---

^{@Ciaran@MagratheanWhale@Atrophy@FernStone}
Grand Ridge Academy.

---

"You need to reconsider your priorities right now. No one will trust you while you keep these secrets."

Those words reverberated through Britney's ear several times, even all the other questions were drowned out. For an instant, she stood motionless as she remembered everything. It came back to her like a flash, the deaths of Claire, Hagan, and everyone else, all on her hands. Almost a tear escaped her eye as she stared at the alcohol... she didn't even notice Justin or the others entering the room because they didn't even give her a greeting. Even with the Child explaining everything to them about the universe and stuff: they still didn't trust her nor will they ever most likely. As she stared at the glass; things kept feeling more and more alien, stranger and stranger. She closed her eyes.

She wanted to atone, and from here on in she couldn't hold in any secrets. Even if she already told herself there was going to be no more secrets. She finally opened her eyes as she put her glass onto the table as she proudly said, "I can't do this."

She stood straight up as the sigils on her palms began to glow. Britney loudly sighed as she graced both of her palms together as she looked at the group. "I have to tell you something; one of my greatest secrets... no..."

Suddenly the scene began to break into pieces and fade away as the group was dragged into a recollection.

"... I have to show you."

It was ages ago when this took place... about a little more than a decade Britney recalled. However, it felt like yesterday.

She was walking down a torchlight staircase that kept going down, and down, and down... with the only other human being near her being her father. His massive hand provided comfort to the girl, but it also worried her.

Where is dad taking me?

Eventually, they made it to the end of the dark, stone, stairwell that Britney swore would go on forever and forever. They ended up at a huge underground chamber that was probably large as one chunk of the town, and inside of it was a massive stone castle. The first thought in her head was amazement... but she also wonders about how a castle got underground. Her father leads her along the torchlit pathway to the castle and when she stepped through the main gates she couldn't help but quietly gulp as she stepped into a dark room.

The door closed behind them as darkness consumed them and Britney almost panicked as the torches in the room ignited and what was in the light was no less conforming than the darkness. There were many people in differently colored cloaks that were so large that their identities couldn't be discerned. They were many different shapes and sizes she could tell, but her only reaction was to instinctively get behind her father. His guiding hand pushed her back to his side as he assured her with,

"Britney, there's nothing to be afraid of," He started off. "These people are your friend."

And looking back she wondered how true that statement was.

"Micheal," A man in a cloak said, taking steps towards them, "Is this your daughter, Britney? Has she been initiated?"

"Not yet," Micheal replied. "But... better late than never."

Britney quickly wrapped her arms around her father's leg as she stared at the man in the cloak. "Who's this?"

"I am Ayron Sinclair," The man said as he pulled his hood over to reveal a man around her father's age with bright blonde shaggy hair and greying blonde beard. He looked at Britney as he said, "And this is your introduction into the League of Luminescence."

"W-what?" The young Britney said, and her father took a knee as he explained.

"Remember sweetheart? What I've been telling you for years?" Micheal said with a smile on his face. "There's something special about you... well, this it is. You've got to help protect this town."

"Ah, yes, we are the town's protectors, The Watchers," Ayron said. "For years; we protected this town from monsters and other beasts, and we need your help. It's your duty as a member of the League."

"And..." Britney trailed off, "What if I don't want to do it?"

Suddenly Ayron shot daggers into Micheal who quickly assured his leader with, "Britney, you have to do this. For me. For your mother..."

"... And for your own sake." Ayron said, "If you do not fulfill your birthright... I can't tell you what my masters will do to you." He briefly glanced at Micheal who smiled before glancing down at Britney.

The implication was clear to the girl, who loudly gulped as she realized she had no choice. "Okay, what do I have to do to protect this town."

"You won't be able to do it unless you activate your connection to the Lux... which the Obott will help you with." Ayron stepped aside as one of the men in bright pink cloaks walked up. He held a bow in hand as he looked at Micheal, who seemed uneasy about the whole process. "This is going to be a bit... rough, but it will be worth it in the end."

Micheal closed his eyes as he opened his mouth but not a word came out. He ended up saying something completely different, "Get it over with."

"Take her into the chamber," Ayron said, pointing at a door to the side and Micheal lead Britney - though her hesitation was obvious given that she had firmly planted her feet onto the ground. Her father with all of his strength had to almost literally drag her inside. After she was inside Obott followed suit and the wooden door closed. Micheal walked out and he cringed upon young Britney screaming her lungs out on the other side for minutes at a time. He placed his hand on the door and hung his head downwards as he listened to the screams as if he wanted to do something but felt powerless to do so.

Suddenly Obott barrelled out of the room, never knocking Micheal over as he escaped. Thick roots and vines outstretched from the room, and even Micheal had to take a step back. Once it stopped spreading, he stepped inside of the room to see Britney curled up with her arms around her legs.

On her palms were the symbols of trees.

"By the Lux..." Ayron said as he stepped inside behind Micheal, "She has Awakened."

---

"So there's other worlds?"

Britney asked, hours later, sitting on a stool looking at the ground.

"Yes," Ayron said, "This one is known as Shimmer, and the world your parents came from is the closest one known as Glint."

He played with the dagger in his hand. "Yes, and each world has a different way of utilizing the Lux." The dagger in his hands ignited with purple symbols as he pointed it at a wall. A beam came out and it appeared in the air. "Our world, Glint, has us utilizing the different lights of the Luminescence through items we hold dear, and our connections to it passed down by the people who love us."

The portal collapsed, and he sheathed the dagger from within his cloak. "In your world, people with strong emotions may gain a connection to all of the Luminescence, and gain powers based off of their thoughts and emotions...."

"This is so strange...." Britney said, "I never thought any of this was in this town...."

Ayron shot daggers into Micheal yet again, before turning his attention to Britney. "That's a good thing, as it's our duty to make sure the world unknown remains hidden." Ayron put a hand to his chest as he continued. "There is an unspeakable horror within the mountain... I'll tell you what it is in time, but it is our sworn duty to make sure that it remains a secret. And to accomplish that, we need you..."

"For?"

"There is someone out there, one really powerful Awakened," Ayron said, "His name is John Reid, and he has the abilities of dozens of Awakened. It is your duty to find this man and befriend him... find a weakness so we may eliminate him, and you can inherit these abilities."

That was an awful lot to take in, and Britney was confused. "... I have to do all of that?"

"Yes, it is your sworn duty as a Watcher," Ayron said, "You are a Knight of Luminescence now. You must act in their best interests, and to preserve its stability and unity. Or... the consequences will be dire." He narrowed his eyes at Micheal.

"Fine," Britney said.

"You are also to scope out any potential Awakened among your peers in the event that you are not able to absorb Reid's powers, and any other duties as assigned. However...."

Ayron opened a portal with his dagger revealing a massive Victorian city with some modern vibes. He stepped towards the portal as he looked back at Britney, "I think you should get initiated with the League of Luminescence..."

The recollection ended, and Britney sighed as she had to put herself through it all again. But there was something she had to say,

"... The Watchers - the League - they're gonna be a problem."

---

@Ruler Inc@FernStone
Grand Ridge Academy

---

Rita’s lips drew thin as Britney and Cyrus tabled her question. There was no point is asking again by using her abstraction. She could imagine that if abstractions generally had to be taken off of someone’s cold dead hands than giving one away probably didn’t help the gift giver out much in the end anyway. Besides, she didn’t like using her ability in such a large group. Tuyen was already able to intuit it when it had failed against her. She was surprised that Penny hadn’t figured it out, although the more time she spent around Penny the more she realized that her abstraction was almost unnecessary: brutal honesty was her default.

Rita’s face remained grim as Penny offered her a bottle, which she declined. The last time she drank alcohol she made an ass of herself and then an entire camp got massacred. Penny shrugged and returned the bottle back to Billy, but not before she poured a little of the whisky into her mug. Rita’s face finally softened as Tuyen joined the group. She scooted over so that the girl could join them on the windowsill.

“Did I miss anything important?” asked Tuyen, leaning in towards Rita.

“Just more bad news. We can steal or give away abstractions, but I guess it’s deadly to lose one,” said Rita. “Next I guess we’re going out in a blizzard to do some research.”

Penny nudged Rita and glanced over at Tuyen as Paige called out Britney once again. “You’re timing’s good, though,” said Penny. “Made it just in time to see the claws come out.”

It wasn’t an outburst that came next, but a recollection. After the vision unfolded, Britney offered the group a warning: "... The Watchers - the League - they're gonna be a problem."

“You’re telling me the group of weirdos dressing up in cloaks aren’t here to help the everyman? Wow, bro, this is shocking,” said Billy after a beat.

