Sleep blogging

I just woke up to find this blog open on my computer. I don't remember writing any of this. Interesting story though. I seem to of peppered my friends throughout. I bet they'd be amused if they saw it. Though they might not like the fact I apparently killed them all off.

Killed Lisa off before even reaching the end of the story. She would definitely not like that.

"How could you kill your girlfriend off so early!?" I can just see it now.

Probabkly a bad idea I put her ex in here as well.

Well all in all it's a nice little story, but I'll probably keep it to myself. Good thing none of my friends know about this blog.

Heh it's funny. This blog had a heavy focus on dreams and nightmares and I actually had a weird dream last night. Probably related to this I mean it did have a pocket watch and a grey man in it. It was a man dressed all in grey standing at a bus stop. He holds out his hand and a pocket watch just falls into his hand from the sky. He opens it and watches it for a second before the bus arrives and just as it's arriving a car tries to pass it hits like a puddle or something and swerves into the side of the stopping bus. The man looks at the crash, looks back at the pocket watch and then just nods and the dream ends. Pretty weird, huh?

The Gates of The Garden

It unfortunately appears that being here is actually sapping their strength, so we hurried on hoping to get through this before they'd be too weak to help. We reached the gates. It was just like in my dream. I approached alone the others stayed back, whether out of fear or awe I'm not sure. The creature roared to free it and I could see thousands of eyes staring at me. I held the pocket watch in my hand, the ghostly images of it's victims surrounding me and I approached the gate. On cue The Archangel showed up. With a cry of rage it fell from the sky, landing in front of me and slapping me back towards the others. It hurt, everything hurt as I hit the ground and the rest of my friends rushed The Archangel. I don't know how to describe what he looked like. It was a man, an angel, a demon, a beast and A God. It grew limbs and body parts at will and could change it's mass and form. Harold barreled into it and a mouth of sharp teeth opened up and bit into him beginning to drag him into it. Ariadne grabbed him with strings and pulled him out then tried to grab hold of The Archangel who simply melted through the strings as if they weren't there and lanced an arm tipped with what looked like a spear at her. She managed to evade, but another arm swung out and scythed through her. She fell screaming and Harold summoned blades seemingly out of wind and began hacking at The Archangel. The terrible mass simply absorbed his slashes and spiked appendages lunged out and speared into his body. He started to turn to smoke, but the creature surged forward engulfing his form and I saw no trace of the smoke escape. Dr. Malice began shooting the creature, but it had no effect. Throughout it all I tried to get up, to do something, but a pressure was holding me down.

Get up you stupid Girl! The Liar spoke in my head, You killed yourself, you killed all these people and you even killed me, to get to this point. I refuse to have been defeated and killed in vain! 

The pressure holding me down snapped and I got to my feet. The Archangel was devouring Dr. Malice as I began to run towards the gate.I almost made it, then a tendril wrapped around my waist and yanked me back, in desperation I tossed The Pocket Watch. It landed just short of the gate. The tendril yanked me back and then slammed me against the ground. It's haphazard and terrible face loomed over me and it let out a sound like a laugh.

"So, close and you fail. Isn't that just like your pitiful species. Weak, unsuccessful and easily frightened. Even in death I can see that you're afraid. Well you should be. I can make your afterlife as painful or painless as I want and in your case it will be painful," he spoke directly into my head. I didn't struggle, I didn't cry. I don't know if it was simply because I'd accepted my fate or because I was still so crushed by my failure. However, at that point a voice spoke quietly.

"Hey, Archie. You forgot someone," Portnoy stated in a quiet, matter of fact voice. Portnoy was standing by the gate holding The Pocket Watch. The Archangel didn't turn in surprise or anything. The moment Portnoy finished speaking all manner of limbs launched from the mass towards Portnoy. The Pocket Watch began to glow in Portnoy's hand and The victims of The Pocket Watch appeared again. Blocking and destroying the limbs before they could reach Portnoy. Portnoy touched the Pocket Watch to each of the locks in numbered order and they all snapped open. The Archangel was screaming in rage and it's scream hurt my head and filled my mind with nothing, but white hot, painful rage. As a result I didn't get to see what happened next. I was only aware when the pain faded and I could see that The Gates stood open and there was nothing beyond them. Portnoy was simply standing there. The Pocket Watch seemed to be gone and so did all the summoned. Except me, though I'm not actually sure why I remained.

The Archangel was focused entirely on Portnoy now. Portnoy raised a hand and The Archangel's form began to shrink and change and then became the Gas Masked form.

"Know me, Grave Digger," Portnoy commanded and The Archangel seemed to cower a little and then reached up and removed the Gas Mask. Underneath it was a mildly handsome man with blond hair. He looked on the verge of tears.

"I... I should have killed you, when I had the chance," he said quietly and Portnoy... Or probably God? nodded.

"Killing The Echo would have been best. However, like your creator, you never destroy what you think you can control or use," Probably, God responded.

"You took the powers I was given... You've made me human again. What will you do now?" The Archangel asked, his voice trembling.

"I could destroy you with ease. Punish you for the terrible things you've done, however, forgiveness is in my nature," God responded and then snapped his fingers. The Archangel was gone. God approached me and then looked around. Ariadne, Dr. Malice, Harold were all dead and of course Lisa, Muffin and many others as well. He made a sound like a sigh. "I wish I could return them and you, but I can't. Not now, not like this. It would... unbalance things and they have not even yet been completely balanced. I can only promise that I will do as The Man in Grey wants. Now that I am free again I will oppose Jack and bring Balance," he looked thoughtful, "There is perhaps one more thing I can do for you though. Like Jack created universes of terror and pain I can create new universes as well" he said and placed a hand on my head.

"Finish your story and then sleep, when you awaken you will be in a better world one free of monsters and full of friends," he said and then vanished.

I guess my mission is complete... I guess I knew it would end like this. I practically called it.

"I'm important... I have a purpose... and everyone I know and love is going to die as a result." Good call me.

I guess there's nothing to do, but go to sleep.

Pearly Gates

Eventually the area around us began to change from a corpse filled wasteland to an area more similar to common depictions of heaven and the area I saw in my dreams. I was feeling better and I'm walking now. Everyone, but Portnoy and I are starting to feel weak though. So, we took a rest on the edge of the more heavenly area. We should be able to reach the gates by tomorrow if everyone is feeling more rested.

I'm remembering the dreams I had and I remember there was that one where I was at the gates... Something attacked me. As a result I'm fairly sure that something is going to go wrong when we get to the gates. Portnoy agrees to me.

I hope that this world just makes the others more tired and doesn't actually sap their strength. I'm going to need them at full strength when we reach the gates.

I'm pretty sure that's when The Archangel will make his move. I wonder what form he takes in his own domain?

Dead

Hey, it's Amanda. I'd say I'm still alive, but I guess I'm not. I'm dead, huh?

Kind of a bummer... I wasn't in my right mind and I still have a little trouble focusing myself, but Portnoy's presence is... helping me. I can keep my thoughts together as long as he's nearby. The Quest isn't over. I'm dead and I can't leave here, but this is where I'm supposed to be. Those gates are here somewhere. We're going to find them and use the key and then this will be over... and I'll still be dead.

This will be over and Muffin, Lisa and I will still be dead. Will we still be here? I don't know. I haven't found Lisa. I haven't looked. I couldn't before Portnoy and the others arrived and I don't want to now. I don't want to see her like this. Muffin is of course here with me as Harold said. All those killed by The Pocket watch and used to make the key are here. The Liar is here too, but she's a special case. The entirety of The Shard that makes up the liar is contained in the pocket watch now. I don't know what will happen to her when the key is used. I don't know what will happen to any of them... us? I'm one of them too? The pocket watch killed me to get The Dying Man's essence. Who knows what will happen to us when The Key is used. I guess it doesn't matter. Can't get much worse than dead. I can type cause I'm being carried at the moment. Harold is carrying me. Apparently I'm very light now that I'm dead.

We're going to find those gates, use the key and make a better world for people who aren't already dead.

Who knows maybe things will even get better for us dead people.

... I don't want to Jinx anything, but I'm a little surprised The Archangel hasn't shown up to try and stop us yet. I mean we're in The Archangel's domain or debatably in The Archangel itself.

I mean obviously I hope he doesn't try to stop us, but I'm expecting he will.

So it occurred to me there are a few things I didn't notice and thus didn't mention in my last post. First of all considering that I made a big point of how we're disconnected from the outside world here how in the hell am I writing these posts and sending them? Unfortunately I don't have an answer for you. I don't understand it either. There are a lot of things relating to blogs and the act of blogging in regards to The Fears that I don't think we'll ever get an answer too.

Like how do blogs manage to travel to other universes and why do we almost never if ever see more than one blog from the same person coming from different universes? I've stopped questioning that kind of stuff.

As for the second thing... I didn't dwell much on the corpses that line this place. Corpses are unfortunately not that much of a bother too me, given my nature. However I should talk about them more. They seem to come in about three variants with small differences. You have the ones like we first ran into that simply lie around unless acted on, others that seem to crawl around and lastly standing ones that appear to have become homicidal for some reason and rush us attempting to kill us in a Berserker Fury. So, yeah they're all hostile. The unmoving ones will try to grab and bite you if you somehow cause them to become attentive. The crawling ones will try to grab and bite you if you go near them and the berserker ones will charge at you on sight and try to grab, bite and gouge out your eyes.

However the thing we noticed about them is that they are all naked. In fact they're all missing any sort of extra accessories that aren't part of the normal human body. Some even missing parts of their normal human bodies.

It appears that when you die whatever ends up here doesn't bring clothes or other accessories. I guess that whole "You can't take it with you" thing is true. I guess the fact we're clothed and have our stuff means Portnoy didn't kill us to bring us here.

We spent a nightmare time here searching what is essentially an infinite expanse of things that want to hurt us, but are mercifully bad at doing so. Also indestructible. Did I mention that one already? They can't be harmed. I cut off one of the berserker one's arms and the arm regenerated even as my blade slid through it. So, we've been fighting them off and running away until eventually we found Portnoy again and he had found Amanda.

