mouth and stumbling back
from the bed the workers tumbled back in and went through the checklist and shocked him with the defibrillators a few times and reached their verdict we're sorry he's still Dead but I heard him talk said my father in a small pleading voice look it could have been gas escaping but said my father before a tiny scraping sound cut through the room everyone turning towards its source it was coming from Dennis halfway between a sigh and a croak Harry it's all so dark so cold so dark and it's pulling down pulling at my insides and taking
me down a moment later nurses started on their rounds again but this Wasn't some perfunctory run through the checklist you could see it on their faces and how hurried their movements were they didn't know what was happening they weren't even sure they were doing the right thing they moved on to the defibrillator again sending crashing waves of power down through Dennis's chest before listening with the stethoscope it doesn't seem to make any sense one was mumbling after 10 minutes they all just stepped back they'd run The checklist out nothing had happened happened what's happening my
mother screamed one of the men a doctor I think answered nothing's happening we try to pump in oxygen and it does nothing there's no pulse and we can't induce one for more than a second or two the body's temperature's down 3° he's deceased but we heard him I said I know but he's dead the dry grading came again and everyone shut up please Harry where are you I walked over to his side I wasn't Relieved he was talking I was only afraid this was wrong I wanted to run I wanted him to just be gone
so I could cry with my parents and be done with it but I kept walking and put my hand on his bony cold and clearly Dead Hand I'm here I said I can see gray a little bit of gray but it's so far away I don't see it I feel it I feel it and I never knew something could be so far away I'm already so far down but I need to go so much further to get to the Gray I didn't know how to respond so I just stood there stood there and listened to
him talk about the darkness and the distant gray smudge sometimes he'd answer me sometimes he wouldn't a lot of stuff happened around me in the next few hours everyone who worked at the hospital must have been in and out even my parents started to leave sometimes when they accepted I was the only one den seemed to be aware of Dennis was looked at by every type of Doctor they had in there and nobody understood they started moving him around on a stretcher taking him to the equipment they just couldn't bring to him I had to
come along I was the only one who could keep him talking it was a long time before anything was turned up they had gotten desperate and had put Dennis into an fmri machine they'd fully prepped a corpse and put it in a machine for the living my entire family was in the room A a cold confused fear settled in my gut making me feel a little bit like throwing up I I think we've got something said the technician who was looking at the monitors please just tell us what's happening said my mother she'd moved past
Terror and hope and was now Above All Else exhausted her red face slack and empty look this scan looks for where the blood is in the brain well the thing is that none of the blood in the brain is moving we know know that from The pulse but something is happening in there something the machine can only pick up a little but there is some kind of activity now I can't be sure but I think the activity is clustered around some of the parts that control movement everything else is totally dead he's obviously conscious he's
using complete sentences but but what said my father but it's like whatever's doing the thinking is somewhere else still interacting with the stuff that does the Talk that's exactly right came a voice behind us I looked over my shoulder and saw an old man in a gray business suit he had a well trimmed silver beard and was all around a strange contrast to the gloomy chaos that engulfed the hospital who are you said the technician I'm Daniel cohens he said handing the technician a Chris business card I'm with the orus Institute we're a semi-private medical
research body and we've dealt with a few Cases similar to this one the hospital president has already agreed to let us look into this almost invisibly a number of men moved in behind Cohen and were now making their way over to the technician these men will help explain the confidentiality situation surrounding issues like this we'll handle the boy from here more men these ones in Pure White scrubs that had a strange logo on the left breast got Dennis back on the stretcher and led us Into the hallway we followed wordlessly never thinking to say anything
because at least these new people represent new possibilities a completely new road that might lead to an explanation they rolled Dennis into an operating theater and my mother gasped look just what are you doing said my father in a husky voice that made it obvious he was still holding in tears cohens who had been striding alongside the stretcher with the speed that bellied his age had Stopped once we got to the theater and was now taking deliberate care to look us all three in the eyes we were still in the hallway the operating theater door
shut beside us he answered in a low comfortable tone we're not performing surgery it's just the quietest part of the hospital and there are no distractions in there we want nothing more than to understand what has happened to your son this sort of thing has happened before your son is Conscious and as we understand he will only talk to his brother here we want to use Harry to ask Dennis our questions we believe this would work best if he and Harry were alone we've got the theater wired so we can hear the answer my parents
didn't say anything for a while my father broke the Silence with weak staggered words do you think he might come back I know that even if he does it won't be for long but I'd really like him to come back for however long I Didn't say enough I wasn't big enough to say the things we had to say to each other if such a thing is possible I swear we will do everything in our power to make it happen we've prepared a private waiting room for you two Cohen's gestured down to the turn in the
hallway there were two people standing in white scrubs there Pete and Shirley will lead you there if you would please go with them my parents began to shuffle down the corridor my mother still buried in My Father's Side my father kept throwing looks back over his shoulder at me like he was afraid I'd vanish as soon as they were gone I felt Cohen's hand come down on my shoulder I turned around to him and he knelt down so we were closer to being level I know this is very hard on you I know this must
be the worst day of your life but do you think you're up to a quick history lesson I couldn't bring myself to answer properly but some curiosity managed to rise through the Delirium and shock and I nodded Cohen smiled one of the most significant moments of human history was the moon landing and it's not even the fact itself that it was so important it's that we had contact with them the whole time that they were up there they were sending radio signals back to Earth and could be talked to do you think the moon landing
would be what it was if we didn't have that type of connection to our men as they stroe the unsettling and Inhospitable surface of a place we were never meant to have knowledge of what if they' just gone up and never came back what if we knew for sure that they got there but had no signal from them I was still quite out of it so I can't say I was properly digesting all of this I slurred out I don't know they didn't know if they could get the astronauts back it was a very real
possibility that they'd be left to die up there stranded yet they still did it it didn't matter If the mission was a failure it didn't matter if there was no triumphant return do you know what mattered What mattered more than anything was speaking to them while they were up there to have that connection to three brave men in the void describing Man's first step into the unknown if they'd never come back it wouldn't have changed anything as long as we down here managed to make the connection to that Beyond as long as we down here
for however long had men up There men to describe the soil men to explain the feeling of being so light menant to tell us what Earth looked like cut in half by the lunar Horizon men to teach us about a new world his hand tighten on my shoulder none of that would have been possible without the people in Houston without the men who talked to the astronauts kept them focused made sure we got the information we needed Harry We Believe Dennis is in a very strange Place that Humanity would do well to learn about you
are Houston your brother is an astronaut he pulled a laminated sheet out from under his lapel here's a sheet with some topics you should focus on and questions you should ask this should help you get the most useful and needed information but the most important thing is to keep him talking stop talking for 5 seconds and you could lose him I accepted the card having given up on reaching a decent Understanding of the situation he ushered me inside the operating theater and shut the door behind me I was alone the only sound and almost inaudible
ringing that emanated from the mass of stainless steel racks and implements and the cold sturdy operating table Dennis was lying on I approached the table and in need of any sort of guidance I looked at the laminated sheet general principles try to keep your loved one the subject unaware of their Deceased State past experience suggests that the shock may cause disconnection maintain constant conversation as this has been shown to help maintain the connection do not ask leading questions such as whether your loved one or the subject is having experiences in line with your own religious
beliefs First Step ask your loved one the subject to describe their experiences and or surroundings encourage them to be as I pulled my attention away from the sheet Harry Dennis said yes it's me I answered grabbing his hand there was now no doubt that he was really dead the hand was ice cold and the fingers had locked in place at odd angles with Rigamortis his entire body had gone from the sickly white of the dying to the raincloud shade of the Dead I got to the gray to the ground Came Down Easy like a leaf
and cold I'm standing there now Dennis can you describe where you are it's still gray But it's more real now I'm solid gray sand underneath gray ocean behind me gray clouds above don't remember going through the clouds but they're there now the clouds they're screaming an ocean I said can you see anything in the ocean Dennis took in a flemy pointless breath far far away the Horizon it's getting dark dark hungry line where even clouds stop where everything stops darkness is clawing moving like it's alive miles and miles of angry Hungry dark can't go there
can't go that way at this point I lost the thread of the exchange as perspective suddenly hit hit all the things I didn't understand and the fact that whatever Dennis was he wasn't alive I broke crying and wailing and digging my face into his bare emaciated ribs cold like meat straight out of the fridge I kept squeezing his hand harder and harder pushing the stiff fingers closer together Dennis please come back please wherever you are just Get back here Harry Harry are you crying it's hard to tell so much here already sounds like crying his
words struck me deep enough to make my sobs catch in my throat and I just started looking at him again settling back to my previous catatonic distance from what was happening I can't come back no getting back like spilling something on the ground no getting it all back inside and right again it took a few seconds to force myself to accept this but I Carried on hoping that maybe I could steer him towards some sign that he was wrong what's in the other direction away from the ocean that's the way I have to go if
I try to swim the darkness will tear me up just R away everything until only my pain is left and it'll toss that into the clouds into the clouds and I'll scream Dennis tell me what's in the other direction just the sand the gray sand on And on not many bad things yet not many bad things to see yet there will be more when I get where I'm going I'm going to start walking now Harry where are you meant to be going I said I started digging my nails anxiously into my forearm there was something
nauseatingly dreadfully true about everything he was saying it was like the first time you learned the world is round and it feels weird for a few seconds but soon you get used to the idea and you see it's the Truth that's the big secret and it doesn't matter how flat the ground feels doesn't matter how little sense it makes it's true and he just kept talking I can see another person can you talk to them I said trying to keep my voice steady feeling like I shouldn't be the one who couldn't keep it together I
suppose I could but I can't what do you mean it's just not a talking kind of place we were supposed to have done all of our Talking before we came here now we should just keep quiet but you're talking to me Dennis but my voice isn't here it's all the way up there with you Dennis I said now squeezing my eyes to force the tears back in Dennis please tell me what's happening I think I finally died and what's happening now is what happens next the thing that was always going to happen next it feels
right in a scary way it's been expecting me for so long Since before I was even a fuzzy little thing that might happen since before our parents and their parents and so far back it's been expecting me please please stop talking like that you don't talk like that you never have sorry you just sort of see things different here some things you know without ever being told some things you forget I couldn't think of anything to say and started to worry remembering that if I left the pauses too long he Could stop answering hey said
Dennis and the edges of his mouth strained out awkwardly imitating a smile I see a few more more people and they're all naked but really naked their clothes are off and they're all gray and wrinkly but that's not it you can kind of see inside them like all the walls have fallen down and you can see who they are all their thoughts and feelings just kind of hanging around them like ghosts it's like someone Pulled the clothes off their whole past they're so naked Harry he made a light coughing sound that was meant to be
a laugh that's really scary Oh I thought you might have thought it was funny I don't think we're going to laugh at the same stuff anymore I think you're different now I guess that makes sense so what are the people doing most of them are moving the same direction as Me towards the center the center of what it's just called the center the center of this place may be the center of everything but what I said starting to lose control why do you have to go I don't have to nobody has to just like when
you don't have to shake someone's hand when they put it out or answer them when they talk to you but it would feel wrong not to it's what you're meant to do and there's not any other good options you don't want to stand Still what happens when you stand still depends a few days ago I passed this woman a few days I said dripping the cold steel of the operating table as I was filled with an eerie sense of vertigo you haven't been dead for even a day I passed her a few days ago he
said carrying on like he hadn't heard me she didn't reach the center she just sat down and started going her own way way she pulled one side of her rib cage Out and it's all stretched spreading up to her left so high stretching out the arm grabbing its Corner most of her skin started to get hard and Flaky like old wood her crumbling Stone I can see herself musician liked music kind of f her life like a song Sometimes it repeated itself some bad notes here and there but it was pulling itself together she was
reaching the chorus and it ended it was over so fast and she can't accept it she picked This sharp Rock off the ground she's scraping it past her ribs like a huge harp or something angry trying to make music keep the song going but it's an awful sound sawing bone it's never going to replace what should have come next she's already grown into the ground she's going to be here forever trying to make the music she missed out on there was nothing to say to that so I just went quiet for a while assuming he'd
keep talking he didn't Dennis Dennis no Answer a terrified jolt ran through me and I started slamming my fist onto his chest Dennis come back Dennis a growl tore out of his mouth and his frames thrashed upwards causing me to jump back and tumbled down onto the floor smashing into the surgeon shelves and causing gleaming surgical instruments to rain down around me I didn't have time to think before I forced myself up and bent over the operating table to stare desperately Into my brother's eyes I took his hand again squeezing it as hard as I
could Harry he said and relief flooded through me it's been so long so long it it's been years what I've been walking for years years years and years and it keeps getting worse it hasn't been a day it's been so many years and everything keeps getting worse what what's worse it gets worse closer to the center there's so many people thousands tens of thousands They're all walking to the center but what's so horrible there's more so many more like the girl with the harp I told you about stuck in place trying to fix what happened
angry about what happened rooted to the ground moaning calling out names of the people they think did this to them sometimes a few join up and when they get all hard and crackly like old statues they start to grow together start to feel each Other's pain sometimes there's mountains of them entire Landscapes of people crying about how unfair it all is is I'm still walking but where are you going I told you the center I'm getting close now all the clouds with their screaming faces are curving all curving and being pulled in the same direction
twisting their way into the center please just stop walking and come back I can't no coming back besides I have to Keep moving like everyone else doing something weird it's the quickest way for the Walkers to notice you oh God what are the Walkers started started seeing them more as I got towards the center they're all over the place now there are these things walk around on three legs like stilts covered in sharp black shells like Thorns remember the aquarium the kind kind of like those urchins we saw at the Aquarium but the top part
the main part it's more exact kind of Arty like a sculptor designed the shape reminds me of some kind of chest piece when they notice you when they come over you toppling towards you but never falling over on those long legs spindly yeah that's what you'd say they spindly legs and they stop right over you you're just between their legs and you see the holes underneath their main bit the tendrils come out red windy tendrils with these Itchy hairs come down and they start curling and Swinging all around you you almost don't mind at first
because they're red you've been seeing nothing but gray and black for years and the tendrils are red and it's beautiful but then they touch you they touch you and it's awful every bad thing you've ever felt every bad thing that's ever happened to you starts bubbling up to the surface drowning you all the pain that ever went into you Rises up and Down and the Walkers feed on it they lick it with their tendrils they love the taste the taste of all the things that shouldn't have happened they love the taste of misery eventually they
