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Collecting these orbs just got a lot harder.
For the past several…fuck, I have no idea what measurement to use. Weeks? Months? Whatever. Point is, an annoying trend has appeared. After extensive research, I would discover a potential location for an orb. And as I approached its position in spacetime, I would sense its presence. And then, without any warning, it would disappear. And when I’d arrive, all I would find would be an empty patch of land.
This happened time after time, without any reason I could see. Frustration doesn’t come close to describing how I felt. I maybe might have destroyed several priceless historical artifacts during some of my more unpleasant moments.
After so many failures, I finally reached an orb before it vanished. It was inside an underground mausoleum. Cheery place. Lots of skulls. Not many of them human.
The orb was placed on a pedestal in the lower sections of the mausoleum. Felt so much relief when I saw that it was still there. Reached over to grab the orb-
Every timeline in the area straightened into rigid lines. It was the same feeling as back in Egypt, during the destruction of the pyramid. Flight response instantly kicked in, and I tried making a run for the exit, ignoring the orb. Didn’t make it very far. Black tree branches tore through the walls and wrapped around my arms and legs, trapping me. And then the Slender Man stepped out of the blackness.
I thought it had come to kill me, but it ignored me. Walked right past me, to the pedestal. It lifted up the orb, and seemed to examine it for a moment. And without any ceremony, it crushed the orb in its grip, letting the broken shards fall to the ground as the light vanished from them.
It only glanced at me once before disappearing. The branches still held me tight, no matter how hard I struggled. I had to get out of here, away from this place where time felt so wrong, but was powerless.
The mausoleum began to violently shake. Gears and wires ripped apart the roof, and I could see that same immense tower as I’d seen in Egypt, disassembling the mausoleum. The machinery was working its way downward, tearing apart everything it came across and incorporating the material into the construction of the tower. Those wires were moving towards me very quickly. I really had to get out of that place….
That whisper I’d been hearing in my head since I started collecting these orbs was growing louder each passing moment. Just as the wires were about to reach me, the whisper became a roar, and it felt like a dam burst in my brain. Massive amounts of knowledge flowed into my head, more than I could understand at once. And as that knowledge rushed into me, my body started to act on its own. The shadows of my left arm tore apart my sleeve, losing any resemblance to an arm and changing into a mass of black tentacles that easily ripped apart the branches holding them. I tore off the branches holding my other arm and my legs, then grabbed onto the straight timelines. As soon as I touched them, they lost their gridlike order, and began twisting into their normal chaotic form. That was the sort of time I could use. Jumped down it, escaping just as the mausoleum was destroyed.
Once I got someplace safe, I began fighting back against the waves of knowledge. Tried blocking them, mentally pushing them back behind a wall. Somehow managed to get it under control, and regain control over my body. There’s still so much information I now have because of it, but I don’t have any context for any of it. When I look up at the night sky now, I can name every star I see, and the planets which orbit all of them. I know how to chant the ancient rites to please Mother Hydra and Father Dagon. I know the beast which the Egyptians based the statue of the Sphinx off, and where it sleeps, waiting for the day when the seals will be lifted and it may again walk the deserts. But I don’t know why I suddenly know this, or how any of its supposed to help me at all.
Of more direct importance are the shadows on my left arm. They’re arm shaped again, at least. But… when I first got them, they started just below the elbow, where I’d lost my real arm. When I looked at my arm again after this incident, they’d spread, and now covered my elbow as well. This… does not seem like a good thing. Especially when I think of my I-330, and how the shadows covered her entire left arm, and part of her chest.
So now it seems like I’ve got another obstacle trying to stop me from saving Lisa. Slender Man and the Manufactured Newborn. Looks like they’ve got a little grudge against ancient relics. Guess I need to start getting these orbs before they can destroy them.
And the race is on.
I-330
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