Amanda wasn't like the other corpses. She seemed to have retained herself to a degree at least. She wasn't quite herself and Portnoy was guiding her around like a child. With her, however, were other people. She was followed around by ghostly images of Muffin, that Adrian guy and I assume everyone else who had been killed by The pocket watch to make the key. There was even some strange leech like thing wrapped around her arm that I'm pretty sure was some symbolic representation of The Liar. The other dead people won't come near her so, we're all just hanging around here for now trying to figure out what to do.

Oh and Ariadne apparently carries her Sally outfit with her and so Amanda is dressed in "Sally's" clothes.

Harold again. There's been a development apparently. With Amanda dead, Muffin dead and the war over everyone was just sort of leaving. Even The Ordeal were leaving. Apparently deciding after this little war there current location was no longer safe and so they were moving on to somewhere new. It was me, Ariadne, Dr. Malice and Portnoy left. We were debating about what to do with The Pocket Watch. Ariadne wanted to take it so she could try to carry out the plan anyway. Dr. Malice didn't trust her and frankly neither did I. Portnoy was being quiet. I don't like him much. He's never really done anything to me specifically I guess, but he was there with Faceless during my final fight with him and I can't get the idea out of my head that he's somehow my enemy.

Eventually Ariadne convinced us it was the only chance and we were preparing to hand over The Pocket Watch, when Portnoy spoke.

"This isn't over. We need to find Amanda," he said.

"We know where she is, Portnoy. She's in the ground," Dr Malice responded.

Portnoy shook his head, "No that's where her body is. We need to go to where she is," he replied cryptically.

"and where's that?" I asked to which he responded,

"Where all Dead people go,"

There was a bright light then and when we awoke we were in a nightmare world. A vast expanse filled with nothing, but corpses laying on the ground. The sky above was an empty black that sucked at the eyes. Portnoy seemed unaffected, but the rest of us were reeling from the sudden change and the hellish land around us. He moved purposely ahead. We tried to follow him, but Dr. Malice stepped on a corpse's finger and the corpse screamed and grabbed at him with another hand. All the corpses began screaming and writhing and by the time we managed to overcome the shock from this development, Portnoy had gone. I tried to summon, The Brute. Hoping to get out of here, but I can't feel him anymore. It's like being disconnected from your hand. I feel a terrible numbness in my... I don't even know. Dr. Malice doesn't seem to be able to leave his body either. Ariadne's staff still works, but she can't open a path to the Screaming Tower, none of us can. The three of us are trapped here in the land of the dead.

Still Awake

I waited all night in my room to wake up from this nightmare and I haven't. It's time to accept that if this is a nightmare it's not one that's ending soon.

Muffin is dead. I've killed him. There's nothing I can do about that.

It... It had to be done eventually anyway. Besides I was sleepwalking... Or something... Wait...

This shouldn't be possible.
It is
You can't be here.
I am
No... How, when?!
Back in the alley. I slipped a portion of myself into you while we were talking.
That's impossible, Lisa would have sensed you and when we got here Richard would have found you.
My entire point in being is to go undetected. I can lay completely dormant inside of someone for as long as I want and I lay dormant in you. Your friend Lisa could detect me when I wanted her too, but even The Fears can't detect me if I don't want them to, so your friend's weakened form of detection didn't have a chance. Richard couldn't detect me either. Well he probably did, just before he tackled you in front of a window. He still wasn't expecting it. The only reason he beat me before is because I spread myself too thin and wasn't expecting him. This time the opposite was true. No matter how powerful he might have become a shard of a shard is still lesser and now he's gone. I passed from Brian to Lionel to Seth and have erased all traces of Richard. 
Why?
Eliminating threats of course.
No, why did you kill Muffin?
Repaying you for freeing Sergei. I suppose.
I didn't need your help.
Of course you did. Though I must also admit, it's just fun. You break so amusingly.
So, that's it? You kill Muffin get me all the essences I need except yours and then kill me?
Well I don't intend to kill you. I intend to use you. You've built up quite a network of friends I could travel through and of course once again through you I've achieved what I set out to achieve when we first met.
The Ordeal.
Correct. With Richard gone, I can take control of them at my leisure and through them I'll have access to the runners and through them and you I can get access to The Archive even.
All I still need to complete this key is your essence.
Yep... So close.
That's all you shards are. Essences. Tiny essences of the creature known as The Dying Man.
If you're trying to insult me, you're doing a good job and you should know I can hurt you in many ways from in here.
No matter how spread out you are among how many people you're still just one creature, correct?
I see what you're getting at. Yes, if you'd killed me way back in that alley when I gave you the chance you'd of killed me completely. The entire Shard known as The Liar would have been absorbed into the pocket watch. Too bad you did

It's Harold. Amanda wasn't responding so I came up to check on her and found her dead. One of her hands was in her pocket grasping the pocketwatch and this was on her computer. All the numbers on the pocket watch are glowing. I think that means the key is complete. Too bad we don't know what to do with it.

I guess Rest In Peace, Amanda. 

Please be a dream

It was like a nightmare. I thought it was just a nightmare. I felt strangely tired last night right after posting and then I... I thought I fell asleep. I had a nightmare... I'm still having a nightmare, I think, I hope. I was sleepwalking. I walked through the halls of The Ordeal Compound and to Muffin's room. I entered and Muffin was there with Megan. They both turned as I entered. I felt something heavy in my hand. It was the pocket watch. Muffin stood up and approached me. "I was waiting for you," he said and then turned to Megan, "Remember what I told you," he ordered her and she nodded. He then stepped right in front of me and reached out to grab my wrist. "I suppose technically we all owe you for what you're about to do. As much as Amanda will hate you for it and regardless of the fact you're not doing it for any of our benefits. You never do anything just to benefit others," he stated and then turned his head back to Megan and I could see tears in her eyes, "I love you, Megan," Muffin stated and she merely nodded then my hand shot forward pressing the pocket watch to his chest. There wasn't time for him to even turn back towards me, before his body crumpled into dust. Megan didn't even move though she did look away. I turned the pocket watch to me and opened it. All of the numbers were glowing except the number 1. I thought it was just a nightmare then. I expected to wake up back in my room... I was partly right. I woke up standing in Muffin's room. Holding the almost completed Pocket Watch. I remember asking what happened and Megan turned on me with hatred.
 "He told me not to blame you. That it wasn't your fault. That's the only reason you're still alive right now," she said. I tried to apologize and she screamed at me. I left and retreated to my room. Dreams within Dreams. That's all this is. I'm going to wake up soon. This is just The Grotesque. A simple nightmare and I'll wake up soon.

The War has ended.

I'm by no means safe now. The Fears aren't defeated, just momentarily inconvenienced. I've merely managed to buy myself some breathing room.
It is almost time
The question still looms. What do I do now? It seems like I don't have a choice. If I want to complete my mission there's no choice but to end The Muffin Man's life, but I can't do that. I can't kill Muffin. He's my friend and my ally. I can't take the life of my friend and ally just to fulfill this mission.
As you babble, my plan is nearing completion
This mission is bigger than me, bigger than Muffin... From what I've been told it'll change the balance of the world itself. I can't just abandon it because of one person, but I can't kill Muffin.
The last threat has fallen.
I don't know what to do.
Luckily for you I do.

Sleep Well Amanda.

The Ruins

Hey, it's Harold.

Amanda is sleeping, but she told me to post up an account of the fight with The Archangel that took place in The Empty City ruins.

I don't really use these blog things. Never really seen the point of recording anything for public consumption, but she was adamant that I tell you what happened. She should have had The Muffin Man write this, but apparently he's too busy seeing to his sister and the war clean up. The war is pretty much over. Spider-Girl, Muffin and pretty much everyone else are easily dealing with the few servants still fighting. There's no sign of the dove and it's assumed he just vanished somewhere. The rest of the nests are expected to piss off sooner or later. As such I don't really have much to do. I will miss the power boost I was getting from this war.

Anyway right, supposed to be telling you about the fight with The Archangel. Not really much to tell...

When we got that Bastard into The Empty City he turned back to Faceless and tried taunting both of us, me for failing to ever kill Faceless myself and I didn't really listen to anymore of that. I hate The Fears. I hate The Faceless Bastard. There were both of them standing in front of me. I didn't want to waste time talking so I started The Fight. The Brute slammed into him like a freight train and he barely managed to hold his ground, but Muffin took the cue to provide support and would hammer blow The Archangel anytime he started to regain his balance allowing The Brute to lay into him with impunity. After a short time he started trying to flee through The Ruins knowing he couldn't win. He managed to get the knife out, but you can't teleport out of the city even in it's dead form. He was trying to get to Doors, but we kept him away from them and any chance we took we'd strike at him. Muffin mostly attempted to trip him up or slow him down so The Brute could get hits in since only The Brute would be able to do any real damage. After a short time his form began to shift as Faceless took too much damage. He tried to appeal to my emotions, by becoming members of my family. It didn't work I just set The Brute loose. The Brute doesn't have loved ones and he had no qualms about killing some random humans. The Archangel didn't put up much of a fight in the end. I don't think he really could. I think taking the form of a dead person limits his powers to a degree. Eventually The Brute crushed him destroying his material form and that was it.

The Push

The moment we've been expecting has come. Either with the death of one of their leaders or just the dawning fact that every second they wait The Brute grows in power they've begun the attack. Groups of Timberwolves swarmed the entrances as Nests began to teleport themselves inside and engage us from within.

I  fought. I knew I'd have to eventually. I used the pocket watch. It was more effective against Nests than anything else I could possibly use. Every time I killed someone I felt horrible, but I couldn't just stay passive. If I did either I'd die or I'd simply leave everyone else to die.

Killing is terrible, but I'm not naive enough to think it's never the right answer.

I didn't keep track of how many people I killed. It was easier not to think of it and just try to focus on not being killed. I came close a few times. At one point a nest managed to get out a couple of birds before I managed to touch him and I would have been bird food except Portnoy managed to kill them with his strange fire powers. The fight seemed to be going fairly well though my dreams of ending this with few casualties was being dashed with every second and then it got worse.