get full and move on and you you get up and keep walking Jesus denst Jesus it's fine they're bad but you get a sense of perspective here sure they're scary for you but they are nothing next to the center they're Bottom Feeders Moss That Grew on the outskirts if they're really like sea urgent than the center the center must be like a shark or a whale or some huge thing right at the bottom of the sea that's too big to come up near the surface you've never said things like this before I don't know how
to describe it when you're here stuff just breaks down a little and you don't always need to have learned a word to know it this Place is less obsessed with causes and 2 + 2 equaling 4 it's job isn't to make sense what is its job I don't know maybe I'll find out at the center he went quiet again and this time I wasn't sure I wanted to stop him drifting off I wasn't sure I wanted to hear any more of this but regardless of what I wanted another groan soon creeped out of his mouth
and he was back she I see it now I see the center his hand began to close slowly But inevitably around mine overcoming the Rigamortis to press onto my fingers like an iron Vice I kept trying to get out almost yanking off the table but I couldn't even budge inside the agonizing grip it's inside inside this huge thing like a beehive floating above the ground it's gray too gray and covered with streaks and ridges like it used to be a liquid and hardened or like it's made of web or something so so big big hairy
I've never seen anything like it all the Clouds are swirling down into the hole at the top of it still screaming hundreds of holes messy ragged holes pitch black on the inside it's bigger than cities hairy and everyone's heading towards it thousands and thousands swarming under it pushing against each other to climb the bridges messy Bridges from the ground right up to the holes right into the pitch black the centers in their hairy I'm here please I said whimpering with the pain In my hand you can't go in there's nothing good in that place I
knew this as a fact not just because of the description but as a gut feeling I knew that what he was talking about was real and fundamental as important a part of our existence as the sun and the moon and birth but bad somehow dripping with wrongness to its core where else is there to go I'm at one of the bridges please you can come back no that'd be like going back into The womb can't be done this is what's next oh what why oh God I'm starting to feel something I think it's the center
doing it I'm getting bitter every mean spiteful everything angry thing in me it's swelling spreading out and smothering the rest of me I'm so I'm so mad Harry I'm getting so much smaller and my hate is getting so much bigger his hand tightened and I screamed why was it me why was it me and Not you what did you do that I didn't what did I do that you didn't I'm sorry I'm sorry I said fully in tears his voice had changed it was still quiet but it was rabbit each word growled and soak with
vital I hate you do you know that still able to stand still able to run still able to breathe I hate you I was hurting all the time and you Just stood there feeling sorry for me you couldn't feel any of it just waiting to see me die so you could off and do everything I never would I was yelling and screaming for someone to come in and help I'd almost pulled Dennis off the table his torso hanging over the side held straight by whatever force was allowing him to squeeze his hand and all this
his eyes were still As Dead As they'd always been and then he went limp his hand let go His back sagged and he crashed to the floor he'd broken three of my fingers but shock was keeping it distant I threw myself down onto my knees to see his face slapping it and looking for any sign that he was still there he gasped again fainter than ever now oh Jesus I'm inside and it's so much worse than I thought it's beyond worse it's so far past the worst I thought something could be please Dennis listen just
tell me what's happening It's the center it's so big big and floating above me it's so much bigger than the hive so much bigger than what it's inside the whole inside is so much bigger it's so big it's gray too always gray gray and cracked like Stone over endless miles of it his voice had changed it was whiny and small and afraid it's hurting me Harry it's hurting more than I've ever been hurt it hasn't even noticed me please the man Told me you need to describe it he said if you kept talking you might
stay so big he said his voice wobbling and breaking like he was crying it's fingers are bigger than skyscrapers and it's so many fingers millions and ribs the body is is all ribs and there are more fingers all folded up I don't know but there's so many so big hair and The Mask Jesus The Masks what masks The Masks the face is bigger than countries all different some The eyes are perfect circles others have huge pointy holes where the mouths should be some are blank some have eight eye holes some look like human faces like
perfect human faces with deep Hollow eyes all of them the inside of all of them is so dark a living dark a dark pulsing all together it's so huge so huge and you can feel it pressing in on you feeling the air with Badness and crushing down on you from inside and you can feel the Bad and you reaching out to it out to it like a baby reaching out for its mom Jesus Christ Harry he was breathing in and out faster and faster shallow scared breaths instincts overcoming the fact that he didn't need air
Dennis talk to me what is it what is it it's not the devil no that's what I thought at first but it's not it's more like God it's like if God hated everything his breathing hiked up again oh Jesus it sees me please please Promise me one thing just one thing what what is it please don't ever die one last breath rolled out of his mouth I tried tried everything to get him back everything I could think of in an animalistic burst of desperate energy I HIIT him shook him pleaded but he was really gone
this time I knelt there in the room for a while his last words carving into a deep part of my mind I knew I can never dig them out the next few hours in fact the next Few days were kind of a blur I remember men in the institute's white scrubs coming in and dragging me away from the body I remember getting my hand seen to and put into a cast and slay I remember Daniel Cohen sitting me down in a bright white room and interrogating me he called it a conversation but it was an
interrogation a warm interrogation by a man who could be kind if it meant getting what he wanted he asked me if I had any Visions or any Strong Sensations if I thought Dennis was telling the truth and if I could explain the ways in which Dennis was acting differently than he already was I was detached and drowsy from exhaustion and Trauma and pain from my hand and just answered honestly at the end Cohen made me memorize a phone number and sign a load of confidentiality forms making it very clear that not a word of this
could leave the hospital I was to call if I Started experiencing any phenomena I thought were related to Dennis and finally they left my parents and I took a taxi home we didn't talk about what happened after Dennis died I suppose that even that was this secondary add-on to the simple fact that that Dennis was now properly dead and not coming back we went home got to bed and the next morning we had a wordless breakfast with an extra chair pulled out the years flew by and the whole experience became Something I just had to
live with some dreaded thing my thoughts would sometimes steer me back to but mostly I managed to keep living to accept it all as something I couldn't understand the fact that Dennis was gone was always worse than the way he went however terrifying and unnatural it was but lately I've been having a dream it started off vague and incomplete but every few nights it repeated getting longer and more Vivid it always starts The same with me and Dennis both of us kids again on a Green Hill in a bright Clear Day crisp air sighing past
us I can't remember most of the words but the gist is that he's bragging showing off saying that Dad loves him more that he's better than than me and he's going to keep being better for as long as he's alive he's going to keep making dad love him more as long as he's able and I get so mad way madder than I'd ever have gotten if he said those things in real Life I see a rock and without thinking I pick it up and attack him with it Knocking him over and beating him again and
again until his skull was swollen and torn and you would see parts of his skull underneath he managed to push me off and run and I followed never thinking twice about it I chased him so far until finally he runs into a pass between two mountains in a long dark range that I somehow never see until that point the range extends to either Side seemingly forever the sky above is saturated with heavy dark clouds it's like Mordor or something I always stop running at that point knowing that I've chased him far enough and the job
is done I start to leave my body surging forward down the path no longer myself just a nameless thoughtless Observer gliding like a ghost for lack of legs he runs down the dark path on and on into a sunless Barren country on the other side a place Where the soil is gray and dry he runs for ages but soon he stops and falls and curses me screams about how much he hates me and how much I cost him by driving him into this place he rages for so long then a second person comes sometimes a
man sometimes a woman sometimes old and sometimes young and they say they too were driven past the mountains or that they wandered past them by mistake and can't get back over Dennis always says the same thing then Let's suffer together let's hurt together and this person always latches on to Dennis and Dennis latches back and they scream or cry and say they want to see people who wrong them skinned alive and more always come a trickle first and then a flood latching on to Dennis and the first person all of them clasping together and piling
into a giant deafening mass of squirming bodies and eventually it's huge almost up to the clouds and then there's a rumbling a Massive shifting sound the countless bodies start to rearrange forming deep Canyons of Flesh that make up a horrendous rageed filled outline of a face there's a shift greater than any earthquake in the pile moves rolling forward pulling itself with enormous appendages made of the miserable and bitter in the despairing it inches and tumbles on and on crashing down and dragging itself onward with overwhelming apocalyptic sounds and then I see that It's heading for
the mountain range it's heading back to the bright place with all its anger and hate and Vengeance and as much as it's made of millions and millions of people I always know it's still one thing one thing with one will but all the hatred of everyone buried in it all the way back to the first one the first one to curse his rage still in there rage directed at the first one to sin it gets right up to the mountains and then I wake up I think something's Coming something that got started a long time
ago something that strips away good and builds itself on the bad and I think it's almost strong enough to set out to start moving and I think when it gets here the living will be no better off than the Dead [Music] when You' have been a priest for as long as I have you start to notice patterns in people when a parishioner approaches I can already guess what they want to ask me by their body language or the way their eyes flicker to meet mine it's quite funny actually everyone thinks they're unique that somehow they're
different than everyone else well let me tell you after 38 years of hearing confessions I've come to the conclusion that we're all pretty much identical if I have to listen to one more trembling voice confess to watching pornography I might just lose my mind Now I haven't turned cynical in my old age just weary when you hear the same sins repeated over and over again a thousand million times over you begin to wonder if there's any hope left for the human race I guess that's where faith kicks in though now now I'm not sure how
much of that faith I still possess you see I don't practice anymore I've given up the collar I witnessed something that has shaken Wen me to this day and the shadow Of its memory still haunts me it was the last confession I ever did I stifled a yawn trying my best to remain awake after another sobbing parisher left the confessional the entire process had just become so mechanical to me that I barely even heard what was being whispered on the other side of the screen I adjusted the cushion under my rear feeling the familiar ache
that had only gotten worse as my years advanced I checked my watch and saw that I still had another 20 minutes to go I closed my eyes and offered it up to the Lord begging him to fill me with patience for these people I heard the familiar Creek of wood on the other side of the screen as yet another sinner took their place I ran a hand over my weary eyes and then spoke into the screen in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit I recited making the sign of the cross
a male voice whispered to me from the Other side forgive me Father for I have sinned this is my first confession I shifted the cushion beneath me annoyed at the distraction and tried my best to focus on the men do not be afraid my son tell the Lord what you have done the man said nothing for a moment his voice rasping behind the screen father I don't think there's any hope for me I've done so much and I sat up a little straighter my son there is no sin too great for God the man struggled
to Keep his emotions in check his voice straining I think I've broken every rule in the book deception greed lust murder everything the mention of murder sent a cold icicle shooting up my back you killed someone I asked voice hardening this was a serious confession one I'd never heard before in all my years te in the booth I could hear the man Begin to Fall Apart shame and grief washing his words in sorrow I've killed so many people my heart was racing in my Chest who have you killed when was this the man sniffled it
was a long time ago I've been on the run for a long time I don't know what to do anymore my whole life has been a lie one big fake advertisement for something I was never equipped to be I leaned into the screen voice Stern have you thought about turning yourself into the police coming clean will surely ease the weight of your sins I can hear it in your voice You're suffering the man started crying you have no idea I knew I had to be delicate here son the Lord's love is endless he can forgive
you of these transgressions if you show him how truly sorry you are the man surprised Me by barking a laugh his love isn't endless nor is it unconditional I swallowed treading carefully I know it's hard to understand to accept especially when you're feeling So low but hear me nothing is too great for the Lord his wisdom and love for you is deeper than the oceans broader than the universe he wants you to know that to feel that in your soul the man was recover covering and he snorted behind the screen you couldn't be more wrong
slightly frustrated I pressed him what makes you say that suddenly the man's voice filled the entire Booth a deep Rumble that shook me to the very core of my soul because I am your lord I blinked My head spinning this was new just what kind of person was I dealing with here I suddenly realized that the mental state of this person could be seriously compromised after a moment I decided to play along a little longer you're the Lord I can hear the doubt in your voice I sniffled well forgive me if I am a little
cautious around someone who proclaims they are the Son of God there is no Son of God The man said irritated it's just me you guys made up all that Jesus I had nothing to do with that my mind was spinning as I tried to keep up okay okay so who are you really and what are you doing in my confessional the man exhaled I just told you who I am and I'm here to make peace before I die or whatever happens to me after I don't really know how I die I never thought about it
before I decided it was time to start steering the ship back on course when a Soul dies in the good graces of God it gets sent to heaven the man laughs good graces yeah look you're wrong you're all wrong what are you talking about I asked feeling anger begin to stir in my chest the man's voice dropped low Heaven is gone I cocked an eyebrow the seriousness in his voice giving me pause what do you mean gone his tone remained the same AOW Rumble it got wiped out a long time ago there is nothing left
For reasons unexplainable I began to feel uneasy a sinking dread that was just beginning to form in my stomach how is that possible God is Almighty and the devil can never best him I said the man slammed his hand against the wall causing me to jump there is no devil there never was I don't know where you people got that but it wasn't from me there is just myself and Heaven No Angels no Saints nothing I created a place for you and I created a Place for me then I sat around and watched my Creations
from the comfort of my own home my heaven every once in a while I poke my finger in and stir up some cause a disaster or something just to see how you'd react if Heaven is gone where do our souls go when we die I asked I have no idea I don't even know if if you have a soul I certainly didn't give you one why would I I made you so I could have something to do when you die three more people take your place and I Watch the circus go round and round but
I have to say I'm impressed with the human race you've all come such a long way I never dreamed you'd create such wonders Bravo the man said something outside the booth in the sanctuary crashed but I ignored it the Man drawing all my attention why why are you here I repeated mind blanking at the absurdity of what I was hearing the man's voice turned quiet an edge of unease now Because I am going to die soon I can't hide down here much longer they know where I am and they're getting so close who who the
man collected himself before Whispering the old horns I could hear the shuffling of feet echoing outside the booth as people began to leave probably annoyed at the long confessional but I didn't care something about this man held me and terrified me I'm not following I said a worm of my KN snaking up my stomach into My chest I thought you said there was just you and us I thought you said that devil didn't exist he doesn't this is something else entirely the man hissed The Logical form of me begged to end this conversation but I
couldn't let it go what do they want with you the old horns fear entered the man's voice I don't know they just showed up in heaven one day taking me completely by surprise they destroyed everything their power and wrath was more Furious than anything I'd ever seen before I had no choice I ran you ran and came to Earth I asked I had to where else is there to go I don't know anywhere else but your world and mine I don't have a clue where these entities came from or how they found me or why
they want me but there is no stopping them they'll be here soon I can't hide forever I exhaled trying to collect my thoughts okay so say hypothetically this is all true why would you come here to Confession if you're God what do you need to apologize for the man was silent for a moment then said softly isn't this what you're supposed to do before you die truth be told I have no idea what will happen to me when they catch up but I'm scared I'm really really scared I've done a lot of bad things and
