308426

I've been in and out of this cave for weeks, but it wasn't until today that I made the strangest discovery - a small, heavy metal door, tucked away behind a cluster of stalagmites. Beyond it, a small, metal room, empty except for a desk and a chair, lit by a single, dim lightbulb. On the desk is what appears to be an ancient but functional computer terminal, but what's powering it, and what's it connected to? I have no idea. Also, beside the terminal is an old dot-matrix printer, several sheets of information have been printed, but I can't quite figure it out.

As I stood there pondering this, the machine came to life, printing out the attached sheet. I've since discovered that I can use this terminal as well, though aside from recording and printing out my recent findings. I have not yet discovered to access any other information on this machine or what its true function is.

713941

I find myself spending more and more time down here. Something about the cold, crisp air makes time move differently. I don't even notice the hours move by.

I've been sifting through the sheets that were already printed when I found this place, trying to make sense of it all. I'm starting to recognize a few connections. They all seem to mention Leviathan scales, or shards, or shells. Isn't that some kind of sea monster? Also, certain planets and certain names are appearing and reappearing. They seem to be dossiers of…people? Beings? …all from places I've never heard of.

Also, who is writing these things.

PLANET 8: CENDRATHIEL
SPECIES 12: THE CHARMWEAVERS

Once the inhabitants of the mighty mountain kingdom of Heredrelleth, the Charmweavers are now very nearly an extinct race, having been almost wiped out in the sixty year long Blackland Wars, which ravaged much of the inhabited population of the world of Cendrathiel. Tiny settlements still remain, hidden with charm magic in mountain fastnesses and in unknown valleys in the Mountains of Ash. They create charms with powerful magical effects from precious metals. It is commonly believed that some distant point in the past, the Charmweavers and the Ælfethlynn were a single race, but that some powerful magic divided them.

There are only two Charmweavers in the 187, and they are both separated from others of their kind, orphans in unfamiliar lands.

962532

This old goliath of a machine keeps spitting out these illegible green and black renderings, it's impossible to understand what they look like. I've spent enough years doing field drawings to know how to interpret something, so I've just started drawing them meyself. It helps me better understand who they are when they can see them. I'm starting to get a sense of who they are and their place in the world now.

118450

I've been trying to organize the information that this old terminal keeps spitting out in a way that makes some kind of sense. But I have so many questions. How many planets are there? How many species are there? What is a Leviathan? What is a Leviathan shard/shell/scale, and how does it alter those who come into contact with it? Why do it's effects seem to change from being to being? WHAT ARE THE 187?

I'm going to need to grab my sketchbook next time I come down here. I feel like drawing diagrams will help me understand some of this better. I might just grab my field cot, too. I like it down here.

895721

I didn't realize I had stayed the night in the cave, until I work up next to my sketchbook. Time seems to feel different down here, without any natural light I don't even know what time of day it is.

I've been spending more and more time here. I packed a bag with food and water so I didn't need to keep leaving when I get hungry. Some days I feel like I'm starting to make some progress o these characters, others I have no idea what I've stumbled into. Just when I think I know the scale, I learn of a new planet.

995463

Last time I remember being this immersed in research was when I found porphyroblast in Fiji… It's not often we get this kind of new discovery in our lifetimes, or in a dozen lifetimes even.

I know what this means, and I know how special it is. Whether I found this cave… or maybe it found me, I can't let this feeling escape. As long as it takes, I'll figure out what this all means.

643175

Seven earth-like planets orbit the red dwarf star called Qaphat. Of these seven, four have given rise to intelligent life, each species very different from every other. The fourth of these planets - Ulshar - is a frozen world, covered wit a mile-thick crust of ice. Beneath the ice, warmed up by the planet's radioactive core, is a silent ocean world, lit only by a multitude of strange, bioluminescent life. It is also the home of the glittering Ulsharri, who live out their lives in small, roaming cities that they construct on the back of enormous turtle-like beasts.

Very few of them have ever been to the frozen surface of their world or seen the dim light of their sun, preferring the warmth of the deeps. They are an ancient race, with records dating back millions of years. They have secretly and curiously watched the other races of the worlds of Qaphat evolve and develop, and have attempted to guide these species in peaceful directions - with varying results. .