Faceless hadn't made an appearance during the war so far. He made one now. It was just me and Portnoy and a couple of Ordeal members who's names I didn't know and I feel bad about that considering they were all dead a few seconds later. Faceless appeared just as Portnoy cut down the last Nest we were facing and his first action was to grab the nearest Ordeal soldier and decapitate them with a Machete. Everyone turned their focus on him and bullets slammed into his body, but he paid no attention and began killing everyone around him. I froze. I didn't know what to do. The Pocket Watch didn't hurt him, bullets wouldn't hurt him and I didn't have any other way to fight him. Portnoy had no such concerns though as he lunged at Faceless, who had just stabbed another person in the chest. Portnoy's fire blade slashed through Faceless' back and Faceless let out a grunt then turned pulling his Machete out of the poor guy's chest.

"Ah Portnoy. Been a while," he said.

"It has," Portnoy responded, "but you're not Faceless. Tell me Gravedigger. How long has it actually been since we met in that desert?"

"Too long. When you were alone, I comforted you. I spoke to you. I helped you. When you were beaten I took you in, protected you. You abandoned me then, sided with my enemy. Is this what you call gratitude?"

"Your mercy erased my mind and replaced my life," Portnoy responded.

"I took away your pain," The Archangel/Faceless responded.

"You took away my life!" Portnoy yelled and attacked again.

Faceless seemed to actually be surprised by this attack and staggered back as Portnoy shoved his blade up to the hilt in Faceless' chest. Faceless stood motionless then backhanded Portnoy with enough force to slam him against the wall. He then pulled the sword out and glanced at me.

"Hey Amanda... I see you're still alive. Heard about your girlfriend. Sad... I know," he stepped toward me and his form shifted becoming Lisa, "I'll let you see her again,"

I screamed and lunged at him. He smiled with her face and prepared to catch me and was caught by surprise when I suddenly ducked around him and ran out into a hallway. He gave chase and I continued running. I ran through more fighting which unfortunately led to him killing a few more Ordeal members on the way. Eventually though I reached my destination and he followed me in. It was the cells. Harold and Muffin were both here and behind them there was an open door in a wall. A door that went to the impossible. The Archangel froze and tried to disappear, but Muffin drew out one of The Second's daggers. The one The Second had stabbed him with in fact and tossed it into The Archangel's chest. Black electricity crackled through his body and he was trapped. He tried to flee, but The Brute was in the doorway behind him and tackled him forcing him through The Door. Harold followed after him and Muffin nodded to me before entering as well. The Door closed behind them.

I feel a bit unfortunate that I didn't get to see The Fight that took place in the ruins of The Empty City. It was probably amazing.

The fighting petered out after news started to leak about what happened. With two of their leaders dead The enemy forces began to retreat with The Dove. After that The Timberwolves left completely with their leader dead and their god having apparently been defeated I guess they didn't feel like still fighting. The Archangel isn't dead. The Brute couldn't kill him, just destroy his form. Harold thinks that The Archangel won't be able to manifest again for a while. With just The Dove left I think this war is almost over.

New plans

There's no getting out of the building now. The birds are covering the skies and going outside would be asking to be hit by lightning. Lightning has also been striking the building repeatedly which is definitely rattling some nerves. The Dove and his nests are now apparent alongside Muffin's Father, whom Muffin said is named Adrian, and The Timberwolves. Still no sign of Faceless though. The Brute's power is growing though and he came up with a plan to handle The Nests apparently. Wouldn't say what it was. He says he can put it into effect whenever we most need it, but it would only last for a short time.

Today Adrian decided to try and enrage Muffin again. Probably hoping Muffin would run outside again and they could shoot him. Luckily Muffin was true to his word and managed not to this time.

I'm sure you're aware Muffin has a sister named Megan whom is essentially Muffin's entire reason for living as I understand it. Well this time Adrian tried to get at Muffin through her and I'm amazed at his restraint. Adrian spoke and the entire area could hear it. "Nathan I wanted you to know. Megan is here. The Cold Boy owed us a favour and we used it to get her here. I'm sure you want to see her. You haven't seen her since she went to serve, come on down and it will be a happy family reunion. Right up until you die. Course you could stay up there and I'll just kill her. You already know I have no problem doing so..." he stated.

I sat at my position and listened and then Muffin was beside me. He put a hand on my shoulder and told me he had a plan. He told me the plan. It was a good one. We got Muffin a way to respond and then I went to talk to Harold. It wasn't part of Muffin's plan exactly, he'd merely requested a diversion, but this seemed as good an option as any. Muffin's response to Adrian went like this.

"You're a terrible liar, Dad. The Cold Boy doesn't owe The Archangel anything. The two hate each other. You'd know that except you were dead at the time. I wonder who was responsible for that?"

Adrian responded shortly after, "That's called Patricide, by the way. It's considered a terrible crime. It wasn't The Archangel, The Cold Boy owed it was The Convocation. They're on our side too if you haven't noticed,"

Muffin responded with, "what's it called when you try to kill your own children? Pretty sure people consider that a worse crime. If Megan is there show her to me,"

At which point they did. You're probably wondering, considering that we can't really go near the windows how I know what's happening outside. It's Harold. Through The Brute's eyes he can see the entirety of the battlefield and generally keeps a running commentary on everything that happens.

Megan was brought forward by The Dove to stand beside Adrian. Well I say brought forward, but she was more urged forward since no one was willing to actually touch her.

As soon as there was confirmation that Megan was there Muffin acted. He godswayed out to just in front of Megan and Adrian and reached forward grabbing hold of both of them as at the same moment Harold went ahead with his plan and it was a better result than I could have possibly dreamed. Well in any normal dream anyway.

The Brute appeared on top of the roof and let out a roar that shook the battlefield. The Birds moved to attack and then it began to rain fire. It wasn't a cosmetic change this time. Balls of flame fell from the sky crashing into the earth hard enough to leave craters and from the craters came forth demonic beasts of smoke and steel that tore into any living thing surrounding them. The Birds seemed panicked as they tried to avoid the deadly rain. In the middle of all of this Muffin managed to pull Megan and Adrian into the Godsway and then the three of them popped into existence right in front of me. Muffin released Adrian and pulled himself and Megan away. Adrian was confused and turned to me as if expecting me to attack him. He must of been very surprised when Muffin slammed The Pocket Watch into his back. He stared straight forward at me with a look of incomprehension and then transitioned into dust. Muffin opened the pocket watch to reveal the number 2 was glowing then closed it and dropped it into my hand. He thanked me for trusting him and lending him the pocket watch then left to talk to Megan.

As for The Brute, Harold wasn't lying when he said it wouldn't last long. The Fire Rain and Warriors only lasted about a minute, but they'd done a ton of damage. Unfortunately The Brute had used up pretty much all of his power to do it even for that long and it wasn't likely he'd be able to do anything like that again for a few days and there was no way we were planning to let this war continue that long.

Now amid all this good news there's some bad news. Apparently I've started sleepwalking or something and almost died.

Brian was patrolling when he saw me walking around. He came over to ask me what I was doing when I apparently walked over to a window. He tackled me just barely managing to drop me before a bullet did. I don't remember anything from going to sleep to waking up with Brian on top of me and glass around me. Melissa's been given the job of watching me while I sleep now to make sure this doesn't happen again. After that though I couldn't really fall back to sleep and so I wrote up this report of what happened yesterday. I probably should try to sleep. I'll need to be awake and alert tomorrow.

The Best Laid Plans...

Things went bad on the second day.

We're still alive, but only barely and our plans are in shambles. All it took to ruin everything was a twitch of a hood.

The guy in The Organization XIII cloak was just standing outside watching us. There was a lull in the fighting and everyone was just sort of waiting for what would happen next. He remained watching us and then reached up to apparently scratch his head. The hood slipped back as his hand slipped into it and there was about mayble a split-second when his face was visible.

A split-second was all it took. I don't know if it was deliberate. It could have been, but just a second after his face was revealed Muffin simply appeared out of the air in front of him, apparently having used The Godsway, grabbed him by the face and slammed him backwards into the ground. There was a second of stunned silence on both sides and then The Muffin Man ended it with a punch. The man caught the punch in a fist and then guns were turned and Muffin was suddenly in the middle of a very hostile army. I couldn't let him die. I ordered Ariadne to attack.

The Wooden Girl had opened a gate to The Screaming Tower in a nearby building. An army of puppets waited within, while Ariadne and a few other Dolls remained in the building. Muffin and Harold were with them. The plan had been to wait for the attack to begin in earnest and then rush them with The Puppet Army. Unfortunately they had the same plan and because of The Muffin Man we ended up showing our hand first.

Harold, Ariadne, The Dolls and The Puppets swarmed out of the building to protect The Muffin Man. It probably wouldn't of worked. Muffin and The Cloaked Guy were locked in combat and seemingly ignorant of the world around them. If even one Timberwolf had gotten off a shot, Muffin would have been killed and it all would have been for nothing. I think it was The Cloaked Guy who made it work. The Timberwolves turned and opened fire on The advancing Puppets and not even one turned to try and help their leader. My guess is The Cloaked Guy wanted to fight Muffin just as much as Muffin obviously wanted to fight him. The Timberwolves and Puppets clashed and at this point I was able to watch freely as none of the Timberwolves were still focused on the windows. It was a pretty bloody fight. The Timberwolves fought with Fanatic glee and no fear of death, The puppets fought with the inability to hold back or flee if they wanted to and continued to fight even when they were obviously dead. Add to that The Willing Dolls in the crowd and Harold and The Brute tearing apart everything in their path on the way to Muffin and the victors of this fight was pretty obvious. Of course that isn't how it went.

Harold was the first to reach Muffin's side as Muffin and The Cloaked guy were engaged in a fist fight. The cloaked guy seemed to have the same super strength as Muffin and they seemed pretty evenly matched. The arrival of The Brute changed that. The Brute grabbed the guy and tore him away from Muffin. He was sent flying and hit the ground immediately being flanked by Timberwolves who now began shooting at Muffin and The Brute. This didn't help. The Brute simply absorbed bullets and tore apart the people shooting at them as Muffin simply charged through trying to get to The Cloaked Guy. It was at this point that the sky became covered with Doves.