and this just seemed like the right thing to do he trailed off miserably I'm not the all loving wonderful God Humanity thinks I Am I've done things to you people that sickens me I don't know why I did them but I did you can look back on history and probably pick out the events that I had a hand in they're pretty obvious you know how people always say why would God let that happen well it's because I'm an and I'm sorry I'm sorry for all the I've made you people go through you didn't deserve it
I just kept pushing the Envelope and you Christians never lost faith in me you always found ways to make sense of it all always giving me the glory I didn't deserve it I'm so sorry I didn't say anything the weight of his words collapsing in on me like the walls of a cave trapping me in their conviction how could I believe any of this it was nonsense and yet another crash echoed in the sanctuary and this time I took notice because it Filled the silence oh no I heard the man whisper fear stirring his voice
what's wrong I asked quietly I heard the shuffle of a curtain and then the creek of wood they're here I swallowed hard who the old horns something dropped into the pit of my stomach and I was suddenly very on edge one hand resting on the curtain in front of me don't open it do not look at them the man hissed why I whispered my voice unsteady now just don't he said Urgently my time here is done I am at the end of my road stay in your booth father until you hear the silence again it
will be safe then this is insane I whispered there's nothing out there the man leaned into the screen his voice Earnest I know I have no right to ask this of you but please have faith in me one last time my hand remained Frozen my sweaty fingers plastered to the curtain I was paralyzed to born between The Madness of his story and the horrific Sinking feeling I felt in my chest please absolve me of my sins and I'll leave you alone forever the man begged Now voice shaking mind spinning I released the curtain and turned
to the screen something moved outside the booth a scraping sound across the marble floors I made the sign of the cross and voice trembling I I absolve you of your sins and go in peace the man exhaled heavily Relief filling him thank you Father thank you suddenly a noise blasted through the church so loud I had to cover my ears my heart leaping into my throat it was the blast of a low horn a long single note that rattled me to the bone as the sound faded a drop of sweat ran down my face what
in the hell it's time the man said wait I cried pressing my face against the screen don't go out there please the man's voice softened maybe this is how It's supposed to be I never sent anyone to die on a cross for your sins but I do love you I love all of you and I can't thank you enough for keeping me company all of these years you truly are incredible people God bless you father then I heard the curtain rustle as he stepped out into the sanctuary his footsteps echoed away from me and I
slammed my hands over my ears again as another horn sounded my breath Blew sour across my tongue and I sat panting waiting sweat rolling down my spine I heard the man speaking to something but I couldn't understand him his voice muffled my hands clenched my pants and every part of me screamed to look but I resisted teeth grinding together as I squeezed my eyes shut I began to count in my head desperately needing to focus on something 1 2 3 4 another ear splitting horn sounded off the low notes so loud I Heard the confessional
Booth Creak against the blast 5 6 7 8 9 I opened my eyes I had just felt something change something in the air a shift in energy a draining of something that was no longer there I sat panting for a few moments longer then let out a long breath releasing the tension I had been holding inside of me cautiously I reached out and grasped the curtain in front of me I stood my old bones sighing and dragged a shaking hand across my brow I opened the Curtain the sanctuary stood empty not long after that I
gave up the cloth I just couldn't do it anymore something about that day shook me to the very essence of my being I've discussed the event with a couple of their priests and they just don't understand I don't blame them when I recite my story it sounds like the ramblings of a Madman who would alter their life so drastically based on one interaction especially considering the Circumstances but I have and I don't regret it something about prayer just feels so empty now I don't know what's going to happen when I die in truth no one
does but what I do know is what I felt that day inside the confessional that was real when I strip away everything else all of the questions and Oddities that twist in my gut is what remains I can't explain what I witnessed I can't rationalize the Bizarre sounds I heard I can't reenact to the conviction I heard in that man's voice but I was there and it was real and that is what I have put my faith into [Music] [Music] you have been given a chance one single opportunity just for you little one you don't
have to endure the tribulations about to be Unleashed you can escape all of that Misery all you have to do is Listen to my voice as before it begins the same a faint hum vibrates from the sky that tickles the back of your throat the resonance builds to a thunderous resounding blast of one of the seven Celestial trumpets each time that horrible sound is heard it has heralded the start of another 3 years of suffering each more horrifying than the last four times has the trumpet sung its song before the echo of the fifth trumpet
fades you will Be given a chance to escape when that familiar tickle reemerges an object will appear in the sky as it nears the intensity of the deep tone grows you know it is only a matter of time before the deafening blast is heard once more however this time what is to come will be different the past four soundings of the trumpet brought with them disasters never seen in such magnitude yet you understand what they were yes they were terrifying but it was all within the Realm of your understanding you know what makes the Earth
roll and Quake you know why fiery mountains fall from the heavens knowledge has freed you from the archaic belief in the Supernatural no longer does such nonsense deceive you into believing the displeasure of a God will call the hurricane or a curse will summon the Cyclone or a hex will bring down the plague upon you it is something different that approaches from above it is an abomination It is warm word the Hebrews called him abadon the banished and the Greek knew him as aoleon the Destroyer life as you knew it is now over for he
holds the keys to the bottomless pit that has imprisoned his army since even before the words let there be light were spoken do you remember the first time we spoke little one after the second trumpet sounded you were given a vision of the pools of nakura Sara If you were able to find the location of those sacred Waters go there now three pools sit at the end of a t-shaped rock formation as the moon Peaks out from the Horizon its Crimson light gives the waters the appearance of blood the higher it rises in the sky
Long Shadows are cast upon the rock the likeness and resemblance of a man outstretched upon the rocks will appear before you stand in the center of the three pools Tread carefully for you stand before the image of the sacrament laid upon his symbol each pool has a name the pierced left hand the pierced right hand the pierced foot before you prepare to receive the blessings of the pierced abdomen it requires you to be Anointed with the Ethereal spearhead that will now run you through there is no outward wound but blood is now seeping internally into
the empty places within you your body has now become the fourth Pool of sacrifice when you collapse from the pain ensure that you fall into one of the pools of water if you fall onto dry Earth you will have missed your only chance to enter the portal and you will lose the atonement as punishment your wounds will be healed but you will live the remainder of your days marked as was Cain hunted by both Angel and Demon if successful you will awaken in a dark candlelit stone building lined with pews and ing at a great
altar you stand upon The place of worship where the crossroads meet behind you are three mirrors very similar in orientation to the pools of water you recently stood before shake off the Chill from your wet body and make haste little one time moves differently here and we must move quickly look to the altar do you see it there in the shadows a figure is kneeling in the distance slowly and cautiously approach it the creature is tall and hooded it should be deep in Prayer Whispering strange incantations if it is not do not come any closer
only approach if it is in prayer do not interrupt any disruption will be considered a great offense resulting in a painful death for you kneel in front of it bow your head do not make eye contact and wait be patient and make no mistake it knows you are there once it has considered you and deemed you worthy it will acknowledge your presence however if it decides you are Not worthy well there isn't really much more that needs to be said now is there it will ask you why have you come before me quickly tell it
I seek passage over the bridge it will take its time before answering you lack the knowledge to accomplish such a deed be brave little one once these words depart your lips there is no turning back the creature Towers above you I seek the knowledge of the Forbidden I wish to know what is the image of God it will Slowly lift its head close your eyes and shut them tight you will hear its body creaking like breaking branches of a tree it leans close taking in your scent from the air its hands hover and encircle over
you the fingers Glide in the air following the shape and curves of your body coming ever so close but never quite touching you a deep quivering exhale of breath escapes the creature's mouth and it makes contact with your skin it caresses Your face with one hand as the other Rises slowly to embrace your head from the nape of the neck its bony fingers envelop your entire head from behind even with your eyes closed and its mouth unseen you can tell it is pleased with what it holds you can tell it is smiling it will grab
you by the wrist and lift you off the ground the ferocity of its grip is both sensual and violent you're helplessly dangled above the ground as it brings you closer to the face hidden In the shadows underneath its dark and worn Hood its breath coats your face with a prickly dust that stings your skin droplets of saliva fall from its mouth and hit the ground as a scabbed tongue emerges from underneath the hood it slides and probes the entire surface of your face until it finds particular interest in where your eyes rest it is here
where it wants to enter the cold lumpy tongue will start pushing and poking squeezing and groping the tops of Each eyeball through your eyelids pressure builds in your head from your closed eyelids as it continues to violate the fragile organs that hide behind your thin eyelids the scabs feel like hundreds of little fingers its fingernails quickly find where your eyelids meet and begin to scratch viciously to try to pry them open shut your eyes tighter the little fingers intensify their efforts to dig into your eyes with raw and obscene Desperation one of the scabby protrusions
bursts coating your face in a hot sticky tar-like fluid that slightly burns the putrid afterbirth from the abscess spill onto you as the tongue continues to throb relentlessly on the surface of your closed eyes suddenly the tongue withdraws and there is silence keep your eyes shut and wait eventually you begin to make out a faint sound coming from the being it is a cross between a moan and a hum it is not Quite a voice singing as there is no Melody to the sound but like melodic singing there is a flow to the tones and
variation in the intonation listen carefully as the words will emerge for you to hear it happened after the sons of Adam had multiplied in those days the Angels the children of Heaven beheld them and some became enamored with the image from when he was created they conspired amongst each other and said come let us select for ourselves from The progeny of men and so we were drawn onto them by insatiable hunger and thirst a sensation unfamiliar to our kind we then swore all together and all bound ourselves by Mutual execrations to abandon our holy station
we descended upon Aris which is the top of Mount Armen and devoured all which the labor of men produced to our Delight the Flesh of man cried out to us in return and embraced our new form they loved us and we came to love them never had such Pleasures of skin pleasures of sight pleasures of tongue and pleasures of Mind been experienced by any living thing man was show in the wondrous Transcendence of the grotesque and reveled in the vile decadence of Purity during our time together we taught them sorcery and incantations we gave them
knowledge of the forging of metal and healing with herbs we instructed them in ways of Agriculture and Mathematics we revealed Power so great it allowed them to command the atom from within the rocks of the mountain and from the water of the sea we freed their minds and released them from the enslavement of the father in turn they worshiped us as their love for us strengthened they basked in our adoration but it was not true love we bestowed it was deception our actions and deeds came with dire consequences we had angered the Creator and desecrated
his creation mad with Rage the father plunged his hands into the fabric of reality and altered the delicate strands of fate and possibility ities with this Divine manipulation he altered the pattern and set into motion a new future in the predestined plan we had been judged we had condemned ourselves and Humanity to an eternity of suffering and pain our bodies would be scorched and burned until the end of time in a lake of fire and brimstone however all was not lost for We had discovered the Forbidden secret man they were are true salvation we prepared
and molded them in our image and when they were ready we begot the Nephilim it will lean closer and Whisper into your ear ever so softly I shall Grant thee thy request for it is the seed of the holiest of Lies the very lie that brought forth original sin a great harvest will come about from that seed a seed that is the very fruit of the Knowledge of good and evil it is such forbidden knowledge that binds the Creator to the laws of his creation a way to deceive the eyes of the one who is
all seeing and th the mind of the one who is all knowing but be warned for if I bestow this wisdom onto thee forever will it restrain thee to my will behold the answer thou seek is thou are not of the image then it stops you are alone in the darkness slowly open your eyes I know You are scared little one but it is safe now get to your feet the great altar has split open and revealed an entrance that allows you to proceed onward the pain in your side must be getting worse by now
I can see a protrusion the size of an Apple has formed on your side you don't have much time enter the alter and move on you enter a large opening with a dark Ravine separating you and a structure containing stairs leading up to what appears to be a temple from the Ravine Grows thick black Thorns that slightly sway even though there is no wind their points glisten with a substance that can only be poison do not get too close in the center of the Ravine is a single pathway that juts up from the thicket of
needles and Thorns that will provide you a safe passage to walk on the pathway ends at the far end to the foot of the stairways of the temple at the top of the stairs there will be four Thorns where the ones known as the four living Creatures Reign they are covered with eyes in front and in the back and they look down on you with an unnerving mischievous stare the first living creature is that of a lion the second is like an ox the third will have the face of a man and the fourth fourth
is like a great Eagle each of the four living creatures will have six wings covered with eyes all around even under its wings at the foot of each creature a body on its knees chants continuously Before them their faces look up to the sky in their arms pulled and stretched outward by barbed shackles embedded into their flesh the monacle stretch and contort their limbs to mimic the act of Eternal worship its flesh is bleached white and heavily scarred from head to toe that wears a blood red smok from its waist down to its feet and
holds a dirty curved blade in its hand branded on their backs is a room that bears the resemblance of a cross with hooked ends Consider yourself fortunate they have their backs towards you consider yourself fortunate they have their backs toward you and their mutilated faces are obscured from your view they are the Bish iously moved past them the Bish were four men great Kings and leaders of the world they ruled vast lands that ran red with Innocent blood from every man woman and child who had The Misfortune of Being Born into their Kingdom the Four
Kings were like grown children Spoiled and naked fighting each other biting and gnawing at the teeths of their great mother earth her face beaten and scratched from when they would feed so viciously they knew only to gorge on her black milk that flowed from deep within her bosom their greed and decadence their very existence offended all who could peer into your world their wicked lives were ended the day they were raptured and bound like statues within the walls Of this Great temple they must now worship the four living creatures as they once commanded others to
worship them in life they suffer now as their Kingdom suffered for every son and daughter who found death from fighting the wars they created their skin is blistered and torn and their eyes are stung with the Venom from the tals of a thousand scorpions but be warned if they are awakened from their trance and given use Of their limbs once again one can be well assured they would not be too Pleasant in unison the four creatures will hold up a key each with a unique emblem on its end and speaks the first creature that looks
like a lion will offer you its key and say aqu the ox will offer you its key and say Leviathan the third creature with the face like a man offers its key and says Cliff 38 lastly the creature that is like an Eagle will offer you the final key and say cism as the last key is presented you hear brittle crackling like Autumn Leaves From the movement of dead skin skin from behind you followed by the loud Clank of chains falling to the ground make your choice make it quickly the Bish are beginning to stir
once they see you they will catch you and they will kill you make your choice you will know which one to choose I promise take The key and run run faster run faster they are coming their howls are high pitched gurgles and hisses the screeches build as they close the distance between you and them the slices of their blades come closer and closer the blood pouring out of your mouth and nose cannot slow you down run faster run faster do not stop until you reach the Church of Worship head straight for the dark glass you
saw when you first awoke in the church do not slow down run head first Into it crash into the mirror do not look back do not look back whatever you do do not look back you will awaken shortly the pools of water are now dried up Earth cracked and Barren the moon should be at its peak height in the sky covering the land in its red glow in the distance of the plane you should see a piercing Shimmer of light it is only temporary as the moon loses its red shade the beacon tube begins to
diminish in Darkness I am sorry you are in so much pain dearest little one it pain PS me to ask any more of you your body has so little left to give it is so weak and fragile but I must ask one last thing of you one final plea I must beg of you you must reach that Beacon of light in the distance before that last of the red moon shines down upon it or you will be trapped I am here for you push aside all pain and despair listen to my voice and use everything
