File 05 and 06

So we made it back to the Empty City. The first thing we did was go back to the Screaming Tower……to meet with a Nest, who was speaking with Mistress, the combat knife still buried in his shoulder. He was complaining loudly about how I attacked him unprovoked. Mistress didn’t look amused, she had a look of indifference on her face. Even though her face is painted on, she still seems to be able to convey facial expressions for eldritch reasons.

“What is the meaning of this, Vassal?” She asked me. She loved calling me Vassal for whatever reason.

“Well, this Nest here was attempting to coerce Sylvia to have sex with him while I was away observing the Convocation.” I replied.

“Is this true?” Mistress glanced over at Sylvia.

“Yes, it is.” Sylvia bowed when she spoke.

“On your feet, slave.” Mistress commanded. Sylvia stood up.

“As for you…” Mistress turned her head to the now slightly nervous Nest. “It would be one thing if Sylvia was more receptive to this sort of thing, but I believe, in her current state, would only have sex with Danny-boy over there. So…”

“But but but-” The Nest began.

“But I don’t give a flying fuck.” Mistress replied. “Daniel, flamethrower at the ready!”

“Yes, Mistress!” I yelled, picking up my flamethrower that was lying in the corner of the room against a wall, where I had left it after the battle with the timberwolves. Mistress then proceeded to tear the Nest apart, the Birds trying to escape, out his chest, mouth, one even pecked out an eyeball to escape.

She didn’t need to give the command. I used my flamethrower to release a jet of flame in the air, torching the Birds that were frantically trying to fly away, sending their burning purple carcasses spiraling towards the ground. “We’re having Fried Chicken tonight.” Mistress sighed sarcastically. I pulled my combat knife out of the dismembered shoulder, putting it on my belt where it belongs. “Now, Vassal, I take it you’ve gotten some decent research.” Mistress said expectedly.

“Yes. I have yourself, The Choir, EAT, and The Convocation.” I nodded. “Also, you have EAT’s full support in our little Angel problem.” I replied.

“Good.” Mistress nodded. “Where do you intend going from here?”

“I intend going to the City Core to observe the Empty City more thoroughly.” I replied.

“Very well. You are dismissed.” Mistress nodded.

Sylvia and I left the tower, and began walking down the street. “Master, how are we to get to said core?” Sylvia asked.

“Two things; first off, stop calling me Master. We’re equals now, got it? You can do whatever you like, as long as Mistress permits it. Call me Daniel.” She nodded. “Second, we’re gonna ask it very nicely.” I said, coming on the intersection of “Main Street” and “Broad Street” supposedly the center. I stood on the corner and yelled “Excuse me, City. I wish to observe your core as research!”

I stood back as the City seemed to groan a response, and a small building rose from the middle of the street, the doors yawning open to welcome us.

We began descending through the levels, and it became progressively darker and darker. Fortunately Sylvia had the sense to carry a flashlight with her, so that helped a great deal. Along the way, we seemed to begin seeing progressively more and more Nightlanders. It was kind of fun, really, to shine them on the Nightlanders themselves and watch them shrink away in their hatred of light. I did this until Sylvia took the flashlight away, getting annoyed at me for trying to make them angry at us.

Eventually, Sylvia and I stumbled upon (And I mean, we literally tripped over) two folding chairs. Sitting down, I decided now would be a good idea to write about the Nightlanders, Sylvia shining the flashlight on my notebook.

File 05: The Nightlanders

Alternate Names: PRE09, The Victims, Fossil-Type MONOCHROME, The Gremlins, Shadow Cartographers

Attitude Towards Humans: Passive

Control Over: N/A

It is unknown whether the Nightlanders actually has power over anything. They seem to be servants of The Empty City, but this is not fully confirmed itself, as it is unlikely for a Proxy to be a Fear in their own right. Nightlanders seem to be messengers for Fears, as they often cluster around a Fear when it is about to claim the life of a human, kind of like rubberneckers. They abhor the light, and retreat into the Empty City and to different parts of the world during the daylight hours. Once the Sun retreats, however, they return to where they once were, stalking the streets and forests at night, inducing Paranoia and Fear into those who happen to see them. They appear differently to everyone. One might see them in the sihlouette of a man in a suit, or a woman in a dress, or a lizard-human hybrid. What you see of them is individual to the specific person. Some people speculate that the Nightlanders may in fact be the fallen prey of the Empty City, tormented into following the bidding of the City for the rest of eternity. Nightlanders, having no physical body, cannot hurt humans, nor can be harmed themselves. But they can be quite maddening if they decide to gang up on a human and appear merely as blurs in the peripheral vision. More fearsome than some of the harmful ones, The Nightlanders truly epitomize the word “Fear.”

Afterwards, we continued walking, for what might have been anywhere from an hour to two hours, when we saw a bright light ahead. Putting away the flashlight, we were blinded as we walked into a large lit room, bigger than any room I had ever seen before. In the center was a swirling mass of buildings, streets, and trees. It looked like it had an eye in the center, but I couldn’t tell for sure. We had found it. The Empty City core.

“City, may we stay here for a little while and observe you? I’m on a mission from Mistress to observe every single Fear.” I bowed my head. I didn’t like asserting to other Fears that they had dominance over me, though The Empty City was a special case. I felt like I had a special connection to it, and almost thought of it as my second Master.

The City pondered this for a moment, then nodded. The nod shook the entire city with an earthquake. Two chairs shot out from the writhing mass of objects and landed near us, and we sat down as I began to write.

File 06: The Empty City

Alternate Names: PRE06, Fossil-Type OVER THERE, Xanadu, The Complex, The Infinite Horizon, Wonderland, The Edge of Reality

Attitude To Humans: Passive, Unless Hungry

Control Over: Itself as a dimension

The Empty City appears to be it’s own dimension. Separated from the normal world, the so-called “Land of the Mortals,” The Empty City is a sentient, self-governing, self-controlling dimension where it controls everything. It is said sometimes that The Empty City is the most powerful Fear in it’s presence, as it has the ability to manipulate reality itself. It’s stationary, yet everywhere at once. It has “Doors” that connect it to the normal world, and there are thousands, if not millions of them spread out over the world. It seems the City is infinite, but this is not confirmed. It has life, it’s self-aware, and has a slight ability to communicate with others, though only through the core of it’s being. The City will sometimes eat humans, often joggers that mistakenly go through the doors, or even normal people just opening the door to their house. Any door can become a “Door” if the Empty City wills it. Often times, the City will serve as a neutral meeting ground for the Fears, and some Fears, such as the Wooden Girl and The Manufactured Newborn, make their domains here. Others, such as The Black Dog, and The Smiling Man, have a tendency to just pass through. If a Fear becomes too unruly, the Empty City may go as far as to ban the other Fear from entering. Though, unless it’s a neutral meeting place, Fears and their Proxies often fight here, often Slenderproxies versus Dolls. Either way, before you leave outside your house next time, look where you’re about to head out to. You don’t want to become The Empty City’s next meal.

After that, we thanked the City, and headed out. We decided to spend the night in the Screaming Tower, and figure out who to search for next tomorrow. I’ll keep everyone updated about who we go after next once we decide.

~Thompson out.