Lightning began to lance down from the sky frying large groups of puppets and one of the dolls, before anyone could respond to this new development. Harold decided now would be a good time to retreat and began retreating carrying a protesting Muffin with him. Ariadne fled as well as The Puppets fought to protect her and The other dolls as they retreated. The Timberwolves were cheering and taking shots at the retreating as The Birds began to swarm down. At this point The Ordeal ran out with guns and began shooting at The Birds to assist in the retreat.

Most of the puppets were killed. Some Ordeal members as well, but most of them managed to get back inside. Ariadne and the other Dolls escaped with the remaining puppets into The Screaming Tower and later came over to The Ordeal Headquarters since there wasn't much point in keeping them apart now.

I confronted Muffin later. He told me The Man in The Cloak was his father. He'd killed him in the past for trying to kill his sister and apparently The Archangel somehow brought him back. Apparently during the fight he also learned that he had been made an Apostle and infused with The Power of The Archangel. Whcih is why he was able to go toe to toe with Muffin.

I told him off then, at the time I was extremely angry at him for what he did. Still am actually, but when I told him off then he turned to me and he looked so angry I was pretty sure if I said another word he'd literally tear my head off. I don't know anything about Muffin's childhood, but he definitely has some deep seated Hatred for his father. He's promised that he's under control now though and he won't mess up again in the future.

Hopefully his screw up here hasn't cost us our future.

Atmospheric

The war started today. It's a siege at current. Harold has been feeling giddy. The Brute's power has been growing quickly with the war and today he decided on his own volition to make some changes. He has apparently grown powerful enough to affect the world around him and so he made things more "atmospheric" in his own words and also has said he can shut off this area of the world from the rest of it letting us have our war in peace.

Now then let's describe the "atmospheric" changes he made. One the sky is currently raining blood. It's a little disconcerting, luckily some of the enemy seem to feel the same way. The sky is also now dark and spotted on occasion with crashes of thunder. No lightning as far as I can tell, though I haven't been able to linger at a window to watch for it. The ground around the area has transformed from a cityscape to a field. Though still spotted with all the buildings and other city objects that were there before. As Harold explained the changes are at least at the moment only cosmetic. He can't actually alter the physical makeup of the battlefield as yet. He says his power is still growing though and he might be able to soon.

As for the war itself. Organization XIII guy showed up with a bunch of Timberwolves and a small contingent of Nests, but at current there's no sign of Faceless, The Dove or really the rest of the nests. Which means that much like we are they're holding the main bulk of their forces in reserve. At the moment The Timberwolves aren't having much luck getting inside and have resorted to mostly just watching the windows and trying to shoot anyone who goes near one. Hence why I can't really linger at a window. The entrances are all watched, by a small crew. Lionel, Melissa, Brian and Portnoy at the main entrance, Theo, Seth and Dr. Malice at the other entrance both of course with other Ordeal members I don't really know. Everyone else still waiting in reserve. Speaking of as per Brian's recommendation I did meet Seth and Lionel. They are in fact pretty cool guys.

I'm technically actually on duty guarding the back entrance with the others, but my most important job is communication and there's a lull right now so no one minds me updating you guys for a few minutes. If something happens it's not hard to put down the laptop and be ready to help.

So, far things are going well, but I'm sure it will get worse. Though if Harold keeps growing in strength that'll be a big help.

Homecoming.

Returning to The Ordeal headquarters is not something I thought I'd be doing at any point, but a few of my allies raised very good points on the subject. The Ordeal are essentially a small military group who like me, are willing to fight against the fears and to a degree have the ability to actually be effective in that area. What's likely coming in the next little while will be a war and they'll be useful allies. I don't want any of them hurt of course, but it does seem like they're our best hope. The Muffin Man, Ariadne, Harold and all the forces of The Wooden Girl that she was willing to send us on one side. Myself, The Ordeal, Portnoy and Dr. Malice on the other. Soon we'll be fighting against an amassed army of Nests, Timberwolves and who knows what else might end up coming to help.

With any luck it might just be a fair fight and if we do well enough we might be able to accomplish something here.

Of course the oncoming storm aside there was a much smaller personal storm to weather upon my return. My friends and the other members of The Ordeal were not happy about my leaving and I had to endure many people yelling at me and telling me off for my stupidity. All of it of course well deserved and I handled it with the knowledge that I deserved it and that they were only yelling at me because they cared. Aside from the yelling there were also a number of tearful reunions and one or two sorrowful recollections among the people who had met Lisa and knew about her. Once all that was over though I informed The Ordeal about the situation and the plan and they were mostly happily on board. It seems there's not a one of them who wouldn't be willing to fight to their last to strike a meaningful blow against The Fears.

So, yeah. I have two armies on my side and hopefully it will be enough.

The enemy is already showing it's face. If I'm still alive tomorrow I'm sure I'll be recounting to you the first day of a War.

Deals

It's amazing how many I've made since making The Dealer (Read: Jack of All) my enemy. Kind of ironic isn't it? Or maybe it's not. Maybe I'm just stalling because I'm not entirely sure how to say what happened.

We went ahead with the plan. Muffin fled I don't know where and Harold and I went to meet Ariadne. First of all The Brute's domain is terrifying and I never want to go back there. Second the coordinates led to somewhere that I assume was in Europe. I assume this because where we came out was the banquet hall of a medieval castle and I'm fairly sure you only get Medieval castles in Europe. I could be wrong on that fact though. A puppet led me to a seat at the table and Harold was led to another seat. Ariadne appeared a little later and sat down opposite me as The Wooden Girl appeared and sat down opposite Harold.

Ariadne spoke first as the puppets began bringing out covered dishes for everyone, but The Wooden Girl.

"I understand you're not inclined to trust any of The Fears and are definitely not inclined to trust me, but you could say we have seen the error of our ways. We seek the same outcome for the most part and yet we sought to manipulate and control instead of assist. It is unfortunately our way. We have seen our error though as I have said and now we seek cooperation. A quicker means to both our goals. As proof..." she said and then the dish placed in front of me had it's cover lifted and on the plate was The pocket watch, "We return to you your stolen property. Slightly improved from it's previous form by way of having one more essence then it did when you lost it. A loyal doll in my mistress' service was more than happy to give of his essence for our cause," I carefully lifted the pocketwatch and opened it. Two of the numbers were glowing now. The number three which I knew was The Convocation and the number 4 which I suppose was The Wooden Girl. There were no other numbers glowing. I guess either I was wrong about Faceless being The Archangel or I simply hadn't been able to absorb his essence for some reason.

"Alright, so you've returned the pocket watch and you want to help me. I got that much. So, the question is how exactly do you intend to help me?"

"Two possible ways. The first I will travel with you and help to protect you. I know that doesn't seem like much given what you've already got on your side," she said with a glance at Harold who was merely glaring at The Wooden Girl who was staring back at him, her expression unreadable as it was simply a painted on smile, "the second and far more important assistance I can give is to use the pocket watch for you. The main reason we interrupted you earlier is that we know you can't kill and that therefore you are currently having difficulty completing your mission. I am used to being a tool for another and so I am more than willing to act as a weapon for you. To wield the pocket watch and kill those you can't bring yourself to. For instance The Muffin Man. You know you can't do it, but you also know it's your only choice. I will be willing to kill him for you so you won't have to bear the guilt," as she explained this I stood up.

"The answer is no," I said quietly.

"You're going to have to kill him-" she began, but I cut her off.

"No. I'll find another way. I'm willing to take your assistance, but I'll be keeping hold of the pocket watch and you won't be killing anyone,"

"No one?" she asked.

"Yes. No one," I responded.

"You don't seem to mind when your friends kill people to protect you. Or at least you don't tell them not to," she mused.

"I would if I could, but unfortunately they don't follow my commands. You, and Harold in fact, will be following my commands and as a result you will not be killing anyone," I explained.

She bit her lip, "I'm not sure I can agree to those ter-" she began, but was cut off as The Wooden Girl spoke.

"Agreed," she said quietly. The voice was hollow and seemed like it was echoing from inside of her head as opposed to coming out of her mouth. Ariadne paled and then nodded.

"As my mistress commands. As long as I am in your service I will not kill," she vowed weakly.

"That's settled then," I said, "we will be leaving now,"

Harold stood up as did Ariadne and I rose as well. I elected to leave via The Screaming Tower instead of The Brute's domain, which, Harold has just informed me is called The Grove of Fetters, for reasons stated above. As a result of that I can now say. The Screaming Tower is just as terrifying as The Grove of Fetters and I never want to go back to either.

Now then. I have the pocket watch back time to get back to business.

Hey Faceless, I know you're reading this and I have one message for you.

I'm going to kill you for what you did to Lisa.

You, The Dove, The Guy in The Organization XIII cloak and anyone else you wanna bring.

Harold, Ariadne and I will be waiting for you.

You know where.

Come at me.

Contact

Ariadne contacted me shortly after my last post. A girl who from description sounded a lot like "Sally" managed to avoid the various servants watching us and got to the front door where in she met Dr. Malice and handed him a note for me before fleeing. The note listed coordinates and instructions alongside a message.

The message read:

"Dear Amanda,

It seems you have unintentionally created an impasse. My lady and I cannot access your friend The Muffin Man without being caught by The Fears and therefore you can't get your watch back. Simply waiting this out would not benefit either of us as with each passing minute the chance of the death of your friend The Muffin Man grows. Neither of us want him dead, at least until we manage to get the essences from him and so in a sense it is in both our best interests to see this impasse lifted.

My mistress and I have a suggestion as to how to end this that I think will be mutually agreeable.

You and your friends can of course leave anytime you wish. The Muffin Man has access to The God's Way as well as every normal domain.