“Billy, stop,” said Penny. She stared a Britney, confused as to how to process this. They had been friends up to only a couple of years ago, and never had Penny known anything like this had happened to Britney. She frowned. “I’m sorry for what you went through. I know that means next to nothing coming from me, but I am.” She bit her lip. “Still. If those bastards are gonna become a problem, then we’ll deal with them.”

“Wait, how are they gonna be a problem?” asked Billy. “Didn’t they say that their whole gimmick was stopping monsters and what not? Like, isn’t that also our thing?”

“We aren’t really good at it,” muttered Rita.

“The idiot has a point,” said Penny. “Wouldn’t their primary concern also be the Glutton?”

-SNIP THIS WAS NOT MEANT TO BE POSTED UNTIL I FINISHED-

---

Grand Ridge Academy
@Atrophy@Ruler Inc

---

Recollections again. Nate had slipped into consciousness at the far side of the bed, almost tipping over in a startled daze, haphazardly flapping his upside arm until his weight brought him back onto his back and away from hitting the ground.

While the thought occurred to him, he fumbled for his phone until he found it set on the nightstand and depressed the lock button until the light from his screen illuminated the darkened interior of the dorm room, accompanied by the thrum of its vibration against the wooden surface. After a moment's pause, he drew his weight forward until he was sat up and checked, continously for several minutes. No service. Even the time seemed off - it was reading as 04:48AM, even though he could see faint cracks of light spilling through the curtains. No service meant no internet, no messages, no missed calls. He couldn't check and find out if Quent or Viv had tried to get through to him.

Frustrated, Nate huffed and nearly threw the device away, but common sense returned to him after a couple of seconds and he felt somewhat comfortable at having woken in a real bed as opposed to in a hospital, even though it still wasn't his own.

With everything apparently deserted, even the streets immediately outside lacking the occasional traffic they'd had before, he'd questioned whether it was even safe to go out alone if the Glutton and their corrupted were looking for them, knowing he'd be sent to its own, personal hell to be tortured beyond existence. He didn't know what to expect. This whole situation, the Glutton, the Godforce, everything that had been running through his head, repeated over and over, he didn't want to expose them to it if they were still here. It was snowing, so.... what did that mean? Either the weather was becoming fucked up from the Glutton's influence, or their hospital stay had been longer than they thought. Neither would bode well, so Nate just hoped they got out, or at least took a vacation from town. Maybe thought wrong that he'd skipped the academy, run away to Bellevue and gone looking for him there. Somewhere that wasn't here.

And so, noticing Billy had no qualms with borrowing one of the spare dorm rooms, Nate had done the same. Breaking and entering, minus the breaking - because all he'd really had to do was seep through the door and unlock it from the inside. Nate didn't exactly have a spare change of clothes, nor did he feel like he could borrow anyone else's, but he did have access to the shower. That much, he was grateful for after he'd had a chance to really wake up. A spare towel had been left behind, which saved him the embarrassment of using the bedsheets to dry himself off. He spent a good ten, maybe fifteen minutes just enjoying the flow of heated water before finally stepping out and redressing.

He was probably up a little later than the others, but it didn't matter. Nate made his way to the lobby, then watched as they talked abstractions, secrets, drinks and dues to the dead...

At least, until Britney bared all.

---

"Yeah, your brother's really got a point about the weirdos in cloaks not looking out for us." Nate could already picture the death glare he was going to get before he'd even said it, but he didn't care at this point - he shifted his gaze towards Britney, then added, "Guess I wouldn't be wrong if I said I got the vibe that these illuminescence assholes blackmailed your family into joining them, right?"

After letting it hang for a few seconds, he followed on towards the real question he intended, "I mean, they wanted you to get close to John Reid to waste him, yeah? Is that the problem you're talking about, since we're all a bunch of 'awakened' working together? All those juicy powers, makes sense they'd want to take them from us for their own."

---

^{@Ciaran@MagratheanWhale@Atrophy@FernStone}
Grand Ridge Academy.

---

“Wouldn’t their primary concern also be the Glutton?”

Britney let out a sigh as she turned her head towards Penny. She kicked her feet back and fourth for a few minutes as she twisted her face up in different ways. Her hands moving and her fists balling up as she tried to find the right words to describe what she wanted to say. Because in a way, she was so conditioned to keep certain things a secret; it was difficult for her to actually tell the truth. Maybe if she just came out and said it...

"Remember when the Child said the people of Glint sealed the Glutton in our mountain?" Britney said, "Well, not all of them have that power - and to get it they need the Awakened..." She finally got it out but she wondered what the best way to explain it was.

"There's a ritual that Amethyst knows that requires Awakened," Britney started off, "I don't know the details, but she was planning on betraying the League and taking that power for herself... and with the Glutton awake I don't know what she'll do."

With a sigh, Britney finished with, "Which is why we gotta leave now... who's going to the library and whose going to the town hall?"

"What I'm asking," Justin said as he stepped out from behind the doorframe, "Is who's gonna be leading each group?"

"As much as I want to lead a group; I think you should lead one..." Britney sighed again, "... And Penny the other."

---

Grand Ridge Academy
_{[@Surtr Inc]@Atrophy}

---

Tuyen was glad that Rita was there to fill her in when she joined her sitting on the windowsill, though the information she got was far from nice. Stealing and giving away abstractions? She couldn’t say she’d mind giving hers away but if it was deadly… she didn’t hate herself that much, yet. She’d like to stay alive. Going out into the blizzard sounded just as unpleasant.

None of this sounded pleasant at all to her. She stayed silent and listened to the other talk, asking more questions of Britney. She couldn’t say that she understood all that was explained but it gave a better idea of what was happening. Typical, though, there being another threat on top of the Glutton. It wasn’t like he was a big enough one already.

“I agree with the choice of group leaders,” Caelea spoke up as the conversation moved onto what they were actually doing. She didn’t know either well, but none of them trusted Britney right now. The two of them had been the most vocal. And while Penny was sometimes obnoxious it was clear they both cared. “Probably easiest if we just split ourselves between the two?”

Rien seconded it, though quietly. If they had to choose they’d probably go with Justin – after all, back when things started he’d managed to keep them alive while they were absolutely hammered. If that didn’t make someone trustworthy they didn’t know what did.

Tuyen was conflicted. On one hand she knew Justin much better than Penny. She also really needed to talk to him, after all that had happened, but a trip like this probably wouldn’t be the best time. On the other hand Rita was likely to go with Penny – at least she’d assume so. She’d like to stick with Rita if possible. For a start, she was the only one Tuyen had really talked to recently. Also she could cover for her if someone almost noticed her abstraction (she understood wanting to hide that). She honestly didn’t know.

So she turned to Rita and quietly asked, “who do you think you’ll go with?”

---

@Ruler Inc@FernStone@Zombiedude101
Grand Ridge Academy

---

Nate was smart to look away; the glare Penny shot him would’ve been just as lethal as her blasting a pen his way. Penny frowned as Britney came out with the bad news, but she turned her head and casted her anger at the window. Well of course members of the alternative universe Illuminati would rather use this moment to come out on top of a power struggle instead of focus on taking down the world eater that would be coming for them once it was done here. It was nice to know that people in the other worlds were as disappointing as those at home. At least that way, there would be no surpri—

"... And Penny the other."

—what. Penny turned back toward the group and gave Britney a look of mild confusion. It wasn’t that she necessarily disagreed with the call so much as that she was shocked that Britney had it in her to even make it. Not so long ago Penny would have taken the moment to gloat and throw potshots at Britney. Actually, not so long ago Penny definitely would have told Britney to shove it and gone off on her own. She was nearly disgusted by how Britney had begun to draw a begrudging respect out of her. So be it. They had more important fights to handle than the one between their egos. With a determined smile, Penny nodded in acceptance.

“We can search the town hall,” said Penny. “Try not to burn the library down, Justin. The damn people in this town are already dumb enough as it is.” She frowned and then muttered darkly to herself, “Course, that’s assuming there’s gonna be any people after this is all over.”

“Probably easiest if we just split ourselves between the two?” asked Caelea.

“Easiest definitely, but taking the easy way could get us killed. The Glutton pretty much knows where we are at all times, not to mention we got to fucking watch out for a bitch with a stripper’s name, plus whatever other horrible thing abominations we might run into. We struggled enough to survive when we are all together; split up it’s gonna be a goddamn nightmare.” Penny sighed. “If we don’t balance the groups out it’s pretty much a death sentence.”

Tuyen turned to Rita and quietly asked, “Who do you think you’ll go with?”

Rita drew her lips tight. She felt safer with Penny. The girl could be volatile, but she had helped her before and she had promised to help her again. However, after their talk last night Penny had promised to keep a tight leash on her brother to keep him under observation—which meant that if she went with Penny she’d be going with Billy. That wasn’t going to happen.