174490

I've come to find the smell of this place comforting. It's a little dank and old, with a hint of ozone from the circuits in the old machine, but my mind identifies it as the smell of home now. Even the weird, almost inaudible hiss of the ancient monitor seems somehow right to me now. The only unsettling thing is the dreams. I think these are more than just characters that this computer keeps spitting out stories of. When I read their descriptions, brief as they are, I feel like I an see them. No, that's not the right word. I can feel them. Sometimes I dream about them. And it's not just the ones the computer has already revealed. I've seen beautiful, horrible things through the eyes of… people… that I haven't read about yet. We're connected somehow. Was it some kind of weird fate that led me to this place? Or was it something more intentional? Something more distinct that brought me here to find this machine? It's all so familiar, and yet so very alien.

Who is the little girl?

392731

It's been months since the computer spit out the three Chimeras. Then, nothing. MONTHS of nothing. I began to think I was crazy. Each day, nothing but the hum of machinery deep in the mountain. I can only hear it late at night when the animals outside the cave are quiet.

Worse, the visions stopped coming. At first, they terrified me. They still do. But the silence in my head when they stopped coming was worse. I felt so alone - abandoned.

Then, Yesterday, suddenly the monitor came to life again. I sat, staring at the blinking green cursor for hours. I must have fallen asleep right there in that horrible metal chair.

But I dreamt. I saw places that couldn't possibly exist. I stood on a mountain above an ancient island of dragons. I fell, screaming, into a giant coffee cup and landed in a beautiful forest, surrounded by curious little lizards that spoke.

I saw the face of an alien being who hates and envies earth. And I think it looked back.

This morning, I was awakened when the printer started up. And there he was - the first addition since the fall equinox. Bridge. Funny name.

813652

There was a little bird at the mouth of the cave yesterday afternoon. I could hear it chirping and went out for some air. A little black and grey sparrow-looking thing that looked like it was wearing a zoro mask. It was somehow intense. Menacing, even. Even though it could have sat comfortably in my hand, it seemed powerful. It had a dead mouse that i had skewered on a thorn in a bramble bush, and it was ripping little pieces of the mouse off and eating them.

When it noticed me, it just stared at me for what seemed like a long time, then flew off, leaving the rest of the mouse hanging in the bush. I had a strange sensation - I felt that I was being protected, which should have felt good. But I had to wonder - protected from what?

I walked through the woods for about an hour, and kept finding tiny corpses left by this little bird. Mice, voles, bugs, lizards, even a small garden snake. The whole cave entrance is surrounded by this bird's morbid pantry.

I had a dream about it lat(sic) night. It was the size of a planet, flying through space. It looked at me and said one word - ARCHIVIST.

I woke up sweating.

551873

Last night, just before the printer started spewing out the Anthema 512 file, I think I dreamed that I was her. I was staring into total darkness, but I could see… things in it. It reminded me of my foray into psychedelics in college, but somehow the opposite of that. Instead of experiencing things that weren't there as if they were real, I saw that things that are supposedly real are all somehow empty. It was incredibly unsettling. Then I heard her speak:

Shroud your soul, mighty Ulshar!
Only the darkness of the void
Can defend your nakedness
From the burning chariot
Of the oblivion which approaches.

Flee the spaces between, Ulshar!
Only the endless velvet of
That which cannot be touched
Can defend your nakedness
From the oblivion which approaches.

I was glad to wake up.

036729

Another dream. I was young, maybe five or six. My father was carrying me in his arms down a long, white hallway. Over his shoulder, I could see that the hallway sloped up behind us in a gentle curve, but the floor felt flat. I was sleepy, and tried to bury my head in his shoulder, but he said, “Not yet sweetheart. First we need to look and remember.”

In the dream I knew what he meant, and it made me sad. I squirmed, trying to wriggle out of his arms, but he held me firmly. After some time, we came to a large room. I didn't like this room but it was important somehow. Almost sacred. My father set me down and took my hand. I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Look,” he said softly. “And remember.” I didn't want to, but I knew that it was important. He waited while I opened my eyes and turned around. The room had the same curved floor as the hallway we walked down, it was narrow, but very long end-to-end, with windows that ran the length of the long walls.

Beyond the window was an angry, burning sphere. An entire planet in its agonized death throes. “That is our home,” my father whispered. “That is where we come from. That is Threst.”