The God's Way however is not safe as The Fears will be waiting for that and of course the servant paths have their own problems. I'd say you could get safe passage through The Screaming Tower, but I doubt you'd trust that, however there is another domain you can pass through. The Rake's domain is still active and The Muffin Man should be able to escape that way. However I request that you not escape with him. Instead I suggest we meet to talk. I will not ask you to come alone. You wouldn't be able to anyway. Your friend The Brute has his own domain. Have him bring you to these coordinates while The Muffin Man makes his getaway.

As I've said before I have grown fond of you and have no desire to kill you. I hope we can come to an agreement that will be beneficial to us both.

your friend, Ariadne"

The plan was sound the only question was whether or not to meet with Ariadne.

The obvious answer is hell no, however a meeting with Ariadne and/or The Wooden Girl was the entire point of this endeavor and she pretty much told me to bring Harold. I can't imagine myself in much danger with The Brute beside me. Besides I... kind of actually believe her. About not wanting to kill me anyway. I guess it is worth it just to talk to her. Who knows maybe this could actually be mutually beneficial.

Stupid stupid Amanda.

As important as it is to me to tell you guys things there are times when probably I shouldn't make information widely available on the internet.

I mean The Archangel!Faceless already commented on my blog so It's not like they didn't know it existed.

The Fears know that The Wooden Girl is going to come after Muffin as well and so now they're trying to kill him. The idea being of course if he's dead, the key is unfinishable and they've stopped The Wooden Girl and me and of course like us they're also hoping The Wooden Girl will show up. Especially since The Muffin Man is now the only source of both The Empty City and The Rake. Since The Rake is dead and The Second apparently went on a killing spree of all of his servants.

Luckily for us The Muffin Man is of course ridiculously difficult to kill and Harold, Dr. Malice and Portnoy are also still here to help keep us alive. Also luckily The Fears are being a lot more subtle than they have otherwise been so far and have not attempted simply blowing this place up or attacking en masse. Though we have made plans for both those eventualities.

Either way with all the attention currently focused here it would be suicidal for The Wooden Girl or Ariadne to show up no matter how much they want Muffin Man so, it seems like this plan is a bust and yet we're still stuck here, because now we need to keep Muffin alive.

It is entirely possible that The Fears merely reached this conclusion logically as we did and that it had nothing to do with me posting about it on my blog, but either way it was still stupid of me and I will unfortunately be withholding information in the future.

Gone to ground.

I've always liked that term and I don't really know why.

Anyway finding The Wooden Girl or Ariadne will be difficult since both have of course gone into hiding what with The Fears all turned against them now. So, with no easy way to find them we instead found the thing they'd be after. We met up with The Muffin Man, Dr. Malice and Portnoy and informed them of the situation.

That situation being The Wooden Girl will eventually have to come after The Muffin Man and so if we stay by him we'll eventually run into her.

The Muffin Man pointed out that this is the reverse of an earlier situation. He attempted to use me as bait earlier and now I'm using him as bait. Life's kind of funny that way too bad I'm not really in the mood for a joke. Harold and Muffin seem a little anxious about each other and I suppose that's understandable. Even ignoring what both have done in the past on their own, they were enemies when The Fears were trying to kill Muffin and his group. Muffin in fact is unintentionally responsible for freeing Harold, having broken the seal The fears had put on his containment suit, during a fight.

Also I haven't really mentioned The Grotesque much. He hasn't really been doing much. I guess even he's realized that after Lisa's death there's not much else that can really bother me. Even that whole Is this the real world thing isn't bothersome to me now. It's a happy thought in fact. Perhaps someday I'll wake up and all of this will be over. Lisa won't have been dead she'll have never existed. Which is better I suppose.

So yeah the point is we're hanging around Muffin for now until The Wooden Girl or Ariadne show their face.

Vengeance II

I'm feeling... better today... I suppose.

So, I guess I'll tell you about what happened.

The Second, Harold and I worked out a plan to get at The Rake. Finding it wouldn't be hard apparently. In fact The Second seemed rather adamant that it would be more than willing to let us find it. Or at least let him and I find it. Apparently it hates him and it loves it when people try to get revenge. According to The Second it finds it much more fun to kill vengeance seekers. So, finding it wouldn't be the problem. The problem would be killing it. Without the pocket Watch only The Brute had any real chance of putting it down for good since The Second's powers were limited. It was a little depressing knowing that I'd have no real role in this plan short of possibly a distraction. I really really wanted to be the one to end The Rake's life, or existence or whatever, but I guess that's not really impossible. Without the pocket watch I'm just an average human with weird dreams.

So, first step let the Rake know we're coming for it at which point it will likely hole up somewhere and wait for us.

That part was easy. The Second went on a killing spree finding and massacring a number of The Rake's servants. I wasn't aware The Rake had servants until now. They'd never really featured in any of my dreams before. Anyway the murders sent a message loud and clear and The Rake responded with a massacre of it's own. It brutally slaughtered a family in a town near here. It was a response telling us where it was. There was another massacre near the first one. Police think it's a serial killer and I guess technically it is. So, we knew where he was and we were prepared to go get him. The Second called in his proxy group and pinpointed where The Rake was likely to be hiding out.

The plan was The Second and his proxies would fight The Rake. They wouldn't win, but they hoped they could at least weaken it enough that Harold and The Brute could finish the job. The Proxies led the way. They had guns and little else. I'm not actually sure they knew what they were after and that they were committing suicide by following the orders they were given. It's possible though. Servants can be incredibly, stupidly loyal from what I've seen.

I was given a gun as well and we waited. I wasn't too surprised, but a little disturbed when the first sound was a scream of pain and probably death before the sound of gun fire erupted. That's when The Second and I were supposed to go in. Technically I wasn't ever really supposed to go in anytime. The Second didn't much care what I did, but I chose to go in with him. I refused to just do nothing. The place was a house. Currently for sale and unowned. It was two stories and a basement with three bedrooms. A nice place, it was a shame after what happened there it's unlikely it would sell.

We found the bodies of two of the proxies on the middle floor and gunfire was coming from upstairs. I would of expected the basement, but apparently not. We rushed upstairs to see two halves of a proxy fly out of the bedroom at the top of the stairs and the gunfire ceased shortly after. The Second summoned one of those black knives that he'd used against Muffin and rushed into the master bedroom and I followed. Bodies were strewn around the room and The Rake was holding the last one in the air impaled through the gut on it's claws. It tossed it aside as The Second rushed it and his knife was caught by one of the claws as the other slashed at The Second's face. The Second seemed to vanish and then was behind The Rake and managed to stab the knife into The Rake's throat who reacted simply by roaring angrily and tossing itself backwards, smashing him against a wall. I took this opportunity to fire three rounds into it's chest.

I should probably inform you here. I'm not a violent person. I won't kill another human being or most animals. Or I guess I mostly try not to. That does not mean I don't know how to kill things. When I was with The Ordeal they taught me how to shoot. Theo and I would do target practice on occasion for fun. Regardless of whether I wanted to or not The Ordeal thought it important I knew how to fight in case I needed to. It was a skill all The Ordeal members were taught. So, The Rake being a horrific monster and knowing my bullets wouldn't kill it I had no problem hitting it in the chest. The Rake let out an angry howl and completely forgot about the Second instead coming barreling towards me. I emptied the remainder of my 8 bullet clip into it's face doing little, but piss it off and then flung myself backwards out of the room in an attempt to dodge I landed on my back, watched as it hit the door frame with it's shoulder's barely slowing as it broke through and then was hit against the wall with a force like a train by The Brute. I took this opportunity to reload.

The Brute held The Rake against the wall as The Rake struggled to get free. The contest didn't last long before The Rake managed to push The Brute back and then seemed to try and disappear apparently not liking the odds anymore. However as it began to disappear either into it's domain or into the Godsway whichever The black knife still embedded in it's neck began to glow and The Rake let out a howl as black electricity began to arc over it's body. It howled and The Second tackled it from the side brought it to the ground and stabbed two more knives into it's body before being slammed against the wall. It managed to get up and turn to catch The Brute's next attack. The Brute's arms met The Rake's claws and they stood tensed against each other. The black coloured electricity continued arcing through The Rake's body as it continued trying to escape. They stood locked in a frozen struggle for a few moments before The Rake began pushing The Brute back. It took a step forward forcing The Brute back and so I shot it in the leg. It's leg buckled and The Brute surged back forward tossing The Rake to the ground and then held it down by the arms and slammed it's head into The Rake's. What was possibly lava began to pour from The Brute's hands burning away The Rake's arms as it began to shriek in pain and hopefully, fear.

It's arms were soon engulfed in flames and melted away from it's body at which point The Brute lifted it's arms and then brought them down still dripping lava onto The Rake's face. Repeatedly raining lava covered hammer blows on The Rake's face until eventually The Rake stopped struggling. By that point however The Rake also didn't have much of a head. The Second carefully moved to examine The Rake's body as The Brute sat atop his defeated opponent triumphantly. The Second nodded to me.

The Rake was dead.

I wasn't sure how to feel.

I was happy that The Rake was dead. I didn't feel wrong about killing it. I still felt hollow though. Unsatisfied. I didn't feel like I had actually avenged Lisa in this way. Her killer was dead, but we weren't done.

Unfortunately before I could formulate my thoughts on the matter anymore something bad happened. The Brute suddenly began I guess absorbing The Rake's power. The Second tried to stop him, but The Brute simply turned and grabbed him tossing him down the hallway and into the room at the opposite end of The Hall. Harold stepped up the stairs as The Brute finished absorbing The Rake's power and Harold pointed past me and The Brute leaped over me and bounded into the room after The Second.

"what the hell are you doing?" I asked horrified.

"Killing another monster," Harold answered casually.

"I order you to stop!" I ordered.

"What? You don't get to order me!" he responded angrily. I backpedaled quickly.

"Sorry! But don't do this!"

"Why not?"

"It's wrong,"

"How he's a monster!"

"But he helped us!"

"That doesn't stop him from being a monster,"

"Maybe it does,"

"How so?"

"Well what about you? You're pretty much just like him,"

"I am not! He kills indiscriminately to get what he wants. He sacrificed those proxies for this. He doesn't care about anyone, but himself! Even your girlfriend. The only reason he's bothered by her death is because it upset him,"

"The same goes for you," I answered and his eyes locked on mine with hatred. My mind desperately told me to backpedal again, but I didn't.