“Justin’s going to the library, right?” said Rita softly, acting as if she was basing her decision purely upon location. “I’d rather go there. Books always relax me.”

“That means you’re with me, bro,” said Penny.

“Huh? Why?” said Billy, snapping out of a daydream.

“Because you both hit like girls and don’t know shit about how to use your abstraction,” she said. “Fuck it, my group already has two pariahs in it. Might as well get a third. Britney, you’re coming with me too,” Penny said as she shrugged on her red jacket. “If any of the rest of you nerds have a preference you should speak up now, before Justin and I draft you like a shitty gym class dodgeball team.”

---

Grand Ridge Academy
_{@Ruler Inc @Atrophy}

---

Paige smiled from where she was standing. She was tempted to give a round of applause. Britney seemed to have taken her advice to heart, already sharing more than she usually did, and though from Britney's perspective it must seem risky to hand over authority to anyone else like that, it was a decision that showed trust in the others, which hopefully would in turn encourage them to trust her. This was progress, and given time, Paige would seriously be able to believe that they were capable of winning this, of defeating the Glutton. The catch, of course, being that there wasn't all that much time left to be given.

Teams were being decided, and this was an easy choice for Paige. She had enjoyed her interactions with Penny so far and certainly knew her better than Justin, her only other choice. Not to mention that she was taking to the leadership role pretty well, her decisions all seeming quite grounded. Besides, Paige wanted to talk to Penny about something - privately.

So Paige walked over to where Penny was stood, again walking past Britney. The message she whispered this time was far more affirming than her previous: "You did good," she said, accompanying the simple statement with a brief but warm half-smile before she continued across the room. She was genuinely proud that Britney was learning and hoped it would be enough to save them.

Paige raised an eyebrow at Penny's comment as she joined her group. "I wanna say for the record that before I got this thing-" she said, gesturing with her head towards her prosthesis "-I was pretty fuckin' good at dodgeball, so speak for yourself."

---

^{@Ciaran@MagratheanWhale@Atrophy@FernStone}
Grand Ridge Academy.

---

“Fuck it, my group already has two pariahs in it. Might as well get a third. Britney, you’re coming with me too,”

Britney couldn't help but crack a grin at Penny. As dire as the situation had become, she obviously felt some type of excitement. Which meant she had the right attitude for leading the group... and her own grin disappeared from her face. She knew after what happened it's better off that she just takes the role of the advisor... and her face scrunched up even more. She knew they didn't trust her, and she could feel her own best friend Justin turning against her.

Still... she can make this better. She can avenge the fallen by being what takes down the Glutton. She renewed herself as she spoke, "Gladly, Penny." Though after thinking about it.

Paige walking past her wasn't hard to notice. "You did good,"

"Gotta question, though," Justin said as he put his hands in his pockets, head to the left then to the right. "How are we going to communicate, though?" He whipped out his cellphone and pointed at it. "These are dead, I think the same could be said for all tech right now."

"I have an idea... it might not work super well but..." Britney immediately said as she hopped up. "Awakened have the power to telepathically communicate with people they are connected to - like people they love, hate, et cetera, et cetera... For example..."

She took in a deep breath as she sent a message to, surprisingly, Caelea.

Don't be worried, I can't look into your head unless you want me to.

Afterward, she explained how to do it, "It's about envisioning that person, and talking to them with your mind."

"All in our heads, right?" Lynette added in. She tried the method and sent the thought to Britney. Like that vaporwave song, all in our heads, heh.

"Everyone should take a minute to practice it."

"Well, we don't have much time," Justin added on. "Every second we waste is another second that thing will be gearing up to attack us."

"Yeah, let's hurry up," Britney said with a nod and the two groups went their separate ways.

"Hold on!" Sharon Reid said as she ran up, "I'm coming with you." Britney knew that the group would be a bit apprehensive of the girl... and they definitely had their reasons to be. However, they needed everything they had because she knew that more people were going to die. Possibly during this group excursion.

"Sure thing," Britney said with a smile before Penny or anyone else could get a word in. Even if she wasn't fully trusting of Sharon... it's better for the girl to be in their sights than acting out of it and with how unpredictable she is... it could be anything.

Of course, she nodded and they all went their separate ways. Unaware that two people in purple cloaks watched them from above the building before stepping into a portal.

---

???

---

Gotta focus.

A woman in a red cloak holding a long spear that's design was reminiscent of a Qiang was up against a man not too much larger than her wielding a sword. She had him at the end of her spear, but she knew he was a lot stronger than her and a better fighter. Tools don't mean shit when you don't know how to use it. She took in a deep breath as she tried to thrust the spear at him hard as she could. However, her opponent deflected the spear with a quick strike of his sword enhanced by fire and rushed in and held the spear by the hand. He kicked her in the stomach and he had her on her back. Before she could even think about what to do next his sword was at her throat.

"Time to pay for the sins of your bloodline-" He growled from under his cloak.

"Goro! Enough! The leader of their group, the Watchers, walked up in her purple cloak, and her round face on full display. He turned to his leader as she struck him across the face with the back of her hand. "I've told you thousands of time already - We don't have the manpower for you to kill what little we have!"

"She challenge-"

"And it was a spar, and you won," Amethyst said as she pushed him one-handed. "This is was stupid, to begin with."

One of the people at Amethyst's flank - a dark-skinned girl with Indian facial features - and wore a blue cloak. She looked very unnerved as her gaze was shifting everywhere but their glorious leader. She sighed as Amethyst continued to speak, "We need to gather the candidates at haste."

"So, you're really going through with the plan?" The girl finally spoke up.

"Yes, Cindy," Amethyst started off with a roll of her eyes, "We barely have any options at this point."

"We can work with them, it's better than..."

"Cooperation will not work at this point," Amethyst deflected quickly, "Britney has already poisoned all of their minds against us."

"But..."

"Enough, Cindy," Goro said as he walked up. "Your love for your cousin is poisoning your thoughts as well...." He got close to her as he prepared to draw his sword.

"Will you betray us next?"

"No, I am loyal to the League through and through!"

Amethyst smiled, "You'll prove it soon enough..." She said as she walked around Cindy and put a hand on her shoulder as she whispered, "... Because you'll be killing her." That made Cindy shudder as she couldn't bring herself to do it.

Suddenly a purple portal opened up and the two in purple cloaks walked out. They pulled down their hoods and one was revealed to be a male, and the other seemingly female but with heavy masculine features. They had bows and quivers attached to their backs that were loaded with deadly arrows.

"Trevor, Theresa, what do you have to report?" Amethyst said.

"The Awakened are on the move." Trevor started off.

"They have separated into two groups," Theresa said.

"One is going towards the Castle center."

"The other is going towards the library."

"Which one has Britney?" Amethyst said as she played with her dagger.

"The one heading towards the castle center, oh wise leader." The Obott siblings said in perfect unison.

"Well, then..." Amethyst said, "That's where we're going!"

---

Town Hall.

---

The trip to the town hall was very... eventful, Lynette thought. She was wearing a heavy parka that she didn't even pack. It was a blue parka that belonged to one of the rooms that she looted that just spoke to her! It had a dark blue color, and... it was a few sizes too big for Lynette so it went all the way down to her legs. Which was fortunate for her, since the snowstorm was raging and the snow was to her ankles. At this rate, it'll probably be to her waist, and it was definitely something she didn't want to deal with later. Which meant the faster they got there and found what they came here for, the faster they could get the hell out of here.

The trip was relatively silent... mainly because the winds were raging so hard that it was impossible to hear anyone speak. She kept her eyes on Sharon, Britney, and Penny in particular. Sharon was in the middle of the group for reasons that the group didn't trust her, and there'd be no chance of her slipping off. Not that Lynette was worried about it; with this snowstorm going on there's no chance of anyone getting too far away from the pack. Lest they risk certain and chilly death, or killed by anything else here. And her abstraction was useless in this weather... unless Britney was warning them about a certain something was true.

Penny was braving leading the group as Britney instructed, while the latter was at her side. At this point Lynette found it hard to trust anyone except for those two... she wasn't sure about the group, nor was she sure about this conflict. She wanted to get what she came to this hellish town for and leave but-

One second Lynette was thinking, and the next she found herself falling face forward. She let out a yelp as she fell directly in the snow which cushioned her fall, and she didn't hurt her face too badly. However, she pushed herself up to her palms and craned her neck behind her to see what she had tripped on. It was a dead body, and the girl's eyes shot open. It had to be not too long ago because there was still a trail of blood leading up to the body, which was obviously of a man from the sheriff's department going off the body's uniform.

She got a nudge from somebody and was helped up to her feet... again she couldn't hear a damn thing in this wind. They couldn't see too far in front of them, but eventually, they cleared it and ended up at town hall. A rustic, anarchic, building that probably didn't see any real changes other than the occasional renovation in over a hundred years. But, the whole place was littered with something disconcerting.