you have have left to get To the light now abdon is here even from miles away his arrival knocks you off your feet get up little one there isn't much time abdon is near and his thoughts are of nothing but you you see the brilliant beam of light shoot up into the sky the source of this powerful Beacon comes from an archway standing on an empty plane within the archway is a massive and Majestic door standing in the emptiness with a key in hand you must get that door open before the red Moon shines down
upon it no more and any hope of saving you is lost forever ignore the wheezing sound you make when you breathe pull open that door the blood on your hands is everywhere making it hard for you to get a good grip on the door handle pull harder you only need to open it enough for you to squeeze through the light is almost gone pull pull pull you did it get inside and shut that door as fast as you can and lock it the light is gone it is Done if you place your ear to the
door you may hear something that sounds like buzzing or fluttering a sound that can only be made by the flapping of millions of wings there will be scraping and there will be beating on the other side of the great door then only screams behind you is a large dark tunnel with a light at the end walk into the light and claim your reward my little one I walked into the bright light slowly my eyes adjusted to the Brightness but I could already feel the warm breeze on my face and hear a trickling from a nearby
stream everything slowly comes into Focus the most beautiful Valley spanned out in front of me it was made of hills and green sprinkled with every color imaginable where the most beautiful flowers peppered the landscape I walked towards the clearing and I saw a Crystal Blue pond I dipped my CED hands into the water and drank it Soothed my chapped lips and parched throat it was amazingly sweet and there was an odd sensation as I swallowed the water it was like a shock from a tiny bit of electricity but without any pain only satisfaction I then
caught the scent of something new and intoxicating on the far side of the pond was gathering of trees I instantly knew that among these there was one that is the source of that unceasing smell I knew there was no Other like it its leaves its FL flower and its bark would never wither and its fruit would be so beautiful and delicious as I approached the border of the foliage that's when I saw them a man and woman I froze the couple were walking hand in hand I think they're naked I made my way closer making
sure to stay hidden behind the bush I don't know why I was hiding from view why should I be afraid of a couple of naked people yep they were definitely naked I Looked around and realized that my tree was at the center of the Grove that held this paradise but next to my tree was another tree it was just as Majestic and impressive but there was something ominous about it something powerful I looked carefully at these two unique and special trees that grew in this in this Garden I now realized what this place was and
where I am I'm startled when I feel something vibrate in my pocket it was the key I chose as I removed the Large key from my pocket and opened my palm I noticed the markings on its emblem in more detail when it was offered to me by the winged creature I simply thought it was marked with the infinity symbol upon closer look now I realized it was a serpent devouring its own tail in the shape of the infinity symbol my mind was unlocked it was all so clear now I knew my purpose I knew why
I was created it was was always God's will to destroy his creation once Destroyed he could fulfill his promise to bind his enemies and cast them into the Lake of Fire where they would suffer for all eternity the trumpets were a countdown to his planned end those branded the enemy had spent their immortality trying to find a way to prevent it from happening but how do you outsmart an omniscent and omnipresent being you use the very laws of existence against him for with the creation of the universe laws had to be created he had No
choice but to subject himself to those laws for the universe to exist the Fallen ones realized the only way to prevent the end was to break the predestined inevitable chain of events leading to the end they must have figured out how to connect two points of existence creating a bridge for me to enter it causes everything to stop and reset back to the very beginning instead of continuing along the predestined path it never ends it never reaches Judgment Day existence was a loop we are destined to keep repeating it over and over and over again
to escape damnation it was Infinity like the serpent devouring its tail the serpent was thought to be Lucifer God's adversary but Lucifer was not a thing or an entity with thought or Consciousness he was the Infinity of time the only thing capable of denying God's Divine will it was the one simple thing that is protecting us from the Wrath of an Angry God I felt its Familiar presence immediately I don't turn around but even if I did I knew it would not harm me it stood behind me for a while quietly admiring its work it
gently placed a large and cold object in my hands before the Fallen Angel spoke the words that would be my final instructions I looked down at the key mesmerized by the shape of the serpent it was so old and worn the jewel that made up the Serpent's eye twinkled in contrast to the bright red piece of Fruit held in my other hand I now understood I had one more thing to do I wondered how many times I have done this how many times have I crossed the bridge and stood at this very spot how many
Man was created in the image of God but I am not of the image I am the serpent I am Nephilim the breath of a faint whisper now sweet and warm was spoken into my ear just five simple words make them eat little one [Music] [Music] I pick her up from the side of the road and she smells like sweat old fruit in the heat she says she's not a prostitute she's just looking for a ride East I tell her I'm not looking for a prostitute she grins Bears her teeth never said you were she
says we ride in silence I say I'm headed east as well to the coast that she can stay with me as long as she needs but that's where I'm going she nods says she's going in that Direction anyway the AC is broken in my car and we drive with the windows open sweat beating on her top lip her forehead black locks of hair stick to her face she sings sometimes half completed Melodies songs I recognize songs I don't when she forgets the words she just hums letting the tune slowly die in her throat we spend
the evenings together drenched in heat drinking in bars watching old movies on Motel TVs lying on synthetic sheets holding cold Bottles of beer against our cheeks it's unspoken but after a week we stop booking different rooms share a bed after the first time we we're laying in bed and she says there's something inside me it crawled inside me when I was a girl and I can't get it out she gets real serious when she says this frowns in a way I didn't know her face could pulls her lips together I can see the tension can
see the fault lines her usual Expressions play across and fall Silent she says it's eating her alive that it's sat squat in a pool of her bile and beer and last night's room service and that sometimes it steals her voice steals it right from her throat and changes her uses her words throws them back up and out her mouth says it weighs on her carrying this thing and that it's like a parasite we drive a little longer taking our time and arguing and playing cards on plastic tables by the side of The road she tells
me about her childhood her parents her sister who ran away and came back with a boyfriend and half her teeth missing she tells me she never drinks before midday that she can play the violin but hates the sound of it that once she was bitten by a snake and she shows me the scar she lets me run my hand over it the pale knot of skin halfway up her calf I I tell her why I'm going why I had to get out what I hope to find on the coast we talk of The ocean salt
spray and boats thin clouds over a Black Sea fresh fish and lemon she mes picking the Bones from her teeth I watch her fingers long and tapered the ends of her nails ragged and chewed sometimes we lie in bed together and she'll rest her forehead against my back and Whisper things like I think you were made for me I think this is how it was always meant to go and this is where I was always meant to be some days she can't get up says nothing lies in a Fetal position in the motel bed staring
at the wall she says she doesn't want to eat or drink and I find things to keep myself busy I take long walks and find a bar read paperbacks with yellow pages and broken spines on dirty deck chairs I swim in pools that are too chlorin pools that make my eyes sting and my skin pucker pools that turn a neon blue in the midday Sun she said whatever crawled inside her was dark and hungry and that all she can do is feed it but that most Of the time she's so tired of being a host
that she can't do anything the days spent in bed come more and more and sometimes now it's a whole week her knees drawn up to her chest and and I'll come in and find her with her forehead against the floor or so drunk she vomits hot bile on the pillows sometimes when she's like this she'll say things that make no sense she'll say that maybe there is no thing inside her and it's all her and it's all Her brain that gray lump of matter spasming and seizing in her skull sometimes she'll just say that she
thinks there's nothing inside her that she's Hollow and empty like a doll I tell her I love her but I think I loved her from the moment I picked her up and she says I thought she was a hooker that I wanted to her and give her money and that I hate her like I probably hate all women says that if I could find it in myself to love her then I could find It in myself to love anyone like a sick dog shivering on the roadside and she says that's what I am a dog
who stinks and follows her around and whes at the sound of thunder she spits misses she tells me as I Drift Off to Sleep a pillow and the floor my bed that she's sorry that she didn't mean it that whatever crawled inside her took her voice a week later she's dead I find her in the bathtub and instead of slitting her wrists she slit her belly Wide open like a second mouth the incision red and clean for a while I don't do anything I study the condensation on the mirror the faint pink of the water
listen to the drip of the tap the locals verify my alibi the wounds are clearly self-inflicted the police are done with it all pretty quick they can't find her family we have a small funeral me and the woman at the checken desk who smells of lavender and Holds my hand and tells me that she was so pretty and you obviously loved each other very much and even though the words don't mean very much I appreciate just that someone is saying something to me that night I cannot sleep it's too hot the covers stick to me
the heat feels invasive under my chin licking at my back between my fingers and I hear it motion scrabbling from somewhere the lights outside barely illuminate the room but I can suddenly See it a dark shape pressed in the corner of the room between the ceiling and the two walls so many legs I can't count a shape darker than shadow that moves like some giant insect spasmodic twitching I can do nothing but lie still mouth open in a Silent Scream as it lowers itself slowly from the ceiling the gossamer thread glistens in the halflight the
thing Wiggles settles on my face and it's so heavy like it's made from Iron and I can feel its Legs all around me and its body slowly forcing its way into my jaw and there's nothing I can do nothing I can do but lie there and let it Force its way in until I can see its final legs disappear down my throat their bristles and hairs making my mouth burn I wake in the morning a bad dream I think but whatever's Inside Me Now is hungry I try and smoke it out buying a pack of
cheap cigarettes smoking one after the other and flicking the butts into the Shimmering blue of the small pool outside but the thing thrives on smoke I try to drown it sinking beer after beer in a dive bar blinded by the tacky signs and mirrors shirt sticking to my back it's so hot I drink so much the world staggers tries to find its footing but can't and then I'm out on the curb wretching and I can tell the thing inside me has soaked it all up turned all those hops into fat and sustenance and after this
has failed I Know it's growing fat in my belly I Stumble back to my motel room and I try to beat it out I smash my forehead against the wall until I see spots of light and taste iron and when they break down the door my whole face is swollen and I'm telling them that something crawled inside me in the night and I can't get it out I can feel it stir in my stomach something heavy and black can feel it readjust itself away from the shaft of light I imagine my throat casts Whenever I
open my mouth like a spider in a bathtub all joints and blinking eyes I'm disgusted by myself the idea that this thing lives under my skin and sleeps there wet with my bile and warmed by my blood I moved back home at least to what passes for home I never make it East when I retrace our route on a map I can see that we moved in lazy circles never really going anywhere happy and content with the idea of motion but not its Consequence whatever it is inside me Smothers me sometimes it steals my voice
and says things I do not mean but that sound like me mean and spiteful things it nips at my tongue and pinches my lips and I can feel it shaking against the insides of my teeth it makes a nest with the guilt and purs lays eggs and cares for them I can hear it click with Glee when I don't make it out of bed when I lie there until my head hurts from dehydration and my skull begins to feel Like a membrane it sinks further into me so I drift I am baseless I try and
pretend that I have nothing under my skin that it is just Flesh and Blood like everyone else but I think people can see through that the bags under my eyes the dirt on my clothes the way my face never comes to rest sometimes I think people can see it shifting inside me people stop and stare on public transport watching these limbs press against my skin from the inside Like tent poles and I'll have to try not to cry out I think I can Spa others with something inside them their silences admissions eyes that move too
slow we say nothing to each other scared that if we acknowledge whatever is inside one another we'll acknowledge whatever is inside us and then it will be real and there will be nothing we can do about that the colors bleed from the world around me everything leaks drains they become brittle and shallow and Nothing there is no moment of realization there is no moment where I am cured I attend meetings and talk to people listen and hear about what crawled inside them how they feel it what their Darkness eats and likes and thrives on some
people will not come back they will say things the last time I see them like thank you and it's been a pleasure and live well and then I won't see them again until I attend their funerals Weeks Later I learn what it likes I learn how to feed it how to coexist there is no Grand Victory there is no moment where I realized that to flush it out of my system I must face it headon and learn some great truth about myself and I will emerge from this Chrysalis a better and more thoughtful man there
is nothing Redemptive about me no realization I am offered instead I learn when to capitulate when to let it Have the upper hand and some days that's exactly what happens it steals my voice and my energy and all I can do is lie on my bed and Drool on the pillow but some days I learn how to keep it quiet it Retreats Into the Dark Places inside me hides a while and when that happens I take my time I take long walks I remember her name I drive to the Sea and sit so close I
can taste the salt in the air [Music] Lung cancer stage three inoperable those were the words that spelled out my ultimate fate and while it wouldn't be a particularly original Way to Die the irony wasn't lost on me I'd never touched a cigarette during my short lifespan despite growing up in a household where pretty much everyone inhaled those toxic fumes including my own parents of course they are both alive and healthy even to this day they never suffered any consequence es for Any of their unhealthy habits not even a dent put in their lung capacity
Destiny truly is a Fickle there I sat at the doctor's office speechless after hearing the diagnosis I had just gone in for a persistent cough from what I thought it would be nothing more than a common cold in all honesty I didn't feel that sick but my wife had convinced me to go for a checkup regardless and because of that checkup I had just been told that In less than a year I would be dead I've never been much of a religious person if asked I'd put myself somewhere on the agnostic spectrum of not knowing
what the hell is going on that being said I didn't fear death I had spent one too many nights thinking about my inevitable departure from this world and had accepted that life was a precious resource that would inevitably expire I just didn't think it would be so soon one true quarrel with death was leaving My family behind at The Not So ripe age age of 42 I still hadn't saved up enough money to keep us afloat in case of an emergency and while my wife worked neither of us made enough to support a child on
our own and it just so happened we had a 10-year-old son together that's why I started praying begging bargaining for a second chance each night I tried a different God desperately looking for other worldly answers regardless of religion or relevance in modern society I was desperate the doctor offered a combo treatment of radiation and chemotherapy of course none would extend my life in any meaningful way but I started the treatment nonetheless hoping that maybe someone could offer a miracle cure but of course my hopes were left unanswered in the beginning of this year my body
had deteriorated to the point that I was nothing but a loose sack of skin draped over a malform set of Bones I knew I only had a few weeks left Before the cancer that gated Within Me growing with each passing day finally won the battle when breathing became a little more than an agonizing chore serving only to initiate a Cascade of painful coughs I ended up bedridden next to an oxygen tank then finally on July 29th 2019 as I tried to get dressed and make the short Journey from my bed to the little breakfast table
down the hall in my Hospital everything suddenly Disappeared beneath my feet I started falling one second I was traversing the hospital hallway oxygen tank dragging on behind me and with a final gasp my pain was simply erased from existence the memory of my disease was nothing more than a faint dream and my life became part of a very distant past I had died I realized that much but the concepts of life and death themselves meant little to me in the grand scheme of things yes I had been part of a Society on earth a note
in the Everlasting Symphony of life but my part had passed and the song continued on without me while I moved on to the next stage I floated or sank it was hard to tell directions apart in my new weightless state it almost seemed like an ocean the deep blue hues surrounding me on all sides with bubbles of flickering light floating by delightfully circling me as I moved toward the brightest thing I had ever Seen though the light was blinding I could sense other beings surrounding me I turned and looked at them squinting my eyes to