"What happened in the past doesn't count. I wasn't myself the-" he began, but I cut him off.

"-Were you yourself when you saved me from The Liar?" I asked.

"Yes and so what. I killed a monster, the same as I just did now and you aren't complaining about that. Is The Liar another special case like The Second apparently is,"  he asked with a sneer.

"No, but you didn't just kill The Liar. You killed Amy. The girl who's body The Liar was using. Don't pretend you didn't know that, she made a point of it. Your response was 'Don't care,'" I informed him.

He raised his head, "A host of The Dying Man is already dead it was a mercy kill," he responded.

"That's not true and you know it. The Liar doesn't decay her hosts or even damage their minds. Amy was just fine, buried inside of herself,"

"There was no way to rescue her anyway..." he responded though he sounded uncertain.

"There was. You know that too. You were watching what was happening. You knew about the fight going on back at The Ordeal. You probably knew about Richard. You might not have known that he could save her, but you didn't even try,"

"Alright, fine I fucked up!" He yelled at me, "but that doesn't change anything. This one is a monster and deserves it!"

"Maybe he does maybe he doesn't! It's not your place to decide who lives or dies and even if he does deserve to die, there's no reason to kill him now right after he helped us. You want to be a hero, use the power of The Brute to save humanity and fight back against The Fears. This isn't how a Hero should be," I countered.

He sagged, "What do you want me to do then? Just give up this power, start a protest?"

"No. Keep the power, but use it to protect people not just to kill those you decide deserve it,"

"What do you mean?"

"Well... We killed The Rake and you're probably strong enough to stand up to a Fear right?" He nodded, "Then help me get the pocket watch back. Help me fulfill my mission and I'll help you fulfill yours. Best part, I'll need you to help me kill The Faceless Bastard," I informed him. He smiled.

"I can definitely help with that," he responded then closed his eyes, "I've stopped The Brute and The Second has escaped. We should leave now," he said. I nodded.

We left together.

That was about two days ago now. I've been simultaneously making plans and thinking about Lisa.

I don't think I'll ever be over her and I don't know if I ever want to get over her. I do however know that I won't be satisfied at all until I've fully avenged her. The only way I know how to do that is to fulfill my mission.

As such we're going after The Wooden Girl and Ariadne and getting The Pocket Watch back.

"

Vengeance

It's been a while since I've posted anything and I hope you'll understand why. A lot has happened though and I should fill you in. We got to the hospital, Harold and I. What The Grotesque showed me turned out to be true. We arrived to find that Lisa had apparently passed away in the night. According to the doctor's her heart had just stopped. Now it's technically possible that The Rake had nothing to do with this. That is entirely possible. It's also not true. I know it... I know it in my heart and what happened later confirmed it.

I spent a day or so, just sitting around mourning and wondering what would happen to Lisa. I don't know if she has any family and she never had any real identification on her. I know her real name, but we checked her into the hospital initially as Lisa Siles and never really remembered to correct that, besides doing so would likely raise all kinds of questions.

Actually a rather humorous question popped into my head at one point. Amid all the heartbroken, depressed sobbing sometimes you get a few moments where something that's just absurd occurs and you have to laugh in between tears. In my case it was that despite being brought in with no identification and no money, the hospital didn't seem to care. I mean I have identification and a healthcare card so I wouldn't be a problem, but why did they continue caring for Lisa without cost. I did eventually get an answer to that and that's what I'm getting around to.

I kept myself to myself and Harold was nice enough to stay with me and so he was there when I made the decision to get revenge. I wasn't entirely sure how at the time, but I figured I had a Fear on my side so sure let's go fuck up The Rake to get revenge for Lisa. It was a stupid plan and probably would have been the end of my story very quickly if it wasn't for the fact someone was listening. As Harold tried to talk me down and explain that while The Brute is powerful it's not actually powerful enough to go toe to toe with any of the established Fears someone came and informed us they were and were willing to help.

That person being The Second.

See as I said I got an answer to my earlier question. After Archangel!Faceless injured Lisa, The Second got pissed and essentially broke off from the little alliance that had been arrayed against me. He had pulled some strings to get Lisa proper care and had covered the medical bills. At that time he still sought my death, but he didn't want Lisa hurt because of it. However with The Wooden Girl's betrayal I wasn't even a threat anymore and The Second had no personal desire for my death. However now that The Rake has killed Lisa The Second has a personal desire for The Rake's death and unfortunately this desire is not shared entirely by his other half who is apparently the same half kind of? The Slender Man basically gave him free reign to do what he wants, but with no help from his alternate self. A fact that The Slender Man has made sure everyone else in the Fear community knows. Therefore if The Second does attack The Rake it will apparently not be seen as a fight between The Slender Man and The Rake, but more like as if one of The Slender Man's agents just got it in his head one day to try and kill The Rake. The Slender Man will probably have to make some amends, but otherwise nothing would happen.

Basically with this scenario The Second had no chance. He has only about half of his normal power, a small group of Proxies with a grudge and that's it. However he feels working with Harold would at least give him a shot and so he is essentially enlisting Harold's help and by extension my help to kill The Rake.

Harold was much more on board with the idea now and we spent the rest of that day making plans.

I'd tell you the rest of what happened now, but I'm not really over Lisa's death and I doubt I ever will be and I don't feel well. I think I need a bit of rest. There's more to do soon anyway.

My greatest Nightmare

I had another grotesque Nightmare. It took me a while to gather up the courage to write anything afterwards. I woke up at 8:00 AM or so from my nightmare and just stayed in bed until now (Almost 1:00 PM) before I managed to bring myself to write anything or even get out of bed. It's stupid as every second I wait is more time before I find out what happened to Lisa... What really happened anyway...

That was what The Nightmare was. The Grotesque appeared in my dream and he was smiling.

"I see you're back in our world. That's good news for me. Couldn't mess with your dreams while you were in the city and I've greatly enjoyed our sessions. Today... or Tonight I should say I have something special for you. Let me answer the question currently on your mind. Then I was in the hospital. I was at Lisa's bedside. There were a bunch of Doctors standing around and Lisa seemed to be fine. The heart rate machine thing was beeping rhythmically and the doctors all seemed happy. I wondered at the time why The Grotesque was showing me this... until the Doctor's left. Lisa was doing well. She'd be fine in fact. That's the impression I got, but then I found out she wouldn't. The doctor's left and it was just me and her in the room. There were a number of beds, but only about 2 other patients both unconscious or asleep as well. There was a closet in the room and I found my attention suddenly drawn to it and a horrible premonition occurred to me. I began to cry and plead with The Grotesque not to show me this. Of course he didn't listen. The closet door opened and a clawed, beastly apparition stalked into the room. It was The Rake. It moved to the bed and the heart monitor began speeding up. Even comatose Lisa could feel The Rake's presence and she was panicking. It seemed to smile as it noticed this and it skittered onto the bed and rubbed a claw over her face.

"Be still now anomaly. Your nightmare has ended," The Rake whispered and the heart monitor began to slow and then flatlined. The nightmare ended then. Which is all it was... A nightmare... Just a nightmare. She can't be dead. Not like that. I'm gonna be arriving at the hospital soon and I'll see she's still alive...

Oh god please be still alive.

Ozymandias

So... I went out into the storm to see what was going on. Strong winds buffeted me and they were centered around what appeared to be a hole in the middle of the street. It was tiny barely a pinpoint, but very quickly it began to enlarge and soon clawed hands pushed through followed by tendrils of smoke that filtered out of the hole and then the head of The Brute pushed through and the hole widened into a sort of door and The entirety of The Brute stepped through with Harold following behind it. It glanced around hungrily and then it's eyes settled on her and it lunged only to be yanked back by means of the chain in Harold's hands.

"What are you doing here?" I asked and Harold smiled at me.

"Came to get you out," he answered.

"Oh well thanks... We should hurry then I'm pretty sure The City will-" I began and he cut me off.

"The City won't do anything. It's dead. All that's left here are the remnants of it. Nothing, but mindless ruins. The City disconnected itself from here when The Amalgam attacked. It came back for a bit to repay The Muffin Man, but it disconnected itself again later. This entire version of The Empty City is dead. Static. The Doors are set in their locations and only The Fears know where they are. The City is no longer unchanging and it no longer preys on people. It's simply old ruins," Harold explained.

"That... That doesn't seem right. It was providing for me. Normal, or dead cities can't do that," I argued.

"True. The city is dead, but in a sense it's powers remain to a degree. Someone either you, or The Fears, likely The Wooden Girl since she's the one behind you being here, used the remains of The Empty City's fluctuating nature to form whatever you desired. There is no mind left here, but The City can still change if someone else desires it to. It's like play-doh now, which in one way is good news as it's probably the only reason you're still alive, but in another way is bad news," He informed me.

"What's bad about it?" I asked.

"With The City dead and no servants of The City remaining there's only one source left for you to acquire it's essence for The Watch," He explained.

"You know about that?"

"Literally anything that is considered a Fear knows about that. Jack wasn't very careful about who got the message."

"Well fine... What's the one remaining source of The City's essence?"

"The Muffin Man. He contains within him The Essences of the The Empty City, The Slender Man, The Rake, The Wooden Girl, The Cold Boy, The Blind Man, EAT, The Plague Doctor and The Choir. Add to that The Convocation which you already have, The Archangel which you might have and The Dying Man and you have almost everything," he explained.

I sighed, "So at this point the only choice I have left is to kill one of my friends in order to complete this Key?" I asked.

He nodded, "Sorry."

"Is it actually worth it?" I asked.

"I think it is, but regardless of whether you think it is or not, The Wooden Girl probably knows The Muffin Man is the only source for The Empty City's essence as well, so whether at your hands or hers one of you is going to try and kill him for the essences he contains. Especially since The Wooden Girl would probably find it much easier to kill him and The Liar than to try and get it from The others who all oppose her plan and are actually currently pitted in battle with her now that as far as they know you're not a threat," He explained.