"What the hell...?" The normally soft tempered Lynette had no choice but to swear to herself as she witnessed the sight.

There were dozens of bodies, everywhere. It was obvious it was a huge battle here who knows how long ago. Bodies of the possessed townspeople were all over the place, and hanging from the walls, the street lamps, and makeshift crosses bodies of the Sherriff's department and others (whom Lynette presumed were Awakened?) were crucified. It was a horrific sight, with blood staining everywhere but it was apparent that this might have taken place awhile ago. Some of the bodies were frozen over or buried in the snow.

Conveniently, the snow let up enough for them to start talking and Britney was the first to pull her facemask down and convey to the group.

"The Corrupted may be in control of this building!" Britney announced. "We'll have to be careful!"

"I think we should just burn this place down," Sharon grumbled from underneath her face mask. Which wasn't that bad of an idea in Lynette's opinion, of course, if they did right off the bat coming here would be a grand waste of time (and possibly the information they need).

"Penny, it's your time to shine," Britney urged her because she had a few ideas... none of them good.

---

Library.

---

Aw damn it, it's cold.

Obviously, for Jordan, the trip was a total bitch. She had to be supported by Kimberly the whole damn time. Which wasn't that long of a walk because the library was just around the corner to Grand Ridge, but because of the weather. It would have been a five-minute walk for even Jordan stretched out to around... fifteen? Shit, without her fucking phone it was impossible for her to tell time... maybe she should have brought a watch. Between the dead bodies, turned over cars, and spooky writing on the walls, obstacles weren't in short supply. Either way, they eventually made it there and... the door was frozen over. Like, a huge chunk of ice was formed in front of it, and it was obviously created by the usage of magic, or the "Godforce" because the user was dead right in front of the door.

An ax embedded in the back of their skull, and they were carved up with deranged encryptions... Jordan couldn't count the number of times REDEMPTION was carved into their body. Justin turned his lip upwards and could only wonder if the person was dead before they carved all of this into them. Either way, their fearless leader had to press on or else they'd share the same fate. He focused on the door for a moment and he erupted in flames as the Soul-Self in Phoenix form flew over to the wall and fired a jetstream of flames at the door.

"It should be gone, soon," Justin said flatly as he turned to face his team.

There was a cackling from... somewhere. It was in the distance, but through the winds, it was obvious it was far away. However, Justin paid it no mind and the Soul-Self continued.

"Justin..." Kimberly nervously said as she looked around. "Perhaps something was supposed to be kept in there...."

---

_{@Ruler Inc@Ciaran}
Grand Ridge Academy

---

Penny nodded in approval as Britney joined her group. Her old petty feelings towards the other girl, spawned originally from approval-seeking jealousy before morphing into outright contempt, weren’t completely squashed, but Penny was willing to play along—and she was glad Britney was too. She showed a more warm reaction when Lynette and Paige made their way to her group, too. It was nice to have some people that were more than tolerable.

"I wanna say for the record that before I got this thing-" she said, gesturing with her head towards her prosthesis "-I was pretty fuckin' good at dodgeball, so speak for yourself."

“I’d still pick you over most of these bitches, anyway,” said Penny with a smile as Britney gave the group the spiel on telepathic communication, something her and Billy had already dug into. In fact, she would’ve sent him with the other group if she hadn’t promised Rita she’d watch him. Penny tapped her sigil. “Hell, I might actually be good at the game now thanks to this stupid thing. Maybe once all of this is done we could set up a little friendly. More than a few of us deserve a red ball being blasted in their face.”

The comment wasn’t necessarily directed at Sharon, but it did land right as she forced her way into their group. Penny bit her lip. The girl was volatile, but considering how poorly bugs would fair in the snowstorm it would’ve been downright unfair to send her over to Justin. After Britney already welcomed Sharon into the gang, Penny nodded in affirmation. She did a quick once over of the two groups; it wasn’t too hateful of a split, which meant it was time to go. She whirled her finger in the air and started towards the door.

“Remember Justin, we’re back here in two hours,” she called over her shoulder. “Don’t do anything too stupid without me.”

---

_{@Ruler Inc@Fernstone}
Library

---

Rita thought she had hated Texas. It was all trucks and cowboy boots and toxic masculinity. In her book, it was the absolute worst. Turns out she was wrong. It was the second worst—Montana was the absolute, ultimate, undeniable worst. It had all the bad parts of Texas, plus a world-ending matter eater, a cult from another dimension, and this fucking cold. Rita buried herself in her coat and clung to Tuyen like the girl’s shadow. Fortunately, she avoided witnessing most of the dead because she was acquantainting the front of her face with the back of Tuyen’s coat to avoid the wind.

The group stopped in front of the library, stuck as they waited for Justin’s fire to melt the barrier. Rita couldn’t help but wonder why he hadn’t been using the fire to keep them warm this whole time as she tried to ignore the body in front of the door. Death was becoming quite the usual sight, but Rita felt like she’d never be comfortable with seeing it. A cackle tickled her ear. Rita whipped around and got a full blast of ice cold wind in her face and not much else.

"Perhaps something was supposed to be kept in there...."

“Just books. Hopefully,” said Rita, rubbing her hands to stay warm. Maybe we can burn the magazine section for heat. I don’t think we’d need Ten Tips To Get A Guy during the end of the world.

---

_{@Ruler Inc@Ciaran}
Town Hall

---

Boy, this cold really sucked. Billy usually enjoyed the cold, but that was when he was in his jams, under a blanket, and drinking some cocoa. Trenching through some heavy snow and wind with a borrowed jacket was an absolute nightmare. Why couldn’t they have let him stay back at the school? He could’ve done some recon of the other rooms, scavenge up some food, maybe find a little weed to take the edge from nearly over it right on back down to moderate. It wasn’t like he would be much of a hand anyway. He couldn’t fight. He couldn’t use those magical powers. And he didn’t even really know what they were going after. There was only one good thing about being out here right now, and that was that nobody could hear Billy bitching about why they got the far building.

Well, almost nobody. Penny gritted a cigarette that would no longer burn—after an ordeal of getting it nestled through a scarf and hooked up with a lighter, the burning cherry decided to elope with the wind—between her teeth as she tried to find a way to make Billy’s telepathic complaints go to voicemail. She made a mental note to hit Britney later for reminding him of their connection. Maybe she’d just push her into the snow now and get it over with, but it wouldn’t have the same effect since they already were all wet, cold, and miserable. Why didn’t any of them have those nifty portals?

Penny led the group through the snow, but she lagged every once in a while to walk alongside Paige and make sure that the other girl was keeping up. She didn’t want to seem doting, hell, she bet Paige would hate it if she did, but she was afraid of what might happen if anyone fell behind. So she’d drop back for a moment, try and yell something over the wind, and bounce back up to the front. It was during one of these check-ups that Penny caught sight of Lynette stumbling. She rushed forward to help her up, but any words of encouragement or appreciation were cut out by the wind and Billy’s goddamn mental bitching. She had just enough of it and was about to pelt him in the face with an abstraction-enhanced snowball when the stream of consciousness fell silent.

It was for a good reason.

Penny and Billy scanned the carnage of what remained outside of the town hall, the scene like one of those artistic renderings of how things would be after the rapture. For Billy, it was all the more reason to go “fuck this” and get the hell out of town as soon as the snow lifted. However, to Penny it was all the more reason to stay. Her face was set in stone as she walked through the death. She recognized faces on both sides. She had figured a lot had happened while they were out, but she didn’t think it would be this catastrophic. Even if they beat the Glutton, people didn’t bounce back from things like this.

Shit, she thought, pulling down her scarf as the wind died and they could finally hear each other. Britney pointed out how the Corrupted might hold the town hall already, and judging by the scene outside she was probably right—those bodies didn’t crucify themselves. Sharon suggested burning the place down and, while tempting, it wasn’t what they were here to do. Penny lit a new cigarette, praying that the wind wouldn’t kick back in, as Britney and the others turned to her to listen for an idea. Penny cocked her head in thought for a moment. If she screwed this up, everybody could get killed. No pressure, right?

“We know what we came for. Now we just gotta get it and get out. I think Britney’s right about there being a bunch of assholes holed up in there, so we’re gonna stick together so they can’t pick us off. I don’t actually know where the archives are,” Penny glanced over at Britney, “but my guess is they’d probably be ground floor or the basement. I’ll take point. Paige, I’d like you up front with me. Lynette, you should hang in the back with Britney. If things get messy, she can buy you enough time to do some of that graffiti of yours.” She pointed at Billy and Sharon. “You two stick in the middle. You’re on shouting duty. You see anything, anything, besides us move in there and you let us know.”

