The Itsy Bitsy Spider fell into his own trap.

The world opened beneath him, he fell and it closed -SNAP-.

The Spider died screaming as Newborn took his flesh

But the Itsy Bitsy Spider will never find his rest.


Goodnight everybody.

-S

15 Years To The Day

Well, it's my birthday. Happy birthday to me! No cake unfortunately. At least no edible cake. Some edible food though, since I'm quite quite hungry. Found a rusted cargo crate to hide out in, avoid the roving death squads of Towerborn. I've even seen THE CONSTRUCT scurrying about every once and a while. The small one, not the gigantic one. The entirety of this domain IS the actual THE CONSTRUCT, it is the gigantic scrap tower in the centre. I've gone way out hunting, but this isn't THE LABYRINTH, Doors don't just open randomly all over the place. And this isn't neutral territory, nothing's coming to try and lure me out of this THE CONSTRUCT's place, not if it doesn't want them to. And why would it pass up on some free lunch. Or y'know, adding me to its flesh heap.

Gah! My phone's freaking out. Thoughtborns zip through Cyberspace all over the domain, interfere with my internet. So annoying. Fortunately, they don't seem too interested in me. I guess they're just saving me for the head honcho, Mr. Metal Spider Baby. I can hear him outside right now, his legs tapping the ground. Tap tap tap. As he scuttles around me. I'm trapped in here, no way out. It's coming for me I know it. It's just taunting me, toying with me. I don't think my possession can help me against a full-blown Fear, not in its own domain. Hey maybe it'll turn ME into a Thoughtborn, that may be "interesting". At least then I can keep updating this blog. Existing in Cyberspace might be fun.

Oh Nothingness, it's getting closer. Does this mean I don't get to figure out the purpose of The Long Game? Man, my viewership will be pissed with that ending. My viewership of...2. Wow, that's kind of sad. Well, you 2 guys may never figure out what this is all about. Unless this is part of the plan? Man, is this what they wanted? Did they send me after that Towerborn so I'd get my ass killed? What the hell is the purpose of that?! I must say if that is they wanted I'm slightly ticked off. Sure, I knew I'd die eventually, but I hoped I'd bring about the apocalypse first.

It's coming in, ripping through the metal! Just rending is apart, like it's bending into it and being "absorbed". I must say, looking at it now it's quite creepy. As is generally expected from a physical manifestation of Fear. It's a human fetus in this yellow womb type sac, an umbilical cord leading down into the bottom of it where a metallic spider-platform is attached to the womb. Eight mechanical legs sticking out.

Well, time to run me thinks. Out the other side of the crate and running over the fields and fields of rubbish and scrap and flesh. How is Shady gonna get out o' this one? Uh...keep running. I'll form a plan eventually. THE CONSTRUCT is actually very fast. I probably can't outrun it for long. I'm actually surprised I'm running this fast. I guess my possession is still good for something.

You there, Sleepy?

~~Huh? Oh, it is still you.~~

Of course it's still me, I'm your host! I just thought I'd inform you that I'll probably be dying soon and there's no other humans about. So, I don't know what happens to you.

~~Do not worry about me, I will find a Towerborn to inhabit.~~

Oh, how nice for you. Man typing and running isn't a very good idea, and yet I continue. And still no brilliant plan. Any ideas, Sleepy?

~~Yes. You could die.~~

Man, you're the laziest THE DECAY out there. "Hmm, how do I kill this host? Maybe I'll ask him to die?" Sigh. THE CONSTRUCT's gaining on me! I guess now would be the time to sign off. Goodbye all. I don't know if this is part of the plan or not, but it's happening. Best case scenario: I become a Towerborn, if that happens, I'll post again if I have enough free will or my new master lets me for some reason. But, whatever.

With my last breath: I curse EVERYBODY!!!

-Shady

I'm gonna die.

Okay, ignoring the title for a moment, I've missed the end of the world, which didn't happen apparently, according to some of the other blogs I follow. They didn't mention it anyway. I must say I'm slightly disappointed, being part of an apocalyptic group. Also, I missed Christmas! So merry late Christmas to everyone! And New Years, same for that. Also, I'm gonna die.

Fairly certain of it this time. After days of nothing, when I was wandering around THE LABYRINTH as usual as I had nothing else to do I finally spotted Blinky, the Towerborn. He was heading towards a Door to what appeared to be a junkyard, I guessed it was going for lunch. Ignoring my unbelievable luck, I figured I could kill two Convocates (Singular word for THE STORM? I don't know) with one stone, and get the Towerborn and back to Earth at around the same time. As it turns out, I did neither.

Ran through the Door after the Towerborn just before it closed. Yes, it was a junkyard, but it wasn't Earth. A gigantic tower of scrap is in the centre, looming far far up into the sky that I can't even see the top, spewing toxic gases into the air around it. Metal and flesh stretch as far as the eye can see, one immense junkyard, mounds of limbs and heads and unidentifiable flesh everywhere, other mounds of proper junkyard-y stuff dot the landscape too. I lasted about 30 seconds before releasing my lunch from the sights, smells, tastes, sounds and feel of the place. I dropped to the ground for I don't know until I finally felt "not-nauseated" enough to get back up. As the more educated on this matter would know, I had found my way to the Towering Realm, domain of THE CONSTRUCT.