get a brighter grasp of what they were they didn't resemble any creature ever walking upon Earth's surface but I could tell that they had once been human just like myself they were happy smiling without having faces voicelessly laughing I waved at them and they greeted me using nothing more than the warmth of their souls I still had my Body not yet processed by the afterlife but I felt healthy no longer ravaged by the tumors within my chest once I got close enough to feel the heat of the light my periphery darkened and the joyful creatures
dancing around me had been replaced by Shadows staring intently at my passing the new creatures weren't people but beings emitting the most Dreadful sense of sadness and anger they hated me for being able to touch the light while they were forever Trapped in the shadows one of them reached out for me its arm stretching impossibly far beyond its confinement it grabbed onto my leg and pitch black nails digging deep into my flesh tearing muscle from bone as I silently cried in agony before I could get a grasp of my situation another pair of hands grabbed
my arm tearing it straight from its socket a third pair wrapped around my chest digging deep into my lungs rumaging around where the tumors had Once lived more hands joined in and before long I was enveloped by hundreds of Shadows all tearing away at my limbs and organs but as all the meat was stripped from my body the hands had nothing more to hold on to and I was let go I was jolted awake back in the hospital gasping pathetically for air as the cancer once more inhabited most of my lung tissue my family stood
close by sobbing at my demise I really had died but only for about a Minute silence quickly filled the room as they noticed I was still alive doctors wearing shocked expressions and horrified stares from my son they were surprised confused as no attempts had been made to resuscitate me my death had been expected for so long that keeping me alive would be nothing more than a cruel joke yet once again I lived I had been so close to Eternal salvation but something had pulled me away denied my entrance to whatever lay Beyond of Course with
the cancer relentlessly spreading throughout my body I wasn't meant to stay despite the Bittersweet Taste of my Revival the locals hailed it as a miracle and multiple news stations wanted to share my story profit from it and I promptly declined I didn't want to tell anyone what I saw on the other side and I was in too much pain to accept it as a miracle as I stabilized they moved me to a hospice care facility death was still lingering around the corner but They said I might have a couple more weeks to spend with my
family if nothing more they' already said goodbye once and now that cruel trick of nature made them do it twice my wife didn't smile once in the following days she wore a tired expression on her face her eyes were sunken but I couldn't blame her taking care of a dying man is no easy task much less for someone that has to do it twice my son on the other hand would not stop crying he was too young to understand But he knew I wouldn't stay for much longer two weeks came and went in the blink
of an eye each day spent in misery dreading what awaited on the other side then one morning I simply didn't wake up once again the world was done with me I'd been tossed away from existence and just like before I started falling through time and space into an infinite void the shapeless being still floated in the peripheries lights that once wandered the Earth but this time there Were no smiles to greet me no joy filling my soul to the brim they were angry at me I had returned to a place I didn't belong and now
my journey was one no longer welcome I was pushed further toward the light away from the once Blissful Companions and it wasn't long before I saw the Shadows again there the light lingered just Out Of Reach so close I could almost touch it when a pair of Twisted hands grabbed onto me digging into my flesh this time they Didn't settle with violence they started whispering begging for me to pull them out of their prisons to take me with them millions of voices rushed through my heads promising it was all a misunderstanding that they had not
meant to hurt me that they wanted nothing more than the warmth of the light yet with their pleas for salvation they tore into me ripping me apart from within I couldn't help them I didn't know how and with that their voices turned from Prayers to anger they shouted obscenities from within my head filling it with hatred while telling me what would happened to my family once I truly perished in a split second a vision of my family's future became burned into my memory as if it had already happened depression would force my wife out of
her job and into a battle with drug addiction which eventually melted over to our son as he grew up unable to escape my son would get expelled after School ruined by the death of his father and his absent-minded mother at the age of 16 my son would get into drugs himself and ultimately die in a horrific car crash that was the summary Cascade of events that followed my death but the Shadows didn't stop there they promised a way out that they could save me and my family if only I took them with me toward the
light but I could never reach the light as desperately as I longed to move on I could never quite get there Always torn to shreds long before I touched it each brief visit to the promised afterlife left nothing more than a Barren fragment of thought alone in a world that didn't belong to me no matter what they did nothing happened and suddenly I was once again dragged away from the light back to an excruciating life since my diagnosis I have died a total of 16 times each time I'm further ripped apart by Shadows each time
Rejected by the light and flung back to my cancer riddled body my family has grown tired of my presence my once loving wife loves my very existence and my son is beyond traumatized I can barely move I can't feed myself and I need help just getting from bed to the toilet because by now my cancer has spread everywhere the doctor say I couldn't possibly be alive yet here I am it is even starting to eat away at my brain as well taking away not Only my physical body but the memory of what I used to
be along with it I prayed begged and bargained for more time with my family and I guess something answered as a result I was given infinite life just not a functioning body to go with it it but infinite agony isn't what truly haunts me nor the fact that I've been rejected by the afterlife itself because soon I won't have a mind to worry with what truly frightens me is that I now see the Shadows while I'm Awake I hear their Whispers at night as the pain medication slowly lulls me to sleep they're thanking me because
in their Whispers of lies and deceit their false desires of entering the light what they really wanted was our world and by returning to life I've brought them here they needed me to survive they needed a vessel to come here and extinguish the light we live in to take away the small amount of happiness that still exists on Earth they've already taken mine Infecting my family with their horrific purpose and desires I thought my wife had simply suffered one too many days due to my disease but it's the Shadows within her that has turned her
to the hateful creature she's become she went from a loving spouse taking care of me in my darkest days to spewing vile hatred in my direction for each time I returned from Death she hated me and she hated my son for being part of me every day she would laugh at my Agony Telling me that I hadn't done anything right that I couldn't even die properly in between the barges she'd let it slip who she really had become she thanked me for releasing her from the dark abyss smiling wide as she did it wasn't her
talking it was the creatures of course my son had been infected too he quickly followed after my wife when he stopped speaking and eating only rotting away in his room neglected by his sick mother Once he had become as emaciated and weak as myself he finally spoke telling me this would only be the beginning soon the rest would come through another Shadow for each trip I take to the Beyond I'm stuck in my broken body watching everything I love fade away so I'm writing this all down in an attempt at warning everyone of what exists
beyond the boundaries of life I need my last deed to be something remotely useful before my mind vanishes with the Rest of my decaying body perhaps my only hope is to destroy my body break down everything I am so that no Shadow can infest me but I'm too weak too frail to even leave my bed please don't let the darkness bread I'm sorry for bringing it here and my punishment is to stay alive and watch I'm half witted and broken when all I want is to Simply leave this place I want to keep falling [Music]
[Music] [Music] my name is Dr Steven Ron researcher at the Martian University of crevan what follows aren't really research notes as much as they are a way of keeping me sane I need them to truly grasp the magnitude of our discoveries to keep the order in my mind if you will for as long as historians could remember Humanity had been looking for their God but to no avail despite several Millennium of Searching no deity was ever found this never became a real issue though until the late 22nd century when we invented the ships needed to
explore space outside of our own solar system the telescopes required to truly Peak far beyond the universe and Technology allowing us to drill deep into the Earth Humanity had turned their eyes to the skies and to the planetary depths to look for answers neither Heaven Nor Hell was ever found however throughout the 23rd Century the disappointment grew and a new church Rose their priest preach about a dead God believing the ours had somehow died the religion had its major breakthrough GRE in 2267 and by 2300 they had already converted over a third of the people
to this new belief the necrotic church had more power than it could ever need and grew stronger every year My Story begins a good 20 years later however with me waking up for another day of research Aimed to find a definitive answer to the age-old question where is God I refuse to believe he died August 2th 4 2322 ad I decided to visit the observatory today my research had been stale these past few weeks and I felt I could use some new insights there's only so much one can learn from the history books after all
it always strikes me as odd though whenever I talk to the scientists here how we still have not discovered intelligent life this in Spite of our technological prowers and our planet colonizing habits I felt it would be a Solace though I guess I just don't want to be alone probably goes for all of us to be honest I would already settle for a few ruins some scriptures perhaps anything but the animalistic species that dominate every habited planet we've come across I digress there actually was an exciting new discovery made which my colleagues there told me
about they had Discovered a new species of g-like creatures albeit with much more flexibility in their claw-like fingers deep in the psh force of Titan major apparently the Beast had exhibited an irrational fear of the Explorers but that was not the strange part although the creatures vid's Titan aishiro displayed no exceptional cognitive ability they had somehow crafted numerous humanlike statues out of the thin wood found there the statues vary Greatly in size from a few inches to close to 10 ft but apart from gender differences they are almost exactly the same I do not know
what to make of it Adam and Eve Eden I need some sleep August 27th 2322 ad I received a message from Gerald as I woke up today he urged me to call back right away apparently he had been trying to reach my cell all night after all those years he still did not remember that I canot sleep with that thing Turned on not that it mattered much these past few nights my research will not let me sleep and even if I do fall asleep I have to face the nightmares I will not be riding those
down here however as it is best I just forget them but I digress eager to catch up I called Gerald during breakfast I did not think too much of his calls during the night back then for he had done so before good morning Dr star I hope you slept well I Began what are you alone he promptly interrupted me uh yes yes I am good well Dr Ron I have some good news for you he said sounding like his old self again if they have not brainwashed you yet of course they do try I laughed
what news do you have you should come back to earth Steven at least that church does not control everything here yet he explained to me how there was a whole community of like-minded scientists in Tokyo some of them atheists Gerald gave Me a contact number of one of the Martian members from what I understood the scientists were split into two research groups one branch aimed to find heaven or any sign of God in the Galaxy the other held on to the belief that God lived inside all of us it is a shame I know Gerald
to be a firm believer of the latter for it would be a pleasure to work together again searching the Galaxy sounds like a much more exciting prospect however August 30th 2322 ad Church confiscates alien artifacts read The Heading of the news website today can you believe that those priests actually did that the first alien craftsmanship we ever found and they are claiming it and probably burning it soon too no scientists will be examining those wooden statues on a more cheerful note I finally met the other scientist Gerald had told me about the Martian chapter operated
in a state-of-the-art research facility on the crater Plains Near crevan I was able to explore the entirety of it with Chief researcher Dr H as my guide he explained to me that they had found found several Rich benefactors mainly older religions to take care of the financial aspect of their research most of the funding was used on the observatory however and it was magnificent the telescopes were unlike anything I'd ever seen before both in scale and effectivity furthermore Dr H Assured me that those were not even the most advanced models they had in the hallway
stood a number of brand new telescopes still wrapped in their packaging and several parts of a legitimately giant one like scattered across the floor I also took the opportunity to ask him about the news I had heard today though I wish I had not you heard the news today I asked about the church's latest Confiscation yes I did he nodded and I'm afraid there is even more to it than that come walk with me he led me through a series of Highly secured doors into another wing of the research center that I had not yet
seen we entered a large chamber that was stacked to the bridge with computers there were huge touch screens on both walls and at least a dozen Engineers Manning the technology this is what I like to call the War Room Dr H said in here we gather all the Information we can on the necrotic church and their activities now about today's news we have reason to believe that they did not only confiscate the statues but exterminated the whole species that crafted them as well he spoke what who who knows what could have been found out by
by studying those animals these thoughts will not let me sleep what could the church be planning September 10th 2322 ad the workload over The last few weeks had been enormous and I had not had much time to write down my thoughts these are turbulent times but I will get to that later now since I am one of the scientists at the facility without extensive prior knowledge of astronomy Dr H had me doing mostly paperwork I had to check the planets that had already been discarded by the other researchers to make sure that they were nothing
special check reports on the church in The war room and listen to the incoming radio signals or rather radio static from outer space most of it was not that exciting but it left me plenty of time to talk with the other scientists there and focus on my own research it was not so bad at first but then the church began tracking us down to make matters worse we could all follow it in the war room we could see how the bastards were systematically hunting us all down Forcing us to slow our research and keep a
low profile I have to admit that I was and still am frightened the facility itself is pretty secure but the risk of getting caught in your own home grows day by day it feels as if we are running out of time with so many of my colleagues being captured my workload increased immensely and I even got to help with the telescopes it was then that I was finally initiated in the true progress That the facility had already made something out there in the galaxy was moving and we had no clue what it was the only
proof we had of its existence were our calculations seeing the light had not even reached its part of the Galaxy yet but whatever it was it had our whole facility confounded as it did not seem to follow any of the laws centuries of scientific progress had come up with one our object does not move in a logical pattern and appears to Be unaffected by gravity two our object seemingly pulls and releases other celestials in its vicinity at will without any kind of foreseeable pattern September 11th 2322 ad those are not even the most disturbing things
about whatever we found out there I was not even supposed to be clued in about what follows so perhaps I should not record it either but I do not feel like I have a choice anymore this is too much Here is my attempt at transcribing my conversation with Dr H as he had called me into his office today Dr Ron have a seat T he greeted me well I don't mean to be blunt but why did you call me in here there's just so much work ah yes you picked up on any signals yet he
answered blankly well I began until my eyes met his fear there is a reason I call you in here Steven our numbers are dwindling and Seeing as how you've helped greatly over the last few weeks you deserve to know he sighed and handed me a file it was about the galactic anomaly we had discovered the calculations show the our object's gravitational pole is so strong so very powerful that it is affecting the orbit of this very Planet as well as every other one what but we are dealing with something far beyond what we thought was
rationally possible beyond what we Dr H fell silent for a moment And then looked up and started whispering something of which I could only decipher the word life or alive I was frightened already it felt as if I just stood there for hours not knowing what to do the Man simply stared at the ceiling with a creepy Blank Stare I'd finally managed to open my mouth as he looked at me again we found God he whispered we did isn't that a bit rash I answered Shivers running down my spine no we did his eyes Were
full of Steely conviction and he knows it's all in the file how the light has stopped moving towards it ever since we discovered him we still can't see further into that sector of space than we could 4 months ago that can't be right it is but there's more he grabbed the file out of my hands and began flipping through the pages here at exactly 10:06 a.m. yesterday his movements ceased being random his eyes grew wide but he's coming our Lord's on His way and we are not prepared I must remain calm and focused I must
be calm and focused I am calm and focused I am so am I September 12th 23228 as was to be expected I barely slept tonight in the morning I could not get up though and it was not until noon that I finally admit that I would not find the answers in my own home so many questions kept rushing through my mind As I checked my email during breakfast surprisingly Gerald had sent me a document overnight without any further information experiment TZ d2322 0518 executed by Dr Reynolds Dr sty Dr Celli and Dr Zing 9:30 a.m.