“Okay,” said Penny with a sigh as she exhaled a cloud of smoke. She put her hand on the door, ready to open it and push forward as soon as the group was situated. “Something has to fucking go right for us at least once, yeah? Let’s go.”

---

Library
_{@Ruler Inc@Atrophy}

---

It was absolutely freezing outside. Rien rubbed their hands together, but even the warm clothes they’d bundled up in and hand warmers they’d drawn were doing very little for them. They stuck near Kimberley and Jordan, though not right next to the two. They knew they were still on good terms with Kim but who knew with Jordan? They stuck to the middle, too. They’d quickly realised their abstraction would be useless out her – they weren’t exactly able to draw with gloves on and without them their fingers would freeze off.

“Creepy,” Rien muttered at all the carved up body, though they were desensitised to seeing dead people now. But still, this was a step beyond that. Hopefully they wouldn’t end up like all these people.

Tuyen swallowed the bile in her throat, averting her gaze from all of the dead. It didn’t get much better with each time. It didn’t help that she could never tell if they were real or a figment of her imagination created by her shadow.

Probably real, going by Rien commenting on them.

She honestly didn’t mind Rita practically clinging to her – it was comforting to have something that wasn’t her abstraction following her for once. And, well, she trusted Rita to have her back as much as she could. Hopefully there wouldn’t be any need for that.

Tuyen practically jumped at the distance cackle but quickly ignored it. It was far away, there were more pressing concerns – like the possibility of something being kept in the library. She agreed with Rita in the hope that it was just books.

“Even if it’s more than that, we still have to go in,” Tuyen pointed out, trying to sound less terrified of the prospect of something being in there than she was. Her imagination was already going wild with what it could be, images of her thoughts flickering in the corner of her eyes and around her. She tried to ignore it. “We’ve melted the ice now anyway… better to go inside and deal with it if we have to, right?”

---

Town Hall
_{@Ruler Inc@Atrophy@Ciaran}

---

Caelea couldn’t say she was thrilled to be outside even if she understood that it was necessary. She walked in silence, mind still one what had happened before they left.

She’d heard Britney’s voice in her mind via some kind of wack telepathy. She really wasn’t sure if she liked that. Sure, Britney had said she couldn’t actually look into her head (which Caelea didn’t want at all). But that didn’t stop it from being weird and uncomfortable.

She assumed she fell under the category of being connected to Britney by hate rather than love.

Maybe she should’ve gone with the other group after that, since her and Britney could do the whole telepathy (not that Caelea had tried it). But she’d already made her mind up to go with Penny’s group and she wasn’t going to change it just off that. There would be plenty of connections between the groups anyway.

“Fucking hell,” Caelea muttered under her breath once they reached the town hall. There were bodies everywhere, even more clearly because of the contrast with the snow. It was like there had been a battle – or a massacre. Who knew. “And I thought this town was a shithole when I was a kid.”

Min remained silent, glancing over the bodies with a frown. He’d originally wanted to go with the same group as Tuyen – then changed his mind when Britney explained the telepathy. Tuyen was his cousin and they were close, after all, so he was sure he could contact her. Not that he’d tried it yet. He still hated Justin’s guts, but he knew that he had a useful abstraction and would make sure Tuyen was ok.

Penny was quick to come up with a plan for them to go in and, well, Caelea couldn’t find anything to disagree with about it.

“I’ll come up front with the two of you,” she offered to Penny, not expecting a refusal. She’d much rather be up there than at the back – and it made some sense with her abstraction anyway. “Just in case there’s any small spaces you can’t get into to check, yknow?”

While it was true that she was much shorter than Paige and Penny, she also just wanted to be up front (she doubted there’d be any small spaces).

---

Town Hall.

---

"Basement."

Short and sweet, Britney answered when Penny brought up the question. Which was a good thing about being here in the past before.... the League had the town under its thumb for decades now. Which were a blessing and a curse for its own reasons. Thankfully, it had finally loosened... at the worst time. Britney sighed as Penny suggested their plan; they group up and rush through the building. Which was, honestly, a great idea when they were up against a bunch of screaming/chanting lunatics.

Maybe they'll be out of here fast enough to go help, Justin.

Lynette's hand grabbing onto Britney's broke the girl out of her line of thought. Lynette shot her a smile as Britney realized that the group was ready. Even though she would have really preferred that Penny put out that damn cigarette before it gave away their position, but they were short on time. Penny pushed the door open and the group pushed into the lobby and Britney was expecting some resistance. But, the first thing they saw was the massive staircase that was absolutely littered with the dead bodies of both the Corrupted and the police department. The bodies weren't crucified in here... which made Britney wonder what made them stop.

But, she had to remember the architecture. The place was a very rustic type of place with a wooden finish and carpets... obviously not updated in decades. Not that this damn town needed to look nice as the big cities. To their left was a barricaded hallway that Britney felt compelled to explore, and to their right was more of a bloodbath. Dead ahead of them was, again, the staircase, but to the side was an open door... and a blood streak at the floor. Of course, Britney was hesitant to go down there, but she sighed.

"Alright, I suggest that some of the stand guard... I elect myself of course." Britney said, before the creeping feeling that they wouldn't trust her returned. She twisted her face up unintentionally but fixed it. "It'd be easier for me to seal the doors."

"I think I'd feel safer going down," Lynette realized her abstraction wouldn't work too well in a sudden attack. At best she could seal the entrance until they come up with a plan... which was kind of genius. "In fact, I think I'm going to put up a glyph or two just in case."

"There's an elevator and another door on the other side... but the elevator is shit." Britney said without a hint of confidence in the deathtrap known as the "elevator". "Keep an eye on it."

"Got it," Lynette said... from testing she could accomplish around three functional glyphs.

Britney then turned towards Penny, awaiting a response.

---

Library.

---

"I understand," Justin completely flatly said to Kimberly. as the Soul Self just about finished melting the ice block. "We need to get in there, so ignore any doubts so we can get out of here." Thankfully Rien backed them up.

"I guess..." Kimberly said.

"Creepy, yeah," Jordan said as she wrapped her arms around her torso. She shivered, but in between shivering she gave Rien a look. Turning her head towards her but mostly looking at her with her eyes. Her lips were upturned as she said, "... Didn't Britney said there was a sigil on the Awakened when they die?"

"Yeah..." Kimberly said, "But maybe one of the corrupted took it? Remember Reese's rampage. The town's full of them right now."

"Yeah, but something doesn't seem right-"

"We're in," Justin said as the Soul-Self flew back into his body and he smiled as he looked back at the group. Without asking for a thought he walked up and opened the door. The place was completely dark and Justin sighed as he snapped his fingers and created a flame large enough to illuminate the next couple feet...

And he had to gag.

What he saw was absolutely disgusting. He was unsure of how the hell this even happened... there was a body completely picked clean. It was obviously human because of the shape of the carcass, but the body was merely the rib-cage and some meat left. It was completely unidentifiable as blood was everywhere... and worst of all he could smell the shit left behind.

He staggered a few feet back as he vomited on the pile of snow. "What the hell?!"

Kimberly had to turn away as Jordan solemnly looked on.

"What the hell is in there...?" Jordan said to no one in particular.

---

Town hall
_{@Atrophy@Ruler Inc}

---

The cold fucking sucked. Though Paige had prepared the best she could, donning the most cold-resistant clothes in her wardrobe, her narrow frame did nothing to protect her, and her hands and face were still exposed. Plus, the snow made the ground uneven, making walking even worse for her. At least her weird fashion tastes would blend in better with the snow. Maybe that'd come in handy. More likely it'd just screw her over, though.

She was grateful for the times when Penny stepped back to walk with her. While she preferred to handle any problem she could (especially those related to her disability) by herself, there's a difference between independence and stupidity. Lagging behind could get her separated and killed. Even her pride wasn't worth that risk.

Once, as they were walking, Paige quietly said to Penny "Gotta talk to you later. Next time we're safe."

Other than that, she did not speak along the journey, not even in the graveyard outside the hall. What was there to say? It was gruesome, and horrific, but those people couldn't be helped now. This image was just another obstacle to be pushed out the way so that they could end this nightmare.

They entered the hall, and Paige was called up to the front, next to Penny once again. Paige wasn't completely sure on the reasoning behind that decision, but her guess was that the other girl just wanted to look out for her. Again, practicality was more important than pride, so the backup was appreciated, if that's what it was. Still, Paige wished she didn't have to be given backup in the first place. At least she had that Abstraction to help her - maybe she could fight off whatever was in here instead of running.

"I don't do well with stairs, especially if we have to go fast. And since Britney doesn't recommend the elevator, I guess I'll stay up here with her," Paige said when splitting the team (again) came up. Not that a rear guard was an inherently bad choice, but these guys clearly didn't watch many horror movies.