I have no idea how I'm going to get out of this place (which also has WiFi, which actually kind of makes sense). I don't know how my possession could get me out of this one, but that damn Towerborn must have lured me in here for its creator to have a new meal. I honestly don't think I'm going to get my way out of this.

So in the eventuality I die, goodbye!

-Shady

UPDATE

I lost track of time, sorry. Been real busy. Poked THE JUDGE some more and found myself a nice abandoned warehouse to hideout, as usual. As usual, nothing was as it seemed and my stay wasn't very long. After a good bit of exploration I found that it wasn't just any abandoned warehouse, it was an abandoned Archive outpost. Must of left in a hurry because they left a bunch of stuff behind, you'd think they'd take better care of their things. A couple cabinets of files about all sorts of PREs and UXPs and bits I don't understand or have even heard of. A little room full of weird devices, some nifty stuff, some weapons, which they really really should take better care of, seriously.

Of course. I was being set up. Seriously! What the hell is going on?!

I presume it was a set up, because the Archive left behind a load of interesting DEVICES, stuff that would be very interesting to a certain Towerborn. Was it a trap for it, are the Archive on our side? Or was it a trap for me? I mean, they could have told me if they set up the trap. Or maybe I wasn't being set up at all, but I've learnt that pretty much anything is part of the Long Game. The ultimate plan, it incorporates every single action, for who knows how long this thing has been in motion, I doubt anything's a coincidence at this stage.

I found the thing one night, in the techno-room below the warehouse, collecting the metal devices into its robotic arm. Mechanic claws grabbing the odd utensils and pulling them into its arm, transforming them, contorting them into new pieces of metal, the creature visibly growing. So I shot it. Figured it was the right thing to do seeing as it's still my target. Didn't go so well, the thing regenerated, the loose bits of machinery clicking and slotting themselves back into place, guess it wasn't the best idea to attack it when it had a fresh supply of metal. It ran at me, swinging a chunky metal arm into my chest and I was sent flying into a wall. The thing ran off, through a door and I ran after it.

Oh wait. No. That's not right. It didn't run through a door. It ran through a Door. Yep. Got itself its own bloody Door and I ran straight on through it.

Needless to say I lost track of the Towerborn fairly quickly, seeing as once you're in the Empty City you can end up going sideways by running in a straight line and then walk into where you were before you started running in the first place within half a minute and then run somewhere else entirely before looking upwards and seeing where you started which is now the sky even though it turns out you are currently standing where you started running anyway because you started running in two places simultaneously and were moving in two directions at once because FUCK GEOMETRY!!!

I was sincerely confused and lost in THE LABYRINTH, no way out as is traditional for it. And of course the shadows were moving. All of them. Even the building's shadows were twisting and slithering because of course they are. There can't be shadows here because there's no source of light. That's not to say there isn't light, there is. It's just ambient illumination. The sky is blue (when there is a sky), sure, but no sun. Just a blue sky that gives the illusion of broad daylight, the shadows cast pointing in any direction they feel like at the time.

I could feel them. Their eyes glaring at me. This probably explains all those ghostly experiences where they feel a "presence". Because it's the Nightlanders, sending a chill down your spine and glaring daggers from the dark. Just waiting for you to move something, to mess up their organisation, so they can mess up yours. The organisation of your organs. THE SHIFTERS are always watching me here.

I found myself a place to sleep. A nice room in a nice hotel in a weirdo city. After going up and down and sideways in the elevator, up and down and sideways on the stairs and going down 37 different corridors, not all of them with a floor or walls or even physically existent in the traditional sense, and through 54 different doors, yes I counted them, I found a coherent room to sleep in.

The next day I went on a Towerborn/Door hunt to try and find either. Preferably a Door but I don't like the idea of having an angry Towerborn living here with me. No luck. Next day. No look. Next day. No luck. Next day. Take a guess. Thank the nothingness there's food here.

Apparently THE LABYRINTH gets WiFi, because I get an internet connection to what I presume is Earth, maybe I'm sending this to multiple different Universes, that's an interesting thought. But I finally got a chance to update this, you'd think I'd have gotten more chance in a monotonous empty city, but most of my day is spent trying to survive in this crazy crazy world.

-Shady    


 

That was a Bad Idea

So, yeah, I probably overreacted when I killed that guy. Under most circumstances that would be an understatement. But I don't really have a heart, neither physically nor the metaphorical heart that regulates several types of emotions. It's not very stable, being kept alive without a heart is tricky work (I'm guessing) and probably not an exact science. I feel better now, sort of. It certainly pisses THE JUDGE off, having to deal with someone who may or may not feel guilt at any given time. There's not much it can do though, except look at me, Eyes peering out from different places and surfaces to silently judge me. I got a fork from the kitchen, I carry it around with me now. For pokin'.