subject heavily sedated and strapped to operating table subject expects to receive a routine cosmetic procedure in order to ensure the Experiment goes as planned 9:41 a.m. subject's Cranium carved open and electroids applied shocks are being applied at regular intervals subject displays no visible signs of stress or duress and appears to have entered the desired semicom state 10:18 a.m. subject Grunts and mumbles intelligibly intensity of the shocks is being Amplified 10:34 a.m. subjects rambling loudness and twitching occurs shock Strength is being wrapped up again Dr styres protest is denied 11:06 a.m. subject suddenly stops moving and
goes silent 1113 a.m. subject's heartbeat has dropped noticeably over the past few minutes to an astounding 7 be PM 11:16 a.m. subject's heartbeat drops below 1 BPM electrodes being turned even higher nearing maximum output 11:18 a.m. subject starts moving and I strongly feel that all experiment TZ d2322 0518 points towards us having Found a way to an hypothesis that is supported by all previous TZ line experiments I was not sure what to make of it why did Gerald choose to share this it was interesting to finally read some of his research but mostly everything was
classified anyway not to mention that I had no clue what good such experiments could do in our search for the deity it took a while for me to be able to leave the comfort of my home and head to work at which point I was Called by an unknown number reluctantly I answered the call hello who is this Steve listen up I don't have much time Gerald what did you read the file I sent you yes but I'll be at Kevin tomorrow night you need to meet me at the Pelican on Desmond square at exactly
8:00 p.m. Gerald what the hell 8:00 p.m. Steve you have to be there Gerald silence what is going on any answer will do then when my stressed out self finally got to the research Facility there was no one there not a single soul I carefully walked through the empty hallways as the lights were lit where I went in my mind there lured something behind every corner I took I checked my cell no calls no messages nothing moreover Dr Havard would not answer his I tried calling my other colleagues but none of them picked up either
strangely enough however most of the systems were still up and running All of them were seemingly working towards identifying The Entity rushing towards the earth I had trouble understanding the huge chunks of data most of the screen showed without Dr Havard though there was one screen that did catch my eye the big one in the center of the room it showed the entity itself and the insane speed in which it was racing towards us the thing was hidden in a black cloud and the images were not Sharp but I could see it nonetheless I could
see the dark tendrils protruding from the smoke and the thousands of eyes it seemed to have this mooniz monstrosity it cannot be I fear for the others I truly do September 13th 2322 ad I stayed home today despite the nightmares I battled all night at this point I felt that even the horrific imagery the paralyzing fear and even the auditory hallucinations my mind plagued me with were preferable to The outside world we were all going to die horribly anyway I figured at least I would pass in the comfort of my home though possibly insane the
there was no point in denying it this morning I had effectively lost it things bettered however and from 2: p.m. onward only minor hallucinations remained I kept hearing a faint yelling for example and a deep hushed voice calling out my name now psychiatrists would probably not agree with my Analysis but I blame it on the lack of sleep what was a lot more worrying was that I still had not heard anything from the research facility oh well I figured I should try focusing on other things I switched on the television to distract me for a
while the channel offered me a dozen different documentaries to pick from and I picked one about the growth of London as the first multi-layered Metropolis anything to keep my mind Occupied why was the clock ticking so slowly the documentary itself was not incredibly interesting the host tries his best to give an exciting trip through the city but everything seemed Bleak and gloomy and it had an effect on him as as well his demeanor grew more depressed and joyless by the minute and that was not the only thing that changed unfortunately the people he passed no
longer went on with their daily lives afterwards they dropped whatever they Were holding and watched with Dark Hollow eyes it was not long until Patrick realized this too it would appear that some of the citizens here have taken a dislike towards foreigners but I'm quite sure that he paused oh you were here here he spoke as his eyes turned black they all began staring straight at me as more and more people entered the screen what the hell is going on Christ save me save us all save us now why I only remember Switching off the
television and running outside in a moment of Primal Fear there was no memory of how I got to Desmond Square hours early 4:37 p.m. but at least the voices are gone whatever it is that is haunting me I'm sure that it will not strike me here with all those people around one of them was Gerald he was pale and thin having lost at least 30 lb and he looked to be tired beyond belief I had a feeling you would be early you've always been curious he said Come walk with me I followed him as he
walked towards the park did you read the notes I sent you they are important but horribly incomplete as you could probably tell I want to tell you what we found because someone has to know you are not going to make the research public I asked him they would never let us my entire team is dead Steven the church killed them all why what did you find they believe that we might have Found God Gerald said bitterly did did you I fear not but believe me when I say that not a moment goes by that I
hope we did we found something though but you'll have to take my word for it as all of our research has been destroyed he left a dramatic pause for a while we have discovered an entity that dwells within all of us seeing what we see hearing what we hear and ever so slightly controlling what we do we first Made contact with it during the experiments I sent you it would appear that the constant shocks we applied on our test subject had awakened it we tried communicating with it but soon our limbs were no longer our
own we were forced to kill the subject and report all of our findings to the necrotic Church all of this without our consent he sighed and sat down with slouched shoulders I don't even know if I choose to tell you this or whether this all Fits in this this thing's master plan we just sat there for a few minutes until I finally knew what to say so does the church think you found God I doubt it I think they just don't want our research to get public not even those lunatics could incorporate that in their
beliefs imagine what it would do to them if God turned out to be alive and almost tangible then what can we he grabbed me by the shoulders and stared straight Into my eyes as Panic rained in his pupils you must listen do you realize what we're dealing with here everything we've ever looked at everything we've ever cared about might be a lie he started talking fast faster and faster the reality we breathe that we think we live in is Warped Twisted beyond our comprehension Gerald listen to me you need to calm down we can't know
Steven we can't be sure anymore what what can't we know what lurks beond the edge of our Perception Gerald whispered with an empty look in his eyes Gerald I snap out of it do not trust anything Steven Gerald suddenly took a step back and reached inside his pocket to take out a small hand done I remember yelling no like they do in movies I remember the blood The Gunshot and me running away Gerald died today and I have the feeling that he will not be the last I do not know what is going on anymore
the hallucinations are gone For now but I still cannot quite grasp what Gerald was telling me what is even real anymore is there really something racing towards Earth the television shows nothing but static anymore or my imagining things I feel like a pawn but whose game are we playing September 14th 2322 ad it is becoming increasingly difficult to write in here though those two burden me immensely through every hour that I fail to catch sleep not just because my Dreams haunt me and break me through the they make me watch it is because I have
been crying tonight endlessly and almost violently I witnessed my best friend's death no no his murder and I cannot deal with it what brought him to do that and why will these tears not stop are these tears through the constant damaging of my notebook being used to stop me from writing am I becoming as paranoid as Gerald do I really believe that there's Something controlling us I am fully aware that these are the words of a shaken sleep-deprived and traumatized man but I still cannot bring my myself to rip them out of this book it
is 3:15 a.m. and I am afraid to close my eyes I must have fallen asleep eventually because I do partially recall a dream I had while some parts are vivid others seem to have been oddly blurred out is is there no place that I am safe my dream began with me standing in The middle of a field surrounded by a tall brick wall a few meters away from me it was night but I could see no stars I took a few uneasy steps when the wall started shifting bricks were constantly being added on top While
others were removed just as fast it was not long before holes began to appear on the wall though places where the bricks were disappearing too quickly to be replaced at first I could see nothing but Darkness through these holes but then I Began to notice the Blackness there was something out there removing those bricks and destroying my walls a creature so very dark that it stood out like the bright a star in this otherwise starless night I felt fear like never before as I slowly began to Define its shape long elongated arms made their way
through and reached for me before scratching the walls in frustrated rage as I backed away again and again my heart pounding in my chest suddenly the Limbs pulled back and for a few heartbeats everything was quiet again the wall had stopped shifting as a Prelude of something much much worse something out there out side of this little bit of shelter was roaring if it could even be called that it placed two hands on the sides of the holes and started pushing long bone-like fingers grabbed onto the wall which was now clearly cracking its hands pushed
the bricks out of the way as if it were Simple specs of dust it was only then that I finally got to see its face greeting me with a terrifying smile that would beit a psychopath it opened its mouth to reveal the void within and I recall thinking that I should recognize that face before it all went black and I woke up sweating and out of breath I had woken up to laughter of several tall shadow-like figures standing around my bed I tried to scream but they just kept staring I tried to open my eyes
but Nothing was changing that's when it all became a blur I remember wondering why they were not moving but I woke up sitting outside on my balcony my legs were hurting and the pain quickly urged me to stand up somehow I'd been sitting in the Lotus position which I had not been able to do since I was 14 or so are there any words for my confusion am I really still sane I forced myself to eat something But practically had to force the omelet down my throat the dream still spooked me and I felt like
my mind had finally been damaged Beyond repair my continuing headache only served to reinforce that statement and was as if lightning split my forehead as if my head was desperately trying to adopt my newfound Madness although one thing was crystal clear I could not let it consume me the Visions the dreams the disappearances Gerald suicide all of it had started With the discovery of Dr havard's God not to mention the discoveries that Gerald's team had made or had they just been crazy talk I had to connect the dots there had to be some sort of
reasoning behind all of this reluctantly I decided to go back to the research facility to gather more information all the while wondering why I was not more shocked by everything that had happened I just felt numb arriving at the facility was no Boon for my sanity either strangely enough everyone was there again and I was greeted by one very excited researcher Dr Stone according to her name tag who talked to me with seemingly Limitless respect she told me that Dr Havard was looking for me and other researchers gathered around as she was speaking they all
held their distance and all of them even ones I had worked with before stared at me with reverence in their eyes I felt confused and oddly Self-conscious hey guys I hope the research is still going strong I said and they seemed satisfied with that I tried to shake off the weirdness as I made my way to Dr Havard through the least busy hallways there were still zero answers just two days ago this place had been abandoned I shivered as I knocked on H's door Steve good to see you let me get you some tea Dr
haard pulled back a seat for me and immediately put a hot cup of tea in my Hands perplexed as I was I could not help but notice that he had put me in his own very comfortable desk chair which had been specifically made to ease the strain on his aching back meanwhile Dr Havard sat on the ordinary office chair usually reserved for guests I could see the reverence in his eyes as well what was going on it was a question I found myself asking all too much these past few weeks I had to try and
get my answers why have I not heard from you This place was abandoned just two days ago he nodded thoughtfully yes yes we were receiving our Visions too our Lord really did make it all clear didn't he our Lord I asked him Shivers reaching down my spine yes don't you he smiled ah forgive me our Lord already said that you might still be so much shaken and Confused from your own Revelations we were not expecting you until tomorrow you you all had those Visions too the those those Dreams everyone here had them well I don't
think they were exactly the same I saw some very personal things and I'm sure others did too we rarely talk about them but I feel that they contain the same message overall he hesitated and I looked as if he was trying to muster his courage was he afraid of me would you mind if I asked about your Visions what my apologies I never meant to offend you he said quickly it's just that that well you're his Prophet right I was Dazed why Me why was that thing doing that to all of us it explained the
awe they regarded me with but left me in the dark otherwise suddenly my head seemed to split in half as I heard a deep loud voice echoing through it an imposing voice that that could only be described as ancient you've finally come there were times that I doubted if you'd make it but you've arrived where you belong the voice said and I looked at Dr H who was looking ecstatic you are to be commended the other focused the brunt of his assault on you but you didn't fall and you didn't break I was wise to
choose you as my prophet this this is unreal I struggled to speak what are you I am God listen and heed my words Prophet there is a lot to explain [Music] one morning after mowing the lawn I Found a strange Crimson velvet envelope between the cracks and the ground surrounded by an eerie pink reddish glow it was mesmerizing to look at I felt drawn to it almost like it was placed there on purpose for me to find I always was a firm believer in the Supernatural but I I never got a chance to experience it
I thought this might be a unique opportunity to see once and for all if there's something more to it I thought I could finally get the answers I've been searching for my whole life I always thought about it and my mind was provoked by this question by this NeverEnding string of dark and twisted enigmas that have always filled my soul what were heaven and hell like was there a Purgatory also what if all we ever knew was fake and not according to the real ity that was beyond the veil of human perception the more I
looked at the strange envelope the more it began to Take a hold of my spirit this energy that started flowing through my body was something evil I think that's how it felt at first a strange sensation of the purest evil Indescribable in human words was dropping needles in my soul like it wanted to perform a voodoo ritual on it my mind body and spirit all became weakened by this amazing and crushing force that was coming from the envelope so I gave into it I let it take over I didn't even try to fight it my
desire to See and feel the supernatural transcended my will to live it was at this moment I knew I could find something bigger than me bigger than Humanity itself the envelope was sealed in blood it was signed to you by an Old Demon I started feeling scared fear clouding my mind its poisonous arms reaching within the very dark and cold abyss of my Consciousness right under the seal it said pour your own blood over the seal To open this letter written in minuscule letters this raw powerful energy was taking over me replacing whoever I was