892355

Good news and bad news. The good news is that I found a hatch behind one of the old metal cabinets in here. Turns out I've been living in only a tiny section of this place. There's a kitchen, of sorts, a toilet, a whole room of bunk-beds (I don't really go in there - that room creeps me out), and better yet, this place has what basically amounts to a library - it's just… I've never heard of any of these books. “The Five False Truths of Malaclypse the Elder?” A Complete and Accurate History of the Continent of Atlantis?“ “Who was George Washington REALLY?” The books are strange, but reading has kept me occupied during the long silence from the machine.

The mad news is that I've been losing time, and doing some pretty weird stuff, apparently. I woke up one (morning?) last week with no shoes, dirt on my hands, and grass in my teeth.

What is happening to me?

230517

An incredibly strange thing happened today - a man arrived at the cave. He was tall and pale and thin, with a big, bald head. He wore a grey workman's outfit with a patch on the sleeve that said Endlessly Recognizant Interactive Systems, Inc. He said he was here to “update the system to version five,” and didn't seem at all surprised to find me here. He introduced himself as Mr. Nuku, and didn't give a first name. When I told him mine, he just said, “Yes, of course. Lovely to meet you.”

It wasn't until he went to the computer and began typing - so fast I couldn't figure out what he was even doing - that I realized how long his finders were. Everything about him seemed off somehow. He seemed to be constantly sweating - clammy and like he'd somehow be slick to the touch. There was something very strange about his eyes, too. I couldn't pin it down. He was only here for a couple of minutes, and ignored my questions about himself, the cave, the computer…

Then, he was done. He nodded and said “Good luck, miss.” Then he left. THIS IS A CAVE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WOODS! HOW DID HE GET HERE? WHO WAS HE? And what did he do to the computer?

715023 (mirrored)
Today I found a copy of a book I actually knew. It was shoved under one leg of a chair in the… mess hall nook? I replaced it with a copy of “Ordered Chaos Magic for Beginners and Reptilians.”

The book is The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. But here's the scary thing - I'm pretty sure this is actually MY copy from when I was in high school, the one my grandfather gave me. I didn't realize this until I turned to the chapter on Pain.

Right there on the page was that familiar stain, from when I read it again the day of Pop-Pop's funeral.

“Your paint is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understating.” It wasn't until I'd actually known pain that I understood. But of course, that's exactly what he's talking about.

How did this end up in here? And how long has it been here?

How long have I been here?

588439

Anthema spoke to me again last night. Or, maybe she spoke and I just happened to be the receiver. I think she wants something from me - or maybe through me. Some critical piece of information. I don't know what the question is, though, and I don't know if giving her the answer would be good even if I understood what she wanted. There's a darkness there - a deep, ancient thing that I can feel but can't describe.

I no longer had any doubts that they exist - not just Ulshar, but all of them. Somewhere, Edie is crying herself to sleep thinking of what her world once was, and Muadakan is preparing to waylay a raider band out in the dunes. Clyde is working on a new invention - something that will let him send messages to other worlds. Maurice is… becoming something else. Nia is watching the horizon for smoke.

I think if I knew Anthema's question, I'd know more about what all of this means. But something is coming - trying to get in from OUTSIDE.

It terrifies me.

300071

Today I went for a walk in the woods. It felt good to stretch my legs out in the sun and the breeze. I thought maybe I heard that little bird singing in the trees, but I never actually caught sight of it.

I've definitely been wandering in my sleep. I wake up in the morning with dirt on my hands and feed and leaves in my hair. I'm getting calluses on my toes and there's always scratches on my arms and legs or my face.

What am I doing out there? Am I digging? And where am I going? If I knew anything about tracking, I might be able to follow my own footsteps and figure out where I go at night, but so far no luck. I've seen lots of other kinds of prints - there are definitely deer and rabbits and squirrels and maybe a badger or something like that with wide paws living nearby, but I can't even find any of my footprints after one of those nights.

I'm considering trying to find a way to lock myself in at night - I'm afraid I'm going to wander out in a road or fall in the river or something in my sleep. I'll look for something to tie my ankle to the cot or something maybe.

145762

There's a living world out there. A planet inhabited by a single species with many different forms, like the life stages of an insect but far more complex.