---

_{@Ruler Inc@Ciaran@Fernstone}
Town Hall

---

“Why does she get to choose where she goes, man?” protested Billy as Caelea put herself up front. He didn’t really want to be in the front—he didn’t want to be here at all—but he was growing sick of Penny calling all of the shots.

“Because she can actually do something,” said Penny, nodding at Caelea. The girl had handled herself just fine in the hospital lobby. It was nice to have her along. She didn’t even bother to spit out her cigarette as she pushed open the doors. If she was gonna walk into a buncha knife-wielding goons pouncing open her to rip open her guts, she was at the very least gonna smoke while they murdered her. That didn’t happen. What did happen was she dropped the cigarette from her mouth as her jaw fell at the sight of the massacre at the staircase.

“Jesus.”

No time to stare. They had a plan to go quick and they had to go to the basement. Just walk by a whole buncha dead guys. Normal day in Farmer Hill. Penny started for the stairs when Britney suggested she stay behind to serve as a lookout. What? No way, Penny thought as she froze. People in their group didn’t do so hot when they were alone. Penny was about to speak up when Paige volunteered to stay with Britney, partially do to her crutch. Shit! There were ways to work around her stair problem—they weren’t elegant, and they might be somewhat embarrassing—but they would work. Plus, the two wouldn’t be able to have that talk if she died, and splitting up was an absolutely great way to die.

“No,” said Penny to Britney, her voice firm and her hands balled. “This isn’t an option. I already told you that we are sticking together. I’m not going to get a fucking map just to come back upstairs and find the two of you dead.” She grimaced. As far as she could tell, two deaths could remove a sizable chunk from the town’s population. How many of her neighrbors were in here? How many had they passed by unnoticed while out in the storm? She wasn’t going to take any chances.

“We either all go together or we all leave,” said Penny, taking one step towards Britney and not breaking her stare. “And I didn’t just walk through a fucking snowstorm just so I can hike back through it empty handed. Seal what doors you can and help Paige downstairs.”

It was a bluff. Penny knew that they needed that map if they were to beat the Glutton. If Britney refused to cooperate she’d just turn around and head down those stairs, but she wasn’t going to be happy about it. Penny had a strong feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. Maybe it was just the dead bodies, but maybe it wasn’t. She betted on the wasn’t.

---

_{@Ruler Inc}
Library

---

“Maybe we shouldn’t find out,” said Rita, responding to Jordan’s rhetorical question.

She hadn’t seen what Justin had seen, because when he had stepped through the door her vision had been a mix of sleeves and fingers. Still, it had been enough to make the guy jump back and lose his breakfast. She peered through the entrance, trying to see what it was that Justin had seen. It was just darkness at first, but then a vague outline began to form on the ground. Was that a bone? Rita looked away. Her curiosity, for once, wasn’t piqued.

“S-seriously, we really maybe definitely shouldn’t go in,” said Rita.

---

Town Hall.

---

"Seriously, Penny," Britney immediately slid in front of Penny to voice her disapproval of her idea to stick together - while pretty good - was doomed to fail. "If the Watchers attack, we'll be bottlenecked in here-"

"But, knowing the Watchers," Sharon said finally piping up, "They'll take out the two of you out before you even could scream and everyone down here would be screwed because they'd be expecting a notice." Sharon crossed her arms and stared at Britney as the girl didn't have a single valid argument against it.

"Besides," Sharon said as a few insects crawled from underneath her parka. They were flies, cockroaches, and other insects - they immediately went towards the exits. "They'll watch the door and if Lynette does her thing we can have a great indicator someone's coming...." Sharon rolled her eyes at Britney as she took the initiative as being the first one down. Britney didn't appreciate her attitude but she decided not to comment on it.

"It's safe down here, are you coming?" Sharon shouted as the rest of the group went down.

"I'll help," Lynette said as she tried to hoist Paige down, with Britney helping... and the larger and stronger girl was doing more of the heavy lifting for the two.

Once they all got to the basement they were met with the sight of row after row of shelves full of folders that were bound together with a mere note. Unfortunately, while the town had gone through many changes over the years, the town archives were the one place that had the least changes. And why should it? Most of the time the stuff down here was never looked at and why should it have been? This was a town of secrets and anything incriminating was never put down here. So there was a mess.

"Well this is going to take a while," Sharon groaned.

"What if we look at the computer?" Lynette suggested as she quickly drifted to the computer and realized she needed a password. "Any guesses?"

"Try starting with A-A-A then work your way down." Sharon sarcastically suggested.

"Maybe we can find the archiver?" Lynette suggested.

"Probably dead," Sharon answered, "Or is screaming about redemption."

"... Orrrrr died while screaming about redemption." Lynette said with a sigh.

"We don't have the time," Britney said, "This place isn't that big, if we tear through it we can probably get through it all within the hour." She suggested, before immediately tearing open a file. While she would love a short cut right now; they really didn't have the time. Time is of the essence.

That managed to convince everyone to go ahead and do as she asked. They immediately went destroying the place looking for the information that they needed. Everyone was doing the best they could and as Britney said, they had already taken apart a quarter in about ten minutes. Except for Lynette who was eager to go seal the exits... she drew massive ice glyphs at each of the entrances and when she was complete she took a few steps back and it erupted into a massive ice block which sealed the entrance. Fortunately, Lynette could easily bring it down.

While they were tearing through the archives they were oblivious to the sounds of quiet footsteps approaching one of them. Until the unlucky victim was feeling the metal pressing against his skull.

"Don't fuckin' move," Billy heard a husky voice say to him. "I don't know if you're one of those maniacs possessed by that thing or what. Don't move."

Other people took notice and turned towards the man, but they would if they knew a lick about the town's politics...

... They would recognize the mayor of the town.

"None of you move!" The Mayor said, a short, portly man, wearing a suit. One hand pointing a gun at Billy's hand, the other one holding his stomach as his suit was torn to bits. The bandages underneath it obviously peaking from underneath and bloody, and he groaned in pain - as he kept the gun pointed at Billy's head.

The scene was tense as Billy was probably hoping for somebody to come to save him.

---

Library.

---

There was a part of Justin that understood Rita's hesitation, and if he was in her place the last place he'd want to be is right here. He felt bad for the person.

"I know how you feel," Justin looked away in disgust. "But, we gotta do this - trust me; I bet we're gonna see worst sights if we don't." He shook his head as he remembered way back when the Child showed them the vision of what the Glutton would do to the town. And after their first encounter... he had a feeling that the Glutton would make good on its promise. It was something that Justin was going to avoid for Katie, his mother, and everyone else here. He grabbed onto Rita's hand as he said,

"I'll hold your hand if you need it." Justin said, "We need to hurry up and we need to ignore the fallen." He walked in as fast as he could pass the body and once he was past it, he forgot about it.

"Everyone, search the place!" Justin said as he looked around. His fire illuminated the entrance as everyone else used whatever they could to keep the place alit as they searched. Eventually, Kimberly shouted,

"Guys! I found something, come quick!"

They all gathered at the opposite wall, and they had something useful. In fact, exactly what they were looking for. In a glass, the case was conveniently the map on a stand that said something like last remaining map of the mines. It was a complex piece of fabric that had all the mining routes on it and god damn it was messy... and that was probably why it was a great idea to grab the map in the first place.

"Alright, so, somebody needs to break this open." Justin said, "I'd do it, but I'm afraid of setting it on fire."



"... Are you sure you want to proceed down this route?" They heard a familiar voice behind them. It was, yet again, the Speaker. The androgynous being that approached them last night.

"You again?" Justin said as he pointed his hand at the Speaker. "I'll kill you if we stop the Glutton."

"I just came to give you all a warning..." The Speaker said with their hands behind their back. "... Those who have been redeemed are not the only threat here... neither are the warlocks from Glint...." The Speaker shook their head.

"Then who is it? You?"

"Aaaaaaaaahh," The Speaker trailed off as they lifted their hand up, fingers relaxed and with their palm facing them. "I'll give you a hint." Suddenly everything faded away in a mass of orange sparks and embers, and the Speaker just stood there in the darkness with them. Soon enough a scene faded in, similar to their recollections. A group of people ran out of the library doors as all they heard was a hellish cacking. They were covered in blood, as one girl immediately turned around. Jordan and Kimberly recognized the girl as the one that was dead, she pointed both hands at the door and the sigils all up her back began to glow through her clothes. From her palms came a stream of chill that froze the door shut.

However, her companions were so terrified that they all abandoned her except for one. One wielding an ax that snuck up behind her while she was freezing the doors and brought the knife down directly onto her head. Killing her instantly and leaving it embedded into her skull. She was lying on her face completely dead as the person in the hooded parka reached down to her waist and grabbed something before touching her back.