with something a new with something powerful and evil at the same time but there was something else I was feeling then some sort of guilt sadness of not belonging but they were not mine the letter was emanating them I could feel that I bit my finger and let the blood fall on the seal I felt displaced lost in time and Space forever the letter was short and I don't know how but I remember it word for word dear human I didn't want you to ever find this letter let alone read it but yet here we
are I'm sick of it all yet I still have to do it it's too late for you dear host but I think you'll be the lucky one the luckiest of them all I want it to be my final time doing this I want to wither away to die I want to be destroyed obliterated into the infinite Pitch black empty and cold void I will let you live after taking over you those before you never had to this chance simply because the process corrupted their mind and soul in a way that never allowed them to live
again you will see ugly and evil things you will experience pain and fear you have never experienced before call this letter a curse for those who find it but you you will live you will live because I will die before this process is Complete and Insanity will take over you I will will be dead this has been going on since before I can remember since your kind started walking the earth I don't exactly know its final purpose nor did I even ever bother to understand it simply my kind has to do it to your kind
it's always been this way and always will be I know you're afraid I know your hands are shaking while reading this you know this is not a game and you know there is no escape from this all you Have to do is bite your finger and pour a few drops of Blood on the page let me show you something new with sadness an Old Demon I felt more and more empowered by the evil things the letter emanated I knew this was not a joke I signed the paper with my blood it caught fire its pinkish
Flames slowly engulfing me I screamed in pain but not because I was burning it was a pain coming from the fact that I was being slowly taken to Another plane bit by bit I faded to Black in a way I was still aware though and when I opened my eyes a bit a large glass tube was all that I saw the tube seemed infinite and the black smoke that filled it was not damaging me physically but when that cleared I saw Twisted faces of evil beings their shiny teeth bleeding acid spit on the GL tube
they were everywhere their sharp claws were scratching at the surface trying to break in and feed I could see the hunger In their eyes hatred fueling whatever they held inside their minds and bodies the deformities howled and screeched a ravenous desire to eat me that was my last memory of being inside the tube right after seeing those horrifying creatures I passed out completely I don't know how much time I spent inside that tube time seemingly was n't a thing inside it it was just endless infinite Darkness all around me coming back to my senses I
found myself In a small room although it was dimly lit by a flickering yellow light bulb it was very dark right in front of me there was a chair it was wrapped in the exact same red velvet that the envelope was made of please sit down the baritone voice said making the room tremble as if the eons the pth past suddenly had a voice a voice expressing all kinds of existential Terrors and that this owner had witnessed with the passing of this strange man invented construct time I felt fear licking my brain and its awful
Embrace kept me in place rendering me unable to move the fear that built up inside me was life-threatening I knew that in the medical sense of things a person could be scared to death my opinion was that it wouldn't take me long to get there whatever was in that room with me whatever presence loomed in the thick damp and heavy air made me fear for my life the room started shaking and I sat down on the chair The Voice told me to close my eyes in the darkness behind my eyelids red flashes started running before
them I heard a door opening then closing shut there wasn't any door when I first came here yet again I was absolutely positive that the natural laws the ones we guided Our Lives lives after did not work here more so this wasn't anything natural open your eyes the same voice once again told me a wave of shock and pierced through my heart it split my soul into Halves never to be repaired again my mind shattered into thousands of small shards I was no longer me fear took its Throne inside my body the war raged on
between what I thought before and what stood in front of me now a fiend like Shadow its eyes burning a bright red Hue fixated me it was impossible to look at yet here I was the monstrosity stood before me as if it knew me from my childhood even from before I was born the Smokey Shadow let out a sigh then a Sad smile revealed its shiny teeth the way its face contorted into something that revealed the dark endless and Timeless sadness hit me so hard the first thing that came to mind the way I could
picture this sadness that I was seeing was a Barren Wasteland with dark clouds in the sky just that endless clouds being Carried Away by a worn out weary wind above the wastelands of the fiend's former self don't be scared child I will not hurt you I hope the Demon fiend said I stood a gast static buzzing through my skull I always wanted to experience the things like this but not in a way where fear would invade my whole body like a leech from hell you will be the last one for me the last human I
will possess before I end myself I can't take it anymore I choose you because you always wanted to see something that pertains to the supernatural the demon said I just want to talk to you a little before we do This I nodded Shivers ran down my spine and everything I thought I knew before was obliterated by this new experience this place this place is called the hollow it is the antichamber to hell you heard that door opening and closing yes what lies on the other side will make you lose your mind and it's not even
hell itself behind it he sighed a deep dark sadness escaping his mouth I nod the fear that was reigning Supreme Inside me didn't let me speak yet the hollow was a place where all soon to be possessed people go there they could sit face to face with the demon that would take over their body some of them would just tell secrets and Forbidden Knowledge others would say nothing at all they could show you other worlds or just mock hurt and eventually possess you like you were nothing I think the common thing for all people who
have been inside this room was fear a deep Unending seething fear I need you to help carry me to a place where I will kill myself where I will find a pool where I will drown because I am tired the demon said I finally got my voice back I was fearful but yet again this is not how I wanted to find out about the existence of the supernatural I didn't want my first experience with it to be me being a vessel for a suicidal demon the hollow started to tremble and the demon told me we
needed to hurry the Process will be painful and fear would probably leave Eternal marks and scars on my mind are you ready child the demon asked me I nodded tears filling my eyes he crashed into my chest like a rifle had just been emptied into me the pain was an eternal flame of hate a superior being that transcended everything I knew before the Fe spread itself across my whole body and took over me soon he dictated all my emotions and movements my train of thought wasn't my own Anymore I became a prisoner the purple door
appeared in front of me I let out a scream inside my own mind only for it to be swallowed whole by the demon's voice I will shield you from the insanity you will be all right let's go to the pool he finally said the door opened and a black long Corridor was field it was similar in a way to the tube in which my travel here was done men and women were plastered all over its walls the demon told me that its higher up sometimes got Off on gluing Sinners to the walls especially murderers rapists
and pedophiles their never ending screams would Echo into the eternity of which they had been condemned cries for help and screams of Anguish filled the corridor the absence of light was not a problem for me I could see through the Demon's eyes all the way to the end end of this black horizontal Place fit only for beasts and former human Psychopaths what made this new sight special was That it looked like I had a fire in my eyes don't know how to better explain it like when you look through a fire and see something on
the other side that's exactly what this was we need to hurry he knows something's happening the demon screamed inside my brain who knows I asked fear breaking my mind's voice you know who he said I started running although I was not in control anymore I ran and ran and ran it felt like an eternity we reached another door it was Ancient and the wood was cracked a howl followed by a deep groan echoed throughout the corridor behind me silencing every scream that came from those Sinners trapped in the walls I heard the Behemoth rampaging towards
me and not even for a second did I dare to turn my head around and see what or who it was I didn't because deep down inside I knew who he was I opened the door and a bright white light hit me in the face I was temporarily blinded by this Powerful beam but soon came back to it run the demon cried a circular construction made of stone was taking shape as I was approaching it water filled it colored black it moved unnatural as all things were here droplets of Dark Water Rose in the air
dancing under the Silvery sky above me a dark red Sun split into four was bleeding its core into the air regenerating itself infinitely skeletal birds were flying in the sky their Screams of hateful spite making my soul Shake trees made out of teeth were chattering when touched by The Infernal Winds of this place this is a demon graveyard the ones who die are buried here the water over there is sometimes used for healing other times for inflicting pain upon those who do not follow orders white is for healing black is for pain the demon said
he told me to part my skin because the dark water needed blood the Crimson liquid was Caught almost like it was eaten by the floating dark water droplets then they collapsed into the pool hitting it like a giant rock was dropped from the hell's Heavens a sort of maelstrom was formed I looked inside but saw no end it looked like a bottomless pit I saw only dead bodies C test skeletons and horns filling the void floating around in the endless space like discarded carcasses of evil we need to jump you'll be back to your world
safe I want this to be my Grave my eternal home I felt him leave my body almost like something from the void pulled him out of me he was floating still alive thank you for your help he said his final words carrying feelings of relief and regret two long arms extended from the Blackness and kept him in place they ripped him into two an explosion of bright light filling the void for a second it Blinded Me and I fainted I woke up back on the steps of My house a ringing sound filled my head and
I could still hear the screams of those plastered people from the dark Corridor the mark on my hand was still there the bloodied scratch still showed I think about it even to this day what I experienced was borderline insane but it was only a small part of the things we don't know I got my wish fulfilled by fulfilling a demon's wish the things I saw though will haunt me forever the subsequent fear emerging from those Events is eternally embedded in me like a tattoo made of Darkness I wonder what else is out there that we
can't see [Music] [Music] Dr Daniel Vance was a smart man too smart for his own good maybe 40 years old a lecturer in fluid dynamics with a mind made of shapes and numbers no one knows why but one day on a whim he crunched the numbers on the apocalypse And came to a troubling conclusion he didn't exactly share what he deduced but given that he immediately quit his job and liquidated his many assets it's fair to say it wasn't positive swept up in the wake of this tremendous upheaval was his wife a 24-year-old PhD student
who had grown infatuated with Daniel some time before she loved the strange bear of a man who could just as easily build a log cabin as he could explain the idiosyncrasies of an asteroid's orbit Speaking with Daniel always left you with the profound impression he was right so when he told her what he wanted to do she agreed 15 years and five children later the vances were living in the Distant Woods just beyond my hometown they were enigmatic richer than the pope and extremely serious about their prepper lifestyle but they were also funny easygoing and
Incredibly compelling to speak to Larger than Life survivalists who swept into town with Bizarre request that filled local businesses were all shipped through the remote mountains so that the vances could build their shelter the advanced methods they used to keep it secret were legendary Daniel had once spent 6 months earning the license necessary to drive hgvs up to his compound so that no one else would lay eyes on it and on one occasion when a company had refused his request for GPS tracker free Vehicles he bought them out wholesale so that they Had no choice
so when they stopped appearing in town during the pandemic when requests for food and goods stopped and all contact was dropped most attributed it to lockdown they had a bunker and had spent their entire lives training to be self-sufficient in the wake of civilization's collapse even Alexander the youngest at just three was already chopping firewood as a chore and learning what local plants were edible most of us just assumed that if anyone Could ride out Co without breaking a sweat it was the vances the reality turned out to be something else when the worst came
to light we discovered that Daniel had used the pandemic as an excuse for a dry run the family intended to spend 6 months in lockdown and essentially beta test their Fallout bunker 3 months in and the sheriff received a distress call on the radio coordinates were provided by the hushed voice of a sobbing child that most Assumed to be Alexander even though that's never been proven police arrived and found the bunker still sealed it took hours for emergency responders to cut into the door all while efforts were made to contact the family within but to
no avail once inside police were left dumbfounded there was no one to be rescued no bodies no survivors there was evidence that the door's locking mechanism had failed and trapped the vances inside with no way out but if so Where' they gone beds and CS lay everywhere with molding yellow sheets buckets close to hand with stains all around them some doors were barred others smashed to Pieces there was even evidence of a makeshift quarantine and in places what looked like violence the police usually a fantastic source of Gossip were not forthcoming until the town demanded
answers and the sheriff was forced to offer only the barest of outlines an outbreak of a Waterborne illness had struck the vances down not long after they were locked inside and unable to seek help rumors of contagion were overstated fueled by the unrelated rise of Co whatever contaminant had killed the vances it was non-organic in nature and no need to panic the Vance's loved ones had been notified the bunker was going to be demolished and we could put this terrible tragedy behind us of course we still had questions a thousand of them Why hadn't the
family called for help they had radios computers and smartphones too they were survival not Amish and where were they what happened to their bodies why hadn't they simply left we shouted these and more at the town meeting but the police simply refused to comment for most of us the excitement lasted another week or two until we realized we weren't getting any answers anytime soon besides the pandemic was in full swing and most of Us had other things to worry about the tragic story eventually faded until it was just one of those awful things in in
the town's history that we didn't talk about I was as guilty as anyone else of just forgetting about it I certainly never expected to find the bunker out there in the woods faded police tape still on the door that hung wide open with Scorch marks around the lock I stood out in the woods like someone had cut a hole right in the fabric of Reality the darkness so deep and black it almost ACH to look at the side of it made my heart drop into my stomach it radiated pain does that make sense I think
part of my lizard brain picked out details that wouldn't become apparent to me until I got closer like the bloody finger streaks that stain the handle where someone had scraped furiously at the lock without success and a tiny viewing window had been smashed with a hammer that still lay Nearby I needed only to Glimpse it to imagine the family taking turns to stand there and scream into the woods desperate for rescue under any other circumstances I would have run but I'd gone there looking for my dog and my light revealed a few wet paw prints