He was right of course. I sighed.

"Whatever I decide to do the first step is leaving here," I said.

He smiled, "Great. I'd be obliged if you stepped through first since it will likely close behind me and if we walk together The Brute is liable to try and take a bite out of you," he explained.

I did so. The other side of the door led to an alleyway and I stepped away from the door as Harold and The Brute came through at which point The Brute seemed to disappear into the ground again as the door closed behind them. I'm quite far away from The Hospital and my first step should probably be to go after The watch, but the first thing I told Harold is that he better get me to the hospital to find out how Lisa's doing. Harold got me a computer to type this post out, but it's not moveable. With any luck though I'll be able to get mine back from the hospital when we get there.

I really hope you're okay Lisa.

Good news, bad news.

Good news: I'm never gonna run out of food and never gonna not have access to a computer.

Bad News: I'm never getting out of here.

Every time I look around I find myself back at this street corner. The corner has within view: The Internet Cafe which takes only a toonie to get me access to my blog, a bank that seems to spit out toonies with a touch of a button and a grocery store that seems to restock every day. So, yeah not gonna die and not going to lose my internet access so I can keep you updated every day as I slowly age to death in this lonely street.

Something is happening... A storm appears to be growing and I can smell smoke. I... I guess I'll check it out... If I die at least I'll be out of here...

Betrayal

I went to see Sally at the new place. I found her suspended from the ceiling by strings. Strings crisscrossed the entire place like spiderwebs. I ran over to her and started trying to take her down when I felt a painful pinch on the back of my neck. I reached up and swatted a spider off of me and staggered back as she raised her head and grinned at me. The string's snapped and she fell to the ground, lowering her hand to the ground for the spider to crawl up onto her hand. "Don't worry it won't kill you," she told me as she went and retrieved her Didgeridoo case from the corner. She opened it and drew out the red spider dress and staff from within and proceeded to put on the dress as I managed to stumble back against the wall. My vision was getting blurry. "I could say I've actually grown a bit fond of you in our time together, which is the only reason I haven't killed you up till now and why I thought of a way to be rid of you without having to end your life. In fact two ways," she stated and then something slid out of the sleeve of her dress. It was The Pocket Watch.

"My mistress is a genius unlike the other fears. Sure if you release the creature it will probably destroy us. That's true, but if we kill you what will we do then? Take the watch and somehow try and stop The Man In Grey from taking it back and giving it to someone else just to do this all again? No. She figures that what The Fears should do is just take the pocket watch and release it themselves. The way she sees it if we release it it will probably be lenient on The Fears and merely go after Jack who none of us would have any hard feelings about seeing discomfited. The other's disagreed in their foolishness and were set on killing you. So, she'll carry her plan out by herself. Perhaps with even better results," Sally/Ariadne explained.

"Makes sense to me," I stated in a voice that to me sounded like someone who was seconds away from throwing up which was accurate, "What are you going to do with me now?"

"Well you get to choose. The first option. Join up? You'd make a wonderful Doll, I'm sure," she offered. I frantically shook my head which made me feel worse and I dropped to my knees, "Well then the other choice is that you go away somewhere were you can't become a problem for us ever again," she informed me. I tried to tell her that she could take her staff and go fuck herself with it and vow that I would find a way back and that I would kill her for this betrayal. However, it was at this point that I lost consciousness.

When I awoke I was in a city. There didn't seem to be anyone around. Ariadne, or whoever had actually brought me here since I doubt Ariadne would do it herself, had not seen fit to provide me with my laptop. Luckily there was an internet Cafe just up a side street. No one was there, but the computers worked and for just a single Toonie. I had internet access and amazingly, or at least it would be amazing if I didn't already figure out what was going on.  the internet browser loaded up my blog for me with me already signed in.

I'm pretty sure I'm in The Empty City... Or Silent Hill, but The Empty City seems more likely.

I figure I'm stuck here and I'll never find out whether Lisa is okay or not. I can't believe my story is going to end like this.

Release

I was allowed to leave today. Lisa is still being held here though. Which means I can't really leave this place as I

A. Won't leave without her.
B. Would not survive trying to move around on my own.

I rely on her for so much it's almost scary.

She's the one who fights, who finds resources and places to stay, to comfort me emotionally... She's the only reason I'm still alive at all. Sally hasn't been around since we were brought in. I remember her mentioning something about trying to find somewhere new for us to stay. There was a note from her with the... Er whatever the hospital version of a receptionist is. It was from Sally, but was apparently delivered by a man who I didn't recognize from the description given and who didn't give a name I recognized either. The note said that she had found a new place and that I should come to a certain address where she's made us a little home.

I'm writing this before going there as I just wanted to type something out now before I leave. I wanted to think of something other than what's going on, but it's not working.

Lisa is still alive, but that, "yet" epithet is starting to seem true. She has fallen again into unconsciousness and apparently "Complications" have arisen as the doctor's told me. I don't want to leave her side, but I can't stay. It's selfish, but I can't stand the idea of being here if she dies. I need to be somewhere else and have something else to do. So... I'm gonna go see Sally and then I'm gonna contact Muffin and gonna get him to help me get the Watch back.

Relief

So there's good news. After a grueling amount of time in which I was unable to find out anything regarding Lisa's condition I finally got an answer.

She is alive. At least for now. While the injury was pretty severe it was apparently nowhere near as severe as I remember it being. All that blood I remember seeing was apparently just the lens of terror making everything seem way more dire than it actually was. Either that or this is all a dream and I'm just finally catching a break on that fact. At the moment I don't care the point is she's not dead.

I mostly don't even care that they keep appending the word, "Yet" on the end every time they tell me that.

She actually managed to wake up for a little while apparently and communication was possible. She couldn't talk, though whether due to her injuries or the amount of bandages and other medical stuff, I'm not very knowledgeable about this kind of thing, around her throat. So we communicated through a small keyboard thing that allowed her to type out her thoughts and then converted them to speech.

I proceeded at first to tell her how glad I was she was alive and how much I'd miss her and all that and she only responded with the desire to tell me something that she considered rather urgent and I suppose it was... Still felt kind of cold her being all business about it.

I'll put it down to the situation. Her message though was regarding the feeling she'd had just before Faceless showed up.

She had mentioned that she could sense a Fear shortly before he arrived and amended that she's pretty sure what she was sensing wasn't Faceless. While The Convocation does nest inside of a Nest she was unable to sense the birds when The Timberwolves and Nests attacked us at the mall at least until they had been released. As such she should not of felt a Fear if only Faceless had attacked us. She thinks there might have been someone else there. I have a slightly different Theory.

Mostly I'm still fairly sure that's not Faceless and this might in fact confirm it. I'm pretty sure we were attacked by a Fear pretending to be Faceless.

One thought would be The Liar since she did possess him shortly before his death, but no that piece of her as well as his body were completely annihilated by Lightning. I think most likely the person who attacked us was The Archangel.

The Archangel manifests in the bodies of those who have died. Popular Theory holds that those in service to one of the others when they die don't go to him, but The Grinning Reaper stated otherwise when she was brought back to life. I feel that Faceless died and went to The Archangel and now he's using Faceless' body. It's probably why The Nests and Timberwolves are working together. The Nests might not be aware of this, The Timberwolves probably are. The Nests probably just think of him as some dual servant now serving both The Convocation and The Archangel. Perhaps there's something I can use there. Actually maybe I can confirm that... If that was The Archangel I obviously wasn't able to kill his body with The Pocket watch, but I might still of gotten some of it's essence.

... The Pocket Watch... I don't know where it is. The last time I remember having it was when I was hitting Faceless... or The Archangel, whichever with it. Everything after he left is a blur, but I don't really remember if I had it then either... Could he have stolen it. I asked a nurse and they said that there hadn't been a pocket watch on my person when they brought us in. Faceless/The Archangel must of stolen the pocket Watch.

This is bad... Very bad.

I still don't know what's real, but it doesn't matter.

If I let myself get hung up on what's real and what isn't I'll end up dead and Not!Faceless is wrong. The likelihood that this is all a dream is possible, but if it is it seems most likely that it's a coma dream and I'm fairly sure dying here dream or not would have negative consequences on the real me either dying or possibly being the symbolic sign of my body giving up in the real world so I'm not gonna just let myself die.

I'm gonna try not to think about what's real and just carry on this story to it's conclusion.

Actually there you go. It's a story Amanda. Dream or not it's a story and it's your job as the protagonist to make sure it ends happily. Just keep that in mind. You like stories and you hate downer endings. Don't let this one end on a downer.

Now then what to do about the other major problem facing me...

I can't succeed in this mission without killing people... Well maybe I can just tell Muffin or the others and give one of them the pocket watch. I mean nothing actually said I have to be the one using The pocket watch did they? It's worth a try? I'm... pretty sure just giving it to hold won't kill them anyway... Probably... The Liar grabbed it with no problem... I'm sure it wasn't just because it was her. I mean... Okay probably best not to test on my friends, but... I don't really want to test on anyone... This is infuriating. Still feeling sick as well btw, but aside from a bit of vomiting there's nothing else and I guess the good thing is if it is a dream it probably won't really affect me so I can safely ignore it.

Right... So... I know you aren't aware there was a massive pause just there, but it's been a little while between the last paragraph and this one. Mostly because we were just attacked. I was about to end the post and then Lisa yelled out she was sensing a Fear shortly before someone crashed through a window. It was Faceless. He crashed through the glass and stood up from the floor with pieces of glass embedded in his skin and immediately rushed at me. I managed to avoid getting decapitated by the machete by throwing myself out of my chair, however he caught me around the throat and slammed me down through the table. It hurt like hell and unfortunately caused the screen on my laptop to crack as it fell off the table. I can still use it, but the crack is annoyingly visible and blocks off most of the lower left corner of the screen.

Anyway so he's standing over me and Lisa rushes at him. He turns and slashes at her, but she fell back and slid under his legs before  turning and punching him in the lower back. He stumbled forward turned, tore one of the glass shards out of his arm and tossed it at her. It hit her in the throat and she began choking and fell over. I could see quite a bit of blood coming from her neck as she fell. I screamed and then he was on me. He was kneeling over me and his hand moved holding my head down as he moved The Machete the blade of it barely touching my throat.

