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.

~~I Remain

Shady is weakened, his wound and exertion have allowed me to gain momentary control. I will relay what information and observations I can in the time I have.

Your possessions keep you alive.

• The first time you blacked out was when you encountered Slender Man. Danger. 
• The second time the Cold Boy was about to freeze you. Danger.
• Third time, Master Nowhere was attacking you with a knife. Danger.
• And now you were being attacked by a group of Timberwolves, even shot. Danger.

Whenever you are in danger your possession kicks in and saves your life. You are being kept alive by a powerful force. Why, I do not know, as there are many like you. Many Runners and a good few Sine Corda, yet you specifically survive inexplicably against overwhelming odds.

One thing is clear. You are being kept alive for a reason. Odds are, it is not good.

The secret lies in your memories.

Good slumber.~~

And then...

I was running up the stairs when a bullet rang out, hitting me in the side. The piece of lead burst its way out my front, spraying blood with it over the steps. And then...then I blacked out, and woke up here. Except the black out was without a very key part of blacking out. The blacking out.

I could still see, but I couldn't think. My brain was being pierced right through, a loud and painful screech ripping my thoughts to shreds before they could even form. I couldn't hear myself think, yet I acted. My body moved without my consent, I walked back down the stairs, even as what remained of my will tried to push myself upwards, away from the angry men with guns. But my legs continued downwards, towards the Timberwolves, my brain unable to even register the pain of the bullet wound. The Timberwolves looked surprised, but the looks quickly changed to ones of fear and then agony.

I killed them. I killed the dozen Timberwolves. I moved in ways I didn't even know a human was capable of, my motions fluidic yet forced, graceful yet mechanic, natural and at all the same rehearsed to a perfection beyond humanity. I was something more. I wrestled a rifle from one of them with ease, twisting his wrist and shattering his arm. I let out multiple shots down the stairs, sending several tumbling back, their blood dripping down the steps. The others retreated back as I advanced, one neared me and I cracked his nose in with the butt of the rifle, then sent the side of it into his head and bashed him into the wall. I moved into the chamber and shot and fought, blood splattering about the room, screams of the Timberwolves echoing through the walls as I shattered bones and ripped through flesh.

The whole ordeal lasted a mere minutes, but the twelve Timberwolves lay dead. My thoughts returned to me, and my scrambled mind quickly reformed into simple terror at what had just happened. The train Apostle and Towerborn had since fled through another passage, but THE FALLEN and the other Apostle still stood where they were before, watching me curiously as I stood, watching them. THE FALLEN was in his classic form of a young man in a gas mask. He leaned in closer to the Apostle, presumably speaking words I couldn't hear and the Apostle nodded in response.

The blue-white tendrils formed around THE FALLEN in the shape of the Twin-Triangles for a split second before both He and the Apostle disappeared. Leaving me alone in the bloodied chamber, surrounded by the mutilated bodies and red stained floor. That's when I blacked out properly, waking in my room, a bandage around the bullet wound.

Blood on my hands, very little of it mine.

-Shady