The glowing sigil on her back disappeared and appeared on the person through the parka... before they turned and fled. Soon enough the scene faded away into ambers, and the Speaker brought them back into reality. They placed their hands behind their back.

---

Town Hall
_{@Ruler Inc@Atrophy@Ciaran}

---

Caelea was quite happy to be at the front – though it did mean knowing she’d be one of the first to see any shit, or be attacked, but she was honestly ok with that. She could handle herself (and she was glad Penny agreed that she could do something).

And she agreed with Penny about not splitting up again, though not vocally and just with a nod while remaining alert for the possibility of anything sneaking up on them.

“Well shit, this is a lot more boring folders than I ever wanted to look through in my life,” Caelea commented as the group reached the basement. “Didn’t think we’d be doing paperwork to save the world.”

It was a bad joke, she knew, but hey it lightened up her own feeling towards the task. Because if there was one thing Caelea hated it was menial work. Still she joined everyone in essentially tearing the place apart (destruction she could do).

Min had searched for a bit before approaching the computer, cautiously raising a hand to it. He’d barely used his abstraction but he’d figured out that it gave him some kind of knowledge about whatever he touched. Pushing aside the doubts he still had about the whole magic thing he placed a hand on the machine. The sigil on the back of his neck glowed.

Knowledge flickered through his mind – images of people in the past using this, of what they typed in. He could use it to get them into the computer too… if only he could figure out what part of the knowledge contained the most recent password.

He turned around to say to other others only to see Billy with a gun to his head. Maybe that was a more pressing matter.

Caelea automatically turned, but froze before she followed her instinct to move towards the Mayor. That would just result in someone (probably Billy) getting shot. Instead she put her hands up in as non-threatening a manner as possible.

“We’re not like those maniacs, believe us, we’ve been attacked by them too.” She glanced at the people around her. Fuck, diplomacy wasn’t her strong point. “We don’t want to fight you.”

Though, honestly, she could just blast both of them with air and be done with it. But with the wound the mayor had it would probably kill him or injure him even further (she didn’t exactly have much control) and… she didn’t want to do that. Hopefully someone else would say something a little more convincing.

---

Library
_{@Ruler Inc@Atrophy}

---

Tuyen stuck close to Rita, roles swapped as she essentially shadowed the other girl (who been basically dragged in by Justin). She was silent and ignored the sick feeling in the gut of her stomach. She’d manage to avoid properly looking at the body but it didn’t stop the bile from rising in her throat from just the smell.

She forced herself to move away a bit to help with the searching, but still stayed reasonably close to Rita. Safety in numbers near someone you knew (and mostly trusted) right?

“I’ll get something,” Rien piped up as they got over to the handily place map. They pulled out they’re sketch book and started drawing a small hammer – the kind that could break through glass. Would save anyone injuring themselves trying to break it with a fist or doing something stupid with an offensive abstraction. “Won’t take me long.”

Of course, that was said right before the Speaker appeared. They tried to keep sketching through it but it wasn’t easy as they were pulled into a vision.

Tuyen had to force herself to not tremble when they came back to reality. So Kimberly had been right about the ice sealing something in the library. She could already hear the hellish cackling ringing in her ears. She knew it was because of her abstraction but it was so real, so close, that she couldn’t help herself from curling inwards. Breath, she just had to breath, of course there was something here that wanted to kill them. When would she get used to that and stop fucking panicking over every little thing?

It was so weak.

Still, Tuyen spoke up, voice shaking. “We should get out of here.”

Rien had to say they agreed with Tuyen, with just grabbing the map and going. Problem was none of them could seal the door up – not from what she knew of their abstractions. Though now that she thought about it, she only knew their own and Justin’s (and maybe Jordan’s, they couldn’t quite remember). Maybe one of them was hiding something that could.

“I agree, we should leave, but,” Rien narrowed their eyes at the Speaker, for once stopping and thinking for a moment. “Why are you telling us this? What do you have to gain from us knowing this? We’re not exactly jumping to join you.”

And even the vision was right, it wasn’t just the cackling thing that was a danger but also the hooded person who stole the girl’s abstraction.

“How does us knowing benefit you?”

---

_{@Ruler Inc}
Town Hall

---

They were starting to bicker again. Billy ignored Penny and Britney as they went about their little power struggle. Instead, he found himself staring into the mass grave. Farmer Hill was a small town, and he had met a number of the people working the desk at his father’s shop. Familiar faces now twisted in pain stared back at him. It was horrific. He always thought a world ending event like a zombie apocalypse would be fun. He even had a plan for such an event. But this was different. A dark storm was starting to form in his mind when he just barely caught the group going down the stairs out of the corner of his eye. Billy followed after them. He wasn’t gonna be the idiot caught alone by some psycho.

Billy groaned as the group entered the archives. This was going to take forever, and even if they got what they wanted it would only spell more trouble for them. Why couldn’t they just raid the liquor store and hit up the electronics shop on the way back to the dorms? Get smashed and play games until somebody else took care of this whole thing. He went to the farside of the archives and started thumbing through boxes, going through the motions of searching for a map while not really looking at all before dumping the contents on the floor. He had dumped out a few boxes and began making his way to another row when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

"Don't fuckin' move," Billy heard a husky voice say to him. "I don't know if you're one of those maniacs possessed by that thing or what. Don't move."

Billy felt something cold and metal press against the base of his skull. Was it a gun? He froze in place, looking wildly at the others for help.

Penny felt her stomach flip as she turned and saw that the fucking Mayor had taken her brother hostage. There were plenty of times in her life when she had wished that Billy was dead, mostly over something he said or him hogging the TV, but the sight of seeing a gun drawn on her brother filled her with fear. The only saving grace of the situation was that the Mayor didn’t seem to be one of those Redemption freaks. Maybe there was still reasoning with him.

“We’re not like those maniacs, believe us, we’ve been attacked by them too,” said Caelea. “We don’t want to fight you.”

“Listen to her,” said Penny, trying to sound calmer than she was. “If we were one of those things, this conversation wouldn’t even be happening. We’re trying to stop whatever is going on, Mr. Mayor.”

“The Mayor?” said Billy, the only one who hadn’t gotten a look at the guy holding him hostage. “C’mon, man, our dad campaigned for you. Lemme go.”

“Billy, our dad tried to run again—” Penny shook her head and turned her attention back to the Mayor. “Look, doesn’t that prove that this idiot can’t be one of those things? Please, put down the gun and we can explain why we’re here. Maybe you could help us.”

She took one step forward.

---

Town hall
_{@Ruler Inc}

---

Paige was grateful for the help getting down, but she didn't want any more than absolutely necessary. When it seemed like Lynette and Britney were going to carry her down the stairs she told them that that wasn't necessary. "Just support my weak side, and make sure I don't fall," she said to Britney specifically, assuming she was the stronger of the pair. Even is she didn't mind being a burden to the others, she still wouldn't have been able to bear the indignation of being physically hoisted down the stairs.

Once they were downstairs, Paige joined the search through the archive. Frustratingly, she found nothing - though Britney's estimate seemed accurate, it would be a lot quicker if they found what they were looking for without having to search the whole place, not that it was likely they would be so lucky. Paige wanted this over and done with as soon as possible, not out of laziness, but out of a desire for safety. More time out here was more time when someone could be killed.

Paige turned when she heard the voice that she didn't recognise, but quickly decided it was best to stay out of this. The others were already trying to resolve it, and more people talking to the mayor at once probably wouldn't help. Besides, guns had always made Paige feel uncomfortable, but vastly more so after she herself had been shot. As a result, her decision was to stand back and draw as little attention to herself as possible. The mayor, if he had even a shred of sanity left, should be able to tell they were human with no difficulty at all.

---

Town Hall.

---

“Look, doesn’t that prove that this idiot can’t be one of those things? Please, put down the gun and we can explain why we’re here. Maybe you could help us.”

The Mayor sighed as he lowered his weapon.

"... I ought to put a bullet in him anyway to remove him from the gene pool," He started off as he looked around. "But, I don't see the point anymore."

Britney was relieved when he lowered the weapon, but his venomous gaze landed upon Britney and he pointed his figure at her when he shouted, "YOU! This is all your fault! You and your shithead father."

The girl put her hands up, but sighed when she said, "It probably is."

"Where is Micheal at?" He asked, "We need to have a word."

"Probably not in this universe, or dead," Britney started off frankly before she sighed, "Both are possibilities at this point."

"But, that doesn't matter," Lynette said as she tried to take charge. "I have a feeling you know what's going on?"

"Yeah."

"We're trying to stop that thing, and if you help us-" Lynette tried to plead with him.

"What's the point?" He said as he grabbed himself a spare chair that was lying around and sat down on it. He looked down at the floor, with his body posture completely lowered. "We're all dead anyway."