"Real enough for you, Amanda?" he taunted and I pulled the pocket watch from my pocket and slammed it into his head. It didn't happen. Nothing happened. "Surprised? You can't death touch the dead," he explained and I could hear the smirk I was imagining on the mouth that would be all that was left of his face. I was going to die and I started panicking. I began desperately smashing the pocket watch against the side of his head knowing nothing would happen. He didn't even seem hurt by the constant smashing of a heavy metal watch against his temple. I felt the blade moving with an intense pain as it began to cut into my throat. I wanted to look at Lisa. I wanted her to be the last thing I saw, but his hand held my head forcing me to stare at his mask. It was then Sally rushed in. Her instrument case thrust in under his chin and then lifted tugging him off of me with I noticed more strength than it seemed. It was like he was almost yanked off of me. He stumbled back a bit than did some sort of complicated motion and there was a sound like snapping. I think he might have snapped one of his bones for some reason.

He looked at Sally then at me and then at Lisa and shrugged. "I suppose I've done enough for now," he stated with a shrug. Sally ran at him and he dashed to the window and jumped out again. I turned onto my stomach and crawled over to Lisa. She wasn't breathing... There was blood pooling out of her neck. "Call an ambulance," I croaked to Sally and she hesitated and in that moment I began to hate her. It's stupid, but that hesitation has made me hate her. She did call the ambulance though and I lay on the ground feeling unable to do any more than just hold my head against Lisa's side and cry.

Eventually the ambulance showed up and the rest is a blur. I woke up later in a hospital bed, my throat bandaged. Sally was there and she handed me the laptop. I'm not allowed to get up yet and I don't know if Lisa is okay... I don't know what I'll do if he killed her...

Now back to your normally scheduled horror.

I'm cracking jokes see... Everything is fine. No reason to worry about me.

The Grotesque is back in good form... I'll give him that much. It was a more normal grotesque nightmare as in it was certifiably a grotesque nightmare as opposed to the previous one resembling one of my prophetic dreams...

Er... I might be too paranoid for my own good as rereading that last sentence it appears that I have subconsciously just decided that my last nightmare had to of been The Grotesque messing with me and the return to normal form is likely just an attempt to make the dream seem more real... I... I like this idea, but I have no actual proof of that and I feel I may be cracking up a little.

After The Liar's explanation last time I've been feeling rather ill and part of me is wondering whether it's all in my head or whether this is the subtle work of The Plague Doctor. He wasn't mentioned in the meeting though it occurs to me now that the entire meeting might have been a Grotesque Nightmare. The Grotesque might never of left at all. All of the dreams I've had since the first nightmare, might have just been The Grotesque toying with me... Maybe all the dreams I've ever had. Maybe I never woke up at all.

That... That was the implication of The Grotesque's last nightmare anyway...

It seemed like the normal torture and pain route, but throughout it there were subtle voices telling me to wake up and I was remembering things that I don't remember now... People and Events that I've never seen or heard of. The Grotesque seemed alarmed and began actively reminding me of The People I do know and now I can't shake the feeling that this isn't real. That nothing is real.

I told the others and Lisa assured me she's real, but of course she would.

When you think about it it makes sense. In my dreams/nightmares, I have power and purpose and friends and family and I'm well I'm important. Everyone wants to be important. It's like an adventure. Maybe it's all fake. Maybe I'm in a coma or something. Maybe there is no Grotesque nightmare it's all just a comatose dream... I've been told that you can't dream in a dream, but I only remember being told that in the real world that as far as I know might be a dream.

I need a hug, but at the same time I can't stand to let anyone touch me. I just keep imagining them all disappearing as they touch me and I can't... I can't deal with it.

Is the real world the one I'm in right now where I have a magic pocket watch given to me by The Grim Reaper and am on a quest with my perfect girlfriend, who was once a part of an eldritch monster who is in love with her, to drain the essences from a bunch of eldritch monsters created by the devil in order to free some creature all while being aided by a psychopath named The Muffin Man, a computer who can manipulate bodies and a guy who may or may not be god?

Or is the real world a place with no magic where I'm just some unlucky sucker who was in some kind of accident and am now in a coma?

When you put it that way which seems more logical?

Had a conversation with The Liar today.

I woke up, from either a very very effective Grotesque nightmare or a prophetic dream of terrible things to come, to Lisa shaking me and telling me she sensed the presence of a Fear nearby. She was not exactly panicked, but very alarmed.

We checked on Sally who appeared to be asleep clutching her instrument case like it was a teddy bear and woke her up. We then tried to flee as quietly as possible. We didn't make it. We made use of a handy fire escape to leave and found The Liar waiting at the mouth of the alleyway for us. She was in a new body I didn't recognize and I only know it was The Liar cause she admitted so instantly. It was part of her initial greeting.

"Hey, Amanda! It's your friend Amy or you know The Liar. Heard you were in some trouble and decided to come make it worse. Lisa glanced around us probably wondering the same thing I was. Was there anything around we could use effectively as a ranged weapon so we wouldn't have to touch her if we needed to fight. The answer was, other than a garbage lid, no. She was watching us and smiled. "Oh don't worry I'm not going to kill any of you or make anyone die. At least I don't intend to do so. I just want to talk. Also I want to show you something," she moved then and before anyone could react she was standing directly in front of me, her hand shot out and grabbed my throat as her other hand moved to my pocket. Lisa stepped forward.

"Take another Step and I will be inside of her before you can blink," The Liar responded without looking away from my eyes. Her hand slipped into my pocket and then drew out The Pocket Watch. I don't know exactly what I was expecting. I wasn't sure if touching it would kill her or if I needed to be using it as a weapon or really I didn't know what it would do, but it did the last thing I was expecting. Nothing at all. She took it out and then let me go. I tried to grab for it, but she stepped back out of range and opened it.


"Give it back!" I demanded making another failed attempt to grab for it. She smiled and simply kept backing away finding great amusement in this apparently.

"You sure you want it back? I mean you really don't seem to enjoy using it," she taunted as she inspected it, "I see you got one already," she said and turned it to face me. I hadn't really checked it recently so this was a new development to me. The number 3 on the clock face was glowing.

"What... What is that?" I asked and she tossed it back to me.

"A key I suppose you could call it. More accurately it's the essence of a Fear. The puppet probably didn't count so I assume this is from the Nest," she looked at my blank face and smiled, "You have no idea what you're doing do you?" I shook my head and she laughed, "The Fears will hate me if I tell you, but they hate me anyway so why not," she moved again and put her arm around my neck. I could feel my skin crawling where she touched me.

"Jack told us Fears a few facts about that Watch and what it can do. The most important one and the reason most of The Fears are after you right now is it can act as a key to a gate that holds within it the most terrible creature of all. Something so terrible that The Fears are willing to side with Jack to stop you from freeing it, in order to free it however you'll need to collect The Essences of The Fears who Jack used initially to seal the gate. Which would normally mean you'd have to use that Watch on The Fears themselves which would be suicidal, but unfortunately for many of the Fears. Most of them put a small amount of their essence into their servants which isn't much, but is enough to make the key you need. You've already got some of The Convocation's essence in there so you just need the rest. In fact part of why I'm here is to give you another key and run a bit of an experiment. You'll need the essence of The Dying Man for that key and I'm willing to give it to you. All you have to do is kill me and my host with that Watch and you'll be one step closer to your goal," she explained and then stepped back and bowed her head.

"What... Why would I want to free this terrible creature?" I asked.

"Because it's your goal. It's what you're supposed to do. It's why you were given the watch and your dreams. The Man in Grey wants this creature freed and you are his agent to do it. Besides it's either do it and succeed or don't do it and eventually get killed by The Fears," she explained.

"So... This is my purpose?" I asked and she nodded. I gripped the pocket watch in my hand and advanced on her. Just as I was about to touch it to her however she raised her head. Her eyes fearful.

"Where am I? What's happening?" she asked in a scared voice, her eyes darting around wildly looking at me, Lisa and Sally, "What's going on?" she asked again sounding panicked. It was the host talking. The Liar had given control back to her host. It was how The Liar worked. Unlike most Dying Man shards The Liar preferred to remain hidden in her hosts allowing them control and only subtly manipulating their actions. Only occasionally would she take full control in which case the host would enter a state not unlike sleep and be unaware of what happened while she was dormant. She probably just woke up now finding herself somewhere unfamiliar and strange with no recollection of how she got here or why she was there. I felt sick and I staggered back. The frightened face immediately disappeared becoming a mocking smirk as The Liar regained control.

"I knew you wouldn't do it," she taunted.

"You're sick!" I screamed at her.

"You make a fine agent of Death. Unwilling to kill. You're weak. I knew all along you're nothing to fear. You'll never be able to fill your purpose in fact here have a free tip. If you could bring yourself to do it, your friend Muffin contains within him the essence of almost every Fear. If you used the Watch on him you'd pretty much be done. You won't though. Even though he betrayed you and almost got you killed you won't be able to kill him. You won't be able to kill anyone. The other Fears, even Jack. They're all stupid. You'll never be able to make the key. If they hadn't attacked you you never would have even gotten one. It's hilarious! Well good luck. I'll be sure to be there when you eventually die screaming," she blurted out the whole paragraph in one braying noise of mockery and laughter before turning around and abruptly disappearing.

Lisa was beside me in an instant her hands gripping my shoulder's comfortingly. She whispered comforting words in to my ear, but I didn't hear them. The Liar was right there was no way I could do what The Man in Grey wanted me to do. I had failed. I would probably just let The Fears kill me, but I couldn't do that. I couldn't just let my friends down. If the choice was dying or killing though I'd gladly choose the former and I know Lisa would agree.

I suppose I did mention the dream I had.

It felt like one of my prophetic dreams, but it might have been a Grotesque nightmare masquerading as my dream and I hope it was because the dream was of all my friends abandoning me or betraying me.