I saw it in a dream through the eyes of the one creature on the entire planet that's somehow separate - an individual. It's so incredibly alone, and it just wants to become part of the collective again, but it can't. What a terrible existence.

I tried to reach out in my dream, but it retreated in terror. It was terrified of me. I don't think anything has ever been terrified of me before. I with I could do something for it.

Maybe Anthema will know.

774194

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thhre gtfrasse omnmy Ttttttt
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833621

I've been wondering about these elements. On earth we use that word to describe basic parts of something but I wonder if the elements described when I get these…files…aren't something else entirely. I wonder if we've been thinking about them all wrong, or if maybe our word for that thing is just wrong - “element.”

We use the word to describe things - whether that's the classical four elements of earth, water, fire, and air, or the periodic table. But it seems like maybe neither “element” nor the names that appear on the computer are accurate. For instance, ”Darkness“ isn't a thing - not really. Not a thing you can touch. and ”Wood?“ That's pretty specific. Seems like there should be a lot of planets that don't really have “wood.” But if there elements really are everywhere, there must be something more…primal? Something more all-encompassing to describe the idea of wood.

And Technology? That could mean any number of things. Technology is almost more like a goal - a process - a continuum.

Not sure what all these means. But I feel like it must mean something. Right?

224731

Something is wrong with time. Like - the time part of spacetime. I can't work out what it is, but time is definitely not acting right. I've gone into town for supplies enough times at this point that everyone at the general store knows my name - I'm sure they think I'm some kind of crazy woman living up in the woods. Or maybe not. Maybe they all know about the cave.

But I just called Tom for what felt like the first time in a year, and he seemed to think I'd only been out here for a couple of weeks. Weirder - I know that years have passed for Anthema - not their years, which last only a few days - but Earth years, or their equivalent.

I know this because her voice, her perspective - they're changing. The threat that she prophesied long ago is closer now.

And that little girl - the one I dream about sometimes - she's growing up. How is all of this possible? What is going on?

116739

There's a double-world out there somewhere. I don't mean like a double planet or something. It's one planet. But it's two worlds. I'm seeing things through the eyes of someone - I don't know who - but I swear that they're going places I've seen before through a very different set of eyes.

But even though the place itself - the trees, the buildings, the sky - it's all the same, but it seems very different. I wish I could remember whose experiences I had deemed of these places the first time. Some of the yes I see through know that I'm there, can feel me. Some, like Anthema, can even communicate with me. But some don't seem to be aware of me at all, or if they are, it's more like feeling like someone is watching them. Which, I mean, I guess I am. But it's weird to feel that feeling and also know that I'm the reason for that feeling. Like looking over your shoulder yourself.

Also, it took me a ridiculously long time, but I finally realized that there's a pattern to what happens with me at night. Either I dream of these… others… or I go on one of the nighttime adventures, none of which I can really remember. Never both on the same night.

448925

I hah another dream. I've been thinking about time so much lately, I can't tell if it's just me thinking about it, or if this idea came from…somewhere else. I'm not even sure that matters anymore.

We see time as linear, the same as we see each of the spacial dimensions as linear. Height is a vertical line. Width is a horizontal line. Depth is a line that moves from our eyes outward. In my dream, time worked that way, too. I could move… sideways in time. Up and down in time. I could see my “future” and my “past” because they were off to the side - above and below me - all around me. I think maybe that's what I'm doing here. Or maybe something here is doing it to me. I don't know which is more frightening.

I woke up and vomited. Dandelions. Like…it must've been a pound of dandelions.

What is happening to me.

693745

light air chaos stone fire metal darkness order technology water wood fnord light air chaos stone fire metal darkness order technology water wood fnord light air chaos stone fire metal darkness order technology water wood fnord light air chaos stone fire metal darkness order technology water wood fnord light air chaos stone fire metal darkness order technology water wood fnord light air chaos stone fire metal darkness order technology water wood fnord light air chaos stone fire metal darkness order technology water wood fnord light air chaos stone fire metal darkness order technology water wood fnord light air chaos stone fire metal darkness order technology water wood fnord light air chaos stone fire metal darkness order technology water wood fnord light air chaos stone fire metal darkness order technology water wood fnord light air chaos stone fire metal darkness order technology water wood fnord light air chaos stone fire metal darkness order technology water wood fnord light air chaos stone fire metal darkness order technology water wood fnord light air chaos stone fire metal darkness order technology water wood fnord light air chaos stone fire metal darkness order technology water wood fnord light air chaos stone fire metal darkness order technology water

009481

Something terrible has happened, and it's all about him - this "Amber" person. It's all about him, but it's not his story. It's someone else's story. Amber thinks his destiny is to fight back against his creators - to somehow defeat God or the gods or whatever they are to him. But Anthema sees him, and his destiny is very different. He is broken - so shattered.