"I wouldn't say that-"

The Mayor rolled up his sleeve and it revealed a sigil of an eye. "No, we are dead. For years I've played along with that bastard and his friends. Hated every second of it, but they kept the monsters out of my town so I just kept my mouth shut, and swept whatever dead body they made under the rug. Time after time... they said it was for the greater good, and look where that's got us. We're about to be eaten by an abomination. And...."

"Hold up, just what are you getting at?" Lynette had to ask... her New York accent she tried to suppress for so long slipped through.

"My abstraction lets me see the future, but do nothing about it..."

The sigil of the eye glowed brightly for a second

"... And that thing gets out, one way or another."

---

Library.

---

The Speaker glared at Rien for a few seconds and didn't break contact for the duration not even to blink. Before the being finally spoke,

"Because I am a Speaker," The being spoke completely emotionless, "I speak the truth, and the undeniable truth. I feel it is the duty of higher being such as myself to enlighten the deceived."

"Whatever that means." Kimberly rolled her eyes.

"But, this vision, this recollection of mine has another layer, and it is in your best interests to see it." He raised his hand as sparks and embers engulfed the area. It quickly reverted to a cloudy ethereal plane with heavenly white clouds and smoke all around. There was a blue light shining from somewhere, and Justin was immediately reminded of the visions with the Child... and speak of the Devil; the child was there talking to somebody obscured in the shadows. Obviously by the Speaker, but what was the damn thing's game here.

"... You see, that's where the issue lies," The Child says in their heavenly voice. "The damage that thing has done to their minds... it's a possibility that they will never wake back up - I am doing the best I can to repair their fractured minds, but I fear... they may not be the same."

The Child sighed as they looked off to the side, "I have faith that they would have solved the issue before it got to this point, but the Glutton is a cunning being. At this point, it gained so much momentum... it may be too late..."

"But, you have a plan?" The person obscured by Shadows said.

"Yes, it's not perfect, and it carries a heavy weight; a weight that many would not be able to carry," The Child said.

"What is it?"

"You're an Awakened, and... when my predecessors designed this world; they made human emotion a tool as means of an experiment," The Child started off, "The beings of this world were granted with the abilities to manifest powers from those emotions. Share those emotions and help understand and connect to each other."

The Child sighed, as they began to explain, "They... also gave them the power to take a bit of the Godforce of the deceased. Of course, this means inheriting their memories... and their abstractions."

"I am aware of this," The shaded person said. "But... what are you expecting me to do?"

"The Awakened are dying by the minute, and the Glutton is harvesting what little Godforce he can from them, and at this point there's only you, those with the broken minds, and less than a dozen other Awakened left. And that's all the Awakened we'll get. I hate to suggest it, but for the good of all of us, we may have to get their abstractions from them before the Glutton can get their hands on them. By any means necessary, if I can not fix them..."

The Child shook their head as they turned away from the person, "... Then you must go kill them and harvest their abstractions."

The shaded person shook their head, and Justin really wished they could see their face or recognize their voice. Or really anything to identify them. The scene went back to the library, but Justin had a feeling at the game that the Speaker was playing.

"Nice try, dickhead," Jordan said. "But how do we know it's real?"

The Speaker turned away from Jordan as they said, with a shrug of their shoulders, "How do you know that the world before you is even real?" The Speaker put their hand up, and a book manifested from the embers and orange light.

"Because..."

"You have come to your own truth and conclusion to accept reality as it has been presented to you by the false Gods," The Speaker answered quickly and without a second thought. "Just as I have come to the truth that it is merely a limitation on the mind and soul. Confining you all to be cattle, harvested by the beings of blue light."

Honestly, a lot of it just went over Justin's head... he just decided he had enough when he slammed his foot on the ground. "Just cut to the chase, asshole," Justin said, "If we go with you; you'll show us whose the mystery person."

The Speaker had their hands behind their back for a few seconds.

"... And why would I do that?"

"Huh?"

"I give you all the truth, and it is your own duty to accept it - on your own terms," The Speaker said before they broke off into a long tirade. "All else I will tell you is that the Child... the False God, is lying to you all and you all are blindly following it...."

They finished with fifteen words.

"... If you seek the truth, you will have all the answers you are looking for."

---

_{@Ruler Inc}
Town Hall

---

Holy shit, the idiot defense actually worked. Penny felt a heavy weight lift off of her as Billy stumbled away from the Mayor, but tensed up again as the Mayor lit up at the sight of Britney. Penny hemmed as he started spilling the beans. For such a big secret, it seemed like half the town had been involved in this damn conspiracy. What if her parents had known? Were they even still alive? Worse yet, what if they were Corrupted? She lit a cigarette so she’d stop biting on her lip. She doubted the Mayor would protest between all of his nihilism.

“Hold up, man,” said Billy as the Mayor revealed the nature of his Abstraction. “If you can see the future, then why even draw a gun on me? Wouldn’t you know I wasn’t one of those loonies?”

“Billy, I doubt he ever considered you at all,” said Penny, exhaling a cloud of smoke.

“Fuck that, dude,” said Billy. “Fuck that, man.” He turned to the Mayor. “How do you even know your Abstraction even works? Mine doesn’t even do shit. It’s worthless. How come yours works then? If you tell us something is the future, then we don’t do it, then you didn’t see the future. And if you tell us something is the future, and we do it, then we were really just doing what you said.” He waved his hands around as he tried to make some kind of point. “Maybe you just see something and you think it’s the future when really it’s all just a big coincidence so far, or like, it’s not just the future but a future and there are ways to go about and change it or—”

“Or maybe fucking Nostradamus here actually creates a reality just by thinking of it and just because we’re in a goddamn basement doesn’t mean I’m going to pretend to be high enough to have this kind of fucking conversation with you, Billy, so go search for the map while the adults talk,” snapped Penny. She ashed her cigarette and turned to the Mayor, annoyed with his attitude as much as she was with Billy.

“Listen, I haven’t fought an indestructible, axe-wielding bully, a swarm of human-hungry insects, weird zealot zombies, some avatar of a thing I can’t even begin to understand, and the urge to bitchslap half the people in this room just to have some shitty, schlubby politician that I didn’t even vote for tell me that the future is futile. I literally do not care if all I ever amounted to be was just some pesky little gnat buzzing around the Glutton’s head, because I will at least die knowing that, for the briefest moment in time, Penny Lawson stuck it to the biggest asshole in the universe,” she said, smirking. “So—”

“If you knew the future how’d you get hurt?” shouted Billy from behind a shelf. “Fucked that right up, didn’t—”

He shut up as Penny’s cigarette went blasting past his head. She lit another one.

“So since we really don’t have time for this,” she continued, “how about you tell me where I can find a map for the mountain’s mines so I can find the Glutton and kick him in the dick.”

---

_{@Ruler Inc}
Library

---

Rita wasn’t glad that Justin practically dragged her along, but she didn’t let go. It was such a strange feeling that the library, something she once considered a safe haven, now filled her with so much dread. When the Speaker appeared she barked out a noise of surprise before covering her mouth, embarrassed that her reaction wasn’t a cool display of annoyance. If it could just pop up wherever, what else could do the same? She didn’t like cowering, but there wasn’t much else she could do. It wasn’t like her Abstraction gave her the power to talk something to death.

She grimaced at the recollection. They didn’t need to see that. Why did it think that they needed to see that? It was just a cruel joke, another sick game. When they couldn’t be physically beaten down by Scott, they’d be mentally beaten down by the Speaker. She hated this. Why didn’t they just grab the map and beat feet out of here? She was ready to tell the others just to start going when the Speaker said something that struck a nerve buried deep down within her.

The Speaker said, "I speak the truth, and the undeniable truth. I feel it is the duty of higher being such as myself to enlighten the deceived."

And Rita doubted that very much. In fact, it was utter bullshit, right? As another recollection played, Rita glowered. The Speaker kept showing them half-truths to get them to turn against the Child, and Justin made a good point about it possibly just being a fabrication. She didn’t want to even play its game, but she felt compelled to go through with it. Hell, maybe she did seek the truth after all, whatever the hell truth even was. Fortunately for her, she could get all of the answers. Rita stepped out from behind Justin and Tuyen. She took a breath, and then looked up at the Speaker’s orange eyes.

”Did that last thing you show us actually happen? Who was the hidden person?” She grinned. ”Or did you just lie to us? Are you even capable of lying?”

She didn’t know if her Abstraction queued questions up. She didn’t know if it even worked on non-humans. But it felt good to ask. She had a couple dozen more start forming in her head. Where’s the Glutton? Can we escape it? How do we kill it? Are you the same thing as the Child? How do we get rid of both of you? Are you called the Speaker because you never shut the fuck up?

The list went on and on.