Waiting.

I just sat there, waiting - a lot. I knew Thomas was hiding as well. I saw the shadow move first across the floor, then on to the wall - it was inside the room now. I dared not look past the shadow, for I knew not was there - and I didn't wish to know. I heard Thomas shuffle, and the shadow move. I saw its shadow grasp Thomas... I looked. What I saw was not pretty.

[I am sorry to stop writing, but, at the moment, a crisis emerged. It's crazy. You might read it later - have to go!]

Welcome Home, Lorne.

The house I might have mentioned in the previous entry? Yeah, try not to kill me. It's more of a-[Oh, that's my friend, telling me to get on with this recording. I might have failed to mention that this is a transcript transferred to a visual aid, as the format of reading is more popular.]

So yeah, I walked into our house. It's a little hard to describe. Okay, I think I got an accurate description... Picture this.

A floor strewn with rocks, pebbles, and food, with ample rat holes. The walls and ceilings are shored up with metal girders, and reinforced with various items such as wooden planks and more steel. Two beds, one on top of the other, crumbled and worn, with various cracks in the wooden frames. Crumpled, musty sheets lay askew on top of the beds, with a rock-hard pillow, a poor excuse for a pillow as-is. Large clusters of mites lay under the bottom 'bed', creating a large patch of red and white.

As I walked further into our 'house', I entered the other room, which was its name. It might have been more aptly named 'The Who-Knows-What-It-Is Room', as it was always littered with debris. Thomas and I sat down among the rubble across each other, and, after a moment's stare, we burst out laughing. I was the first to break, than the both of us were on the ground, giddy with the excitement of the exodus of fear.

When we recovered, we talked about the exploration we were doing. He had found out that there are three passageways that are buried, but might lead to the surface. This was the whole point of the exploration, to get to the surface.

Now as we were talking, a shadow crossed the door frame, a shadow of lengthy proportions. Thomas and I looked, as a tall, pale, and faceless man slowly crossed in front of our door. Never before had I wished so hardly to have a door. Never before had I wished that I could shrink in among the rubble and lay there, until judgement day comes.

Telling Herselves

The Vision hated the Earthbound. Ever since it had taken the Overworld and started killing most of the mortals, the fears had less and less things to do, much less the freedom to do them. She was facing down the hope of the world. The Vision was currently arguing with herself, sorry, her "sister’s"(created by herself mentally). They each represented a part of her personality.

"We should tell him!” said her first sister/manifestation, who represented her good, Clotho. “He needs to know!”

“No.” said her anger sister, Atropos, “We should do nothing but hunt him down. We need servants.”

“We should help him a little,” her calm sister, Lachesis suggested, “Leave him a...” she posed, musing, “a ritual, a list of what he must do. Give him a quest."

The vision looked at Lachesis in her mind. “How did you come up with that?” she asked.

Lachesis shrugged her shoulders “The same way you did, of course. The first trial... Let’s see how well he trusts his ‘Thomas!’” They were in the Godsway now, a chaotic realm, looking more like what ancient humans called 'modern art'. It was a twisting, warping tonal with the walls constantly changing, random noises coming from nowhere, and being occasionally popping in and out of the domain. Today, the Godsway was dark and moody. Little storm clouds rushed about, crackling with thunder. Tentacles lashed out at anything that was not a fear that moved. and a gray mist covered the whole scene. she walked briskly, with her sisters closely following. Atropos still muttered curses, as she did that a lot these days, ever sense that The Vision decided that they would start meddling in mortal affairs again. Soon they reached the point of the correct Mana density. The Vision thrust her hand out. Instantly, a rift opened and they walked though, forming into one.

Telling Thomas

Three days.

I had escaped, running blindly through the darkened tunnels, obscuring my vision. Those two words were still ringing in my ears when I ran into my friend, Thomas. Literally.

"Oof!" Thomas groaned. I steadied Thomas, and he looked at me, a stern look on his face. Then he smiled.

"Thomas!"

"Lorne!" We embraced, and let go, our hands on each others shoulders. "What happened, Lorne?" He queried, taking in my appearance.

"I ran into the vision."

"Like you just did to me?"

"Sort of. I ran into her, and her three siblings."

"Oh God... At least you didn't meet ol' dark-and-faceless over there." Thomas gestured behind him with his thumb, pointing down a tunnel which split into three parts before fading into darkness.

"'Ol' faceless?' You mean The Svelte?"

"No, I mean your ol' grandma." I sighed, then punched him in the arm. He punched me back.

"What did he say to you?"

"Probably the same to you. He told me I had to kill you in three days."

"Yeah that's what sh- Wait! That's not what she said! She told me to kill her, not you!"

"Ah. Any consequences? Or just a punchline that rang in your ears?"

"The punchline was enough to say 'Do this or you die trying,' no other options."

"You pessimist." Thomas and I walked down the corridor and took a left, heading for home.

Telling myself

I instantly froze, realizing that this might be it. We never knew how long the power would last. Heck, we didn't even know how we even got here!

I waited for what seemed like hours. The lights finally came back on.

I wished that they hadn't.

There was the vision, in her 'fate' form. I should say forms. Three hideous hags where staring at me, each holding a long bronze sword. They looked at me, and said in unison, "Here we are now. You must try to kill us. If you don't come three days time, you will die." That was certainly something I expected, up there with me spontaneously combusting and meeting a thing that is legend, one of which has already happened. Lets hope that they both won't come true.

"So... you want me to kill you?" I asked

"No... you actually can't kill us. Just try to kill us like you would kill another human being. We will play fair," the voices said again. "You have three days, Lorne. Three Days."

Telling the Fears

I stared at my friends for a while. I realized that Joey wasn't there. He could either be the one who caused this, or he escaped. That's when I heard the voice.

"Lorne."

"Who's there?" I replied, trying to sound brave. It probably came out like, "I don't want to die! Don't kill me!"

"You don't want to know who I am. I will tell you anyways. It is... inevitable..." The thing laughed, a deep laugh, then it sort of turned into a light, carefree laugh.

"What you see on the ground is your fate." The now-feminine voice said to me.

"Who are you?"

"Yes, people call me the fates. That is not entirely inaccurate, as I can split into three forms at once. Your ancestors referred to me as-"

"The vision..." I replied, awestruck. I remember seeing the runes on the side of the Tunnel of Genealogy. "So it's true? You exist, and others like you exist?"

"Well, of course, stupid boy."

"Well then why-" At this point, the vision disapears, and I am left alone. That's when the lights go out.

Telling the world.

Let me tell you about my life. I find myself wondering everyday whether or not I will live the rest of my life in darkness. Alone. My name is Lorne Opsanohl, and I live underground, with a network of tattered lights hanging in the ceiling. For years, me and others like me have struggled to find a way out, each time being batted back to where we came from. Where I live is not like a large cavern. It is a series of tunnels, each being lined with a soft substance, yet is hard in the way that a non-Newtonian fluid is.

I find myself walking toward my friends. They believe they have found it. They told me that it might not be long. I walk to the door, and open it with a key card. The door slides open slowly, then shuts quickly. This is expected. To kill any intruders. The doors open just wide enough to let me in, then close behind me. Another series of locks stand in front of me. The first is a qwerty keyboard, asking for a pass code on a small screen. I type in the pass code, and pass through the door. Another few pass codes, and I find my friends. Lying dead on the ground.