It's not his fault, but it is his responsibility. It is his to do with as he wills, and what he wills is so dark, so dreadful. He knows this. He wants it. he is consumed. he is his own pain, lashing out in hatred for everything.

But for all his anguish, his violence, his rage, his hatred, Anthema believes that he will bring about something beautiful, wonderful - something that even the Ulsharri could not have done. if she knows what this incredible thing is, she's not telling me.

The print spit out something weird out last night. I checked, and it wasn't in the computer's memory. I don't know where it came from, but it didn't come from me, and it didn't come from whoever has been sending me these files.

I've gotten to the point where all this weird shit hardly phases me anymore.

227490

I'm curious about the idea of refraction. I'm pretty sure there are eleven of these elements, and the only one that has anything to do with refraction as far as I know is Light. But so far I've seen two of these… beings… who have “refracted” elements - The Silent King is ”Wood (refracted)“ and Bob The Scribe is ”Darkness (refracted).“ It makes me wonder about two things:

First, I think the names of these elements aren't very accurate. It seems like in order to be refracted you'd have to be more like an energy than a physical thing. So maybe “wood” as an element doesn't have anything to do with physical wood - maybe it means “having properties that wood has.” or something.

Second, I wonder what refraction of an element actually means. Refraction is like… redirection or deflection. But does this kind of refraction mean “reflection” as well? The classical elements of ”earth, air, fire, and water“ seem to have opposites, but “earth” seems like kind of a mix of ”stone“ and ”metal,“ and in any case, there are eleven of these elements. That means they don't have opposites in the base system. Maybe the refracted elements are the real opposites of these? But if Darkness isn't the opposite of Light, what IS the opposite of Light?

722561

she comes to love the parasite inside
she nurtures futures in her womb
and with the future's mother's birthing cry
an old world fades and is consumed
tomorrow's fortunes rest upon the babe
then sleeps enswaddled 'gainst her breast
but man or monster? none yet know his fate
nor how four worlds will fare - this test
is all for all when past is passed

she hums an ancient tune of red-front shores
where once her kin sailed heavy ships
before the makers' gift, before the wars
and hunger, genocides and whips
the fight of knowledge was the test they failed
in that lost ancient peaceful past
what gift this child brings none can say. the veil
of fortune flutters on the mast
and all is all when past is passed.

142855

That little bird is back, and this time it brought company. I noticed it when I went for a walk today. I might not have noticed it - it's small and when it's not flying it can be hard to see from a distance. But this time it was being followed around by a large raven, which is hardly a subtle bird. At first I thought perhaps the raven was hunting the sparrow-bird, but then it seemed like it was…tagging along? Also- stranger than that - they appeared to be like…chatting. The raven must be 10 times the size of the other bird, but definitely seemed to be subservient.

Then the sparrow-bird flew off, abut the raven stuck fairly close to me for the rest of my walk. At one point I think I saw an owl, too, but it was only for a moment, and it flew off the moment I noticed it.

One other weird thing - just before I got back to the cave, the wind shifted so that the raven was upwind of me, and I could swear I smelled tobacco.

to ease his reawakening but when her fingers touched his hand he flinched from her as if not fingers but brands pressed his skin he trashed the air he gnashed his blacked teeth and helpless mindless in this state he screamed what is this torture? What am I and How? I se and hear and feel and cannot breathe just let me die! What monsters are you who would raise a soul from peaceful death to this? Is this cold myzrah's judgement? Am I doomed by those who argued vengeance for our fate? What enemy has I so badly wronged that this is there response? Please give me death! And mothe ward of chival as if struck cried out no amber! It is not your pain I seek but your return to life my love! You Amber treacherously killed by those you offered clemency with open hands those cowards who beneath a flag of truce cam.