making their way down the dusty concrete tunnel half bernes and half collie Ripley was the sort of dog who trembles in my arms when a storm buffets the windows and needs his paws held when we Brush him I love him I don't have much of a family or a wife or even many friends but I have Ripley and I could no more have turned around and gone gone home to an empty apartment where I would have to SOB my grief away then I could flap my arms and fly he was my dog and I'd raised
him since he was a puppy and I wasn't going to leave him out in those woods I went in after him I didn't know what to expect but I knew it wouldn't be good whatever the police had found They'd not only kept most of the morbid details to themselves they had also lied the bunker was not demolished or even sealed off in fact looking at the occasional blue latex glove tossed aside and the one or two broken police issued flashlights it seemed like the last people inside had been in a hurry to get out given
this was where seven people had presumably died I assumed it was someone's job to clean it all up but the corridor looked largely untouched just a Few meters in and manic riding started to cover the walls the desperate scrawls of a lone survivor left there to be rediscovered like cave paintings most were deliberations on how to get out diagrams blueprints equations and formula all focused on the door and the circuits responsible for its faulty lock I instinctively assumed they belonged to Daniel and that he'd been the last to die what a god- awful fate for
a man to outlive his children and yet it got Worse slowly the writing changed from equations and plans to a desperate scrawl the same few phrases repeated over and over five Doors Five not six six didn't make it six doors six it seemed like the kind of thing you'd find in an asylum a psychotic rambling punctuated only by six paragraphs right at the end each letter was impeccably neat and each small paragraph Was topped with a beautifully drawn Christian cross Elliot Vance age 15 a gift guitarist he liked boys even though he thought I did
not know I loved him with everything I had he would have made a great man Alicia Vance aged 14 she liked to paint and to shoot she had her mother's Mean Streak it would have served her well in the future Elijah Vance age8 the smartest of us all these were Daniel's Memoirs to his family and seeing the words lit up by the torch was a haunting insight into the overwhelming he'd endured he must Have realized he wouldn't get the chance to speak at his family's funeral or write their obituaries this was his last desperate way
of making sure the world might one day know them as he did as real people the words marked the end of the tunnel standing adjacent to a trap door in the ground it was not open but the tunnel came to a dead end immediately afterwards and Ripley's Prince disappeared at the hatch I feared he Might be in danger but still I stopped and looked at the bunker door 20 M behind me the once gloomy Forest looked so bright even on this cloudy day the air dotted with rain a part of me felt like I was
leaving the whole world behind as I began to climb down the ladder I entered a large circular living space that was packed with furniture and little nooks and crannies the walls were covered with Folding beds and tables and every inch was multi-functional a dining space could become a sitting space which in turn might be where someone slept or even exercised it all depended on what particular bit of furniture you unfolded or unclipped or unfurled seven people in close quarters nowhere near enough privacy it made sense they went with this cluttered overlapping use of space but
it was Still a large room bigger than most studio apartments and there were a few corridors that led deeper into the Earth telling me the bunker had unseen depths I looked for some sign of my dog and soon found his Trail but this far from the Rainy entrance Ripley's prints were starting to fade after barely a few meters they petered out vaguely in the direction of a nearby door I wanted to follow but stopped myself from rushing onwards it was unlikely Ripley was Getting out any other way and I'd do us no good getting myself
hurt I decided to take a look around and quickly spot at a dinner table if I needed proof the police had not bothered with a cleanup this was it the plates were still out the food rot into a strange blackened husk a child's hat lay across one place setting the once creamy fleece turned to a sickly green and yellow the chairs had their backs reinforced with wooden beams fitted with Long grooves so that someone with the width of a nail could slide into them and on each of the cushions there were foul smelling stains that
looked oddly like an as print I touched one with a gloved hand and the material crackled audibly whatever it was similar stains were on the cutlery and plates and they were even handprints of it placed firmly on the tablecloth at first I thought it was blood but that wasn't quite right it was Too contained to be from leaking blood on the back of one of the chairs a stain tapered exact where a woman's waist would be like a near perfect silhouette I shivered as I remembered that Miranda Vance had always been a slim woman and
wondered how she had left her imprint on the gray fabric using my torch I saw that these stains repeated on the oddest of places yes there were some on the beds and blankets and even patches of plain Floor exactly like you might expect in a room full of sick people but why did one stain on the floor bear such a strange resemblance to a child huddled in a fetal position and why was the same stuff all over the TV remote and on the bookshelves and board games too everything from sofa cushions to DVD boxes to
piles of dirty laundry were covered in the same dried brownish material that gave off a foul coppery miasma I found the jigsaw particularly Baffling someone had set up another table with four chairs all modified with the same back support as those by the dinner table and a jigsaw had been laid out with four separate piles but only one was depleted the rest looked largely untouched almost like someone had portioned out pieces for three other people who had absolutely no interest in going along with it maybe Daniel had tried to keep up morale while the family
was sick God help me if that were true I Couldn't help but imagine the poor man sat there with his loved ones close to death desperately trying to encourage them to click their own pieces into place while they faded In and Out Of Consciousness something about that room emanated Madness and the longer I stayed down there flickering the bright disc of light of my torch from one detail to another the more I wanted to leave one door had wooden beams nailed across it one sofa had been partially disassembled Multiple beds had been burned and all
the light bulbs had been removed and put into a box on the kitchen countertop looking up at the ceiling I finally had some insight into why the police were so confident that the vances had not survived despite never finding their bodies someone had jammed a human finger into one of the empty sockets almost like they expected it to Glow with the flick of a switch what was it about this place that had caused the Police to leave and never return not to even take that finger and test it for signs of illness or even just
to confirm who it belonged to I decided it was time to hurry up and find my dog people had died in that place and while I'm not superstitious I can't be the only skeptic who has done the calculations in his head and realized it costs nothing to be respectful of ghosts that bunker was cramped terrifying and the air stinked so bad I started to worry I'd Get sick myself it served no one any good to linger but I'd be damned if I just walk away and leave Ripley to rot down there it's not like he
could climb a ladder and get out on his own even if I wasn't entirely sure how he'd gotten down there in the first place summoning what little bravery I had left I called out and broke the silence something which felt like a terrible Taboo in that god- awul place like screaming in a graveyard Ripley I waited and hoped to hell I'd hear the pitter patter of his paws but for the longest of moments there was only the kind of Silence that makes you wonder if someone or something in the darkness is holding its breath trying
to look like just another patch of nothing biting its time until you finally turn around and show it your back the TV came on with a burst of white noise that was so loud and so sudden I cried I threw my arms up and Nearly fell backwards onto a rolled out sleeping bag that looked like it had spent a week in the sewer by the time I realized what had caused the noise I could already hear a tiny rendition of Daniel Vance's voice I realize the issue here I need to emphasize just how little I
understand any thing that's I frowned at the screen as I approached it showed a greenish infrared view of the bunker with Daniel up front and the dinner table behind him it was grainy and hard To see but I could clearly tell that his family were sitting in those chairs Miranda was the first to fall ill looking back it makes perfect sense Miranda often went into storage to fetch food for cooking and we found it behind one of the refrigerators so that's a one of the figures in the background slumped onto the table with a loud
Clank and sent a plate spinning off onto the ground Daniel muttered as he got up and grabbed the Woman by the shoulders and sat her upright Miranda never did like my cooking he laughed as he fussed with something at the back of the chair the rods are much better than tape they fit right into the spine and with a little modification I can just slot them into the chairs that way every everyone is able to join in for dinner I'm working on something similar for a family game night Daniel wandered over to the camera and
with a grin he lifted It from the tripod and scanned the dinner table what I saw nearly made me drop my torch his family were long dead gaunt faces missing noses lips that had receded to reveal awful grins they were corpses plain as day even when viewed through such a low resolution image the the only thing that made them seem remotely alive was the way their eyes still reflected the infrared back so that they glowed in the dark and yet Daniel seemed oblivious to it all he Tossled Elliot's hair kissed his wife on the cheek
and ran a hand across one young girl's shoulder he even picked the young Alexander up from his chair and I assume he coddled him I don't know for sure because I looked away unwilling to see the poor boy up close eyes averted from the screen I could couldn't help but pan my torch across to that same dinner table and shiver as I finally realized what all those stains were not quite blood but close liquefying flesh Left alone for months Daniel had not put his family's bodies to rest instead he had moved them around from place
to place and puppeted them living life as if nothing had really changed looking at where those stains had settled I saw a clear pattern emerge he had put them to bed he had set dinner he had propped them up to watch TV or gave them their favorite book they even sat there as lifeless husks while Daniel waited for them to complete a Jigsaw the idea horrified me to my core back to work it's obviously not part of the original designs no room on the other side not on the blueprints Elliot didn't believe me and why
would he I made every inch of this place but I did not install that door in storage on the bottom level I checked the cameras and some of the photos I took during the build and the wall is just blank but the door is there now and it must lead somewhere I don't Know when or why it opens but it does and the next time I'll be ready because I have to know what's on the other side and why it did this to us alone down there often all isleep at once anything could have slid
our throats and been done with it but it didn't it took its time and I have to know why it took our radios and our computers and phones one by one none of us noticing until it was far too late I kept telling the kids they needed to take better care of their Things and even as they complained I just assumed the phones were lying behind some shelf where else could they go in a locked bunker but it wasn't the children at all looking back there are so many signs who kept taking away the lights
who kept draining the batteries and our flashlights how long did we live with it before we finally realized we weren't alone was it here every step of the way a door out of nothing that leads nowhere At least most of the time because I know for a fact it does not always open to a blank wall there is something behind it I can hear it shuffling around in there wet breath rattling in its lungs a horrible sound I hear roaming these walls when it thinks I'm asleep I listened to Daniel fascinating by this strangely compelling
rant when movement caught my eye an infrared camera running in the dark its image a roing mess of uniform noise what was it I'd seen I Paused the tape and rewound squinting I saw two pin Pricks of light in the darkness just over Daniel's shoulder slowly the image resolved itself in my mind I knew what I was seeing and it turned my blood to ice Miranda Vance had turned her head and her lifeless eyes glowed as she fixed them on the back of Daniel's head not even any point in leaving at this stage I'm no
doctor but that door is giving off enough radiation to well um kill a Family of seven if none of us had touched it being in the same room is too risky but not lethal but given how sick we've become it's pretty obvious our curiosity got the better of us one by one we all got too close or maybe not maybe that thing on the other side came through and did this I I don't even know wait what was that Daniel turned and the camera stopped recording the image it froze on was of a lone man
Bright as a star in the camera's lens facing off against unknowable Darkness broken only by six pairs of white glowing eyes I became painfully aware of my position Rel relative to the table and I had the painful premonition that if I turned those chairs would not be empty I would see the vances all of them Daniel as well waiting for me heads turned bodies left to rot for years in the dark behind me something shifted it breathed loud quick and I knew what it Was I knew it came at me so fast that when I
felt something hot and wet touch my hand I screamed only for the presence to sudden recoil but then without hesitation it leapt at me and bore me against the ground I wept as Ripley licked my face she was shivering and worst of all silent which was not normal he was not a quiet dog not when greeting me and not when excited like he was now but whatever he'd seen down here he clung to me and dug his paws into my Shoulders like he wanted to be cradled over the shoulder and something that he had been
too big to do for years oh oh you idiot I CED in a soft whisper and even in the dark I could feel his tail wagging joking aside I felt nothing but relief at finding him let's get the hell out of here I picked him up straining a little under the weight but refusing to give in to tired muscles and made for the ladder it wasn't easy climbing the three or four rungs to the hatch but I Managed and gave the hatch a shove first one hand then two and again and again with everything I
had but the hatch still refused to budge I started pounding at it with my fists but all I achieved was a sore wrist the hatch had jammed when somehow the handle had been snapped clean off now I'd need a pair of pliers or something to cut through the metal bar locking it shut my fingers couldn't move it nor could I Brute Force the hatch Open the metal bar was an inch thick and at the very least I'd need some tools to get at it from this side well at least it's fixable I thought as I
climbed back down and caught my breath on one wall I noticed a simple diagram of the bunker made in chalk it had three floors the bottom was storage Daniel had mentioned that before and I noticed that he had drawn through it with a large red X and the top floor was labeled quarters Where I Stood now but the middle floor Was labeled workshops and it was there I realized I'd find what I needed there was one door that opened onto a concrete stairwell and standing at the top I Shone my light down the spiraling guardrails
unsure of what I hoped to see there were only harsh shadows in the sense of something foul rising up on the air a smell that tickled my throat and burned a little in my lungs had the police even gone down this far had they seen what I'd seen on that TV and just Left somehow I thought it was unlikely that had been enough to send the entire Sheriff's Department running so was it something else that had done it something that had been enough