Another reason it was a bad idea, was because the guy I killed was now dead. You could probably have guessed that yourself. Buuuut, there's a very special side effect to someone dying. They tend to end up in the afterlife, otherwise to known as Bliss, otherwise known as THE FALLEN. Everything they were becomes part of Him, including everything they knew. Including their last sight, otherwise known as "me".

So Archie decided to pay me a visit, in the guise of the guy I killed. So, guess what? I killed him again! The man's body crashed into the ground, blood pouring out of the familiar hole in his head. Soon the man's flesh itself began to pour away, turning into liquid and sliding from Him, dissipating as it touched the floor. The shell flowing back to reveal a hoodied man in a gas mask, who casually got to his feet despite several extra bullets I embedded in Him.

He stepped forward towards me, and leaned in. His voice was like nothing I had ever heard before, my sight pounded and jumped and my ears thumped and ached as he whispered to me.

"DO YOU WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH OF YOU?
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU'RE SPECIAL? WHY THEY CHOSE YOU?
HOW YOU KILLED ALL THOSE PEOPLE AND SURVIVED ALL THOSE ENCOUNTERS?
then play along."

With that He left in a flash of godly light. I'm going to need a new place to stay before Mr. Fedora shows up with his squad of Timberwolves.

-Shady

Judge

A man came by a few minutes ago, I don't think he was anyone of anything. Just a person.

I thought it was abandoned, but this guy came by and walked in. I'm on the run, I need this place to stay.

We argued, he was going to call the police. I shot him in the face. Point blank range.

He fell to the floor, a bleeding hole in his head. 

There was something inside him.

An eye peered out of the bullet wound and stared at me.

I shouted at it. 

I said it was the will of THE HUNGERING. To it or to myself? 

That made it go away. But it's still watching.

It's watching everything and everyone. 

I had killed a random person, a person who hadn't done anything. Wasn't a Timberwolf, or a Runner, or a Puppet, or anything. 

The Eye wanted me to feel guilty.

I don't even know if I do.

There's a hole where my heart used to be.

-Shady

On the Road Again

Not by choice, I'm still not feeling right. In any sense. But the Timberwolves have decided I've overstayed my welcome. I didn't feel like the sleeping too long last night, so I was awake in bed when I heard a mass of footsteps heading down the hallway towards my room. Orderly and uniform marching over the carpeted floor. Don't ask me how the Timberwolves found my location (This damn blog!), but I barely managed to grab all my things before the door was kicked in, revealing Mr. Fedora, from the Vatican chamber.

I had gotten out to the balcony, exposing myself to the cold winter air of Rome when the gas masked cultists flooded in. I didn't have anywhere to run but to the sides, so I clambered over the steel railing around the balcony and onto a conveniently placed stone ledge. The wind whipped at my clothing as I edged along the building's side, desperately trying to escape the Timberwolves' guns. They had run out to the balcony to pursue me, luckily enough the design of the building allowed me escape from their bullets, which threw out dust as they collided with a jut in the wall. I slid along the building, my hands grabbing at it as much as they could on the relatively flat surface and keeping my bag in place, as the Timberwolves climbed over the balcony in pursuit.

I moved as fast as I could, several stories off the ground, remind me to get a lower room next time. Until I eventually found my way to a window a couple rooms over. It would do me no good as the Timberwolves inside would get to it before I managed to even get through the window. There was one other option, so I got down on the ledge and turn my body towards the wall, letting my feet drop down towards the street below. I dropped, grabbing onto a window for support as my feet struck the ledge below and pulled myself closer before I had a chance to fall backwards.

I shot the lock on the window and pushed it in, leaping into the room and onto the carpeted floor within. Racing passed a shocked couple I ran from the room and into the hallway before the Timberwolves above could get down. I sprinted down the hallway and into the stairwell, taking the steps two at a time and jumping down to the next flat whenever I was close enough. I made it down to the lobby and knocked out a couple Timberwolf guards with the handle of my gun. My possession must afford me extra strength and speed and come to think of it, probably aim, 'cause let's face it, I'm only 14! Nearly 15 but hardly old enough to do pretty much any of the stuff I have so far.

I got out on the street, looking up to my hotel room. There standing on the balcony ominously was Mr. Fedora the Apostle. He lifted a grey-gloved hand and waved at me, I just turned away and ran for it. I ran for the rest of the night until I was convinced the Timberwolves didn't know where I was anymore and weren't liable to find out any time soon. With the Towerborn's tracking device removed by the Timberwolves I'm back to square one. And with the Timberwolves on alert to my presence and actively hunting me, I've been pushed back into square zero.

I've got myself a new place to stay, and I'm not giving any information on it. I'm not risking the Timberwolves finding me again. I'm going to need a new plan.

-Shady

Addendum: Do I feel bad for killing all those Timberwolves? In the way I did? I didn't think so, I didn't think I was even capable of feeling bad after the Initiation. But something else thinks I do, or at least, something else thinks I should.