Prompts: The Lost Event Prompt
Deep in the basement of the B-NOMALY labs, past crumbling hallways and failing machinery, a roiling crack splits the tiled floor. Dubbed the Vat, the chaotic pit would be difficult to find for most strangers stumbling across the old laboratory, as nothing leading to it is particularly of interest. Most of the inhabitants of the labs know it well, however, and it's an even split on whether a B-NOMALY might seek it out or avoid it - it's rumored to grant power and mutations, and Fogholders drift towards it without thinking about it. As the Vat is a direct link to the Chasm, the rumors aren't exactly unfounded.
Lately, more and more of the B-NOMALIES that seek out the Vat aren't coming back, and the few that do are reporting a strange phenomenon - every so often, the Vat is replaced by a glowing blue mist. Eventually, it dissipates as unexpectedly as it came, and anyone caught up in it is lost.
"Steele here. It's my turn to guard the Vat, but I'm finishing here soon. No sign of Vic. No sign of any of the lab buns that walked out here, but I still can't believe we let the scout with medic training just walk into the fog like that."
The intercom buzzes and crackles. With some hesitation, Steele places a finger on the button, and it springs to life before she can say anything.
I'm... I'm here...
Steele's voice recorder clatters from her hand to the seat below as she jumps to attention.
"Vic? I'm at the vat, what's going on? Report?"
Steele, you okay? Like an illusion fading away, the intercom voice changes - Chipper is on the other end. We need someone up here, there's a scout at the front gate.
Steele slumps audibly, cursing under her breath. After a moment, she activates the intercom again. "I'm just tired, Chip. Yeah, send someone down to relieve me if you can. Just pick someone as intimidating as possible, we need a bouncer here. ...Chipper, who is it?"
Still not Vic, I'm sorry. But the Trailblazer is back.
"Day... something. It's been a month, probably, who's counting anymore? Steele's log, I'm wrapping up at the Vat today. It's been half a week since Trailblazer came back and we keep seeing buns in the halls, dazed and confused."
There's a pause, as if Steele's lost in thought, or unsure how to continue.
"They keep hiding their faces. It's not my business, but it's all of them, that's gotta mean something, right? Everyone that's come back has a mask or a blindfold or something, or they cover their face with their hands until they've got one. I dunno. I guess I should talk to them about it, but it's not like I can help if something's up. Our doctor's in the void, and all I know is prosthetics and how to set a broken bone."
There's a clatter of stones falling in the hallway, and Steele switches off her voice recorder, a mutter of 'this again?' the last thing on her log. The mechanic steps out from the vat into the hall, peering up at a pair of conjoined twins - one frostbitten and white, one dark, covered with shimmering silver and gold. The Seers leer down at Steele from their perch on a pile of rubble, despite their blindfolds.
"You shouldn't be here," Steele sighs. "No use getting taken by the Vat after all you've been through."
"We never went to the Vat in the first place," Corrects one of the twins.
"A gap between two trees, on a walk in the forest," Muses the other. "This is what took us."
"We want to guard the Vat, just like you do."Steele is about to speak up when a blue light flashes from behind her. Quickly, Steele grasps the Seers by a hand, pulling them from their perch. Stumbling to action, the Seers follow as Steele races down the hall, ducking her head from room to room - any room with a functioning door - before picking one. She barely shuts the door behind them in time, tendrils of mist sweeping along the tile floor outside.
"I'm... waiting for you," A voice mutters from outside the door.
Steele doesn't recognize the voice. She backs up, bumping into the Seers. A hand grasps at her tools.
"I'm here for you. I'm here waiting for you."
There's a shadow growing darker at the door, and the voice is growing louder as it deepens. The soft sound of dogs barking emanates through the hallway.
"I'm-"
STEELE'S LOG, DAY ONE. THOSE IDIOTS THINK I'M THE RIGHT PERSON TO PUT IN FRONT OF THE VAT AFTER THEIR LAST BOUNCER GOT HER NOSE BROKEN. WHAT THEY DON'T KNOW IS I BROKE HER NOSE FOR LETTING SOMEONE THROUGH.
Steele turns in the darkness, shaking in frustration and anxiety. Barely illuminated by her voice recorder, The Seers hold up the device, blasting noise at maximum volume. Steele slowly spins back around, watching as the mist and shadows dissipate, unable to spread chaos in the cacophany. After several minutes pass in the noise, the blue light having fully dispersed, the trio slowly heads back to the vat, only to find something new has returned to the labs.
"Vic?" Steele steps forward towards her friend, hesitant. Something is clearly wrong. Vic's greymatter was red. "Vic, let me help you up."
She doesn't know if the Vic before her is a ghost or the real thing - Steele helped them to their feet, but the whole scene felt surreal, time spinning around her i'm here as she backed away, i'm here as the medic before her told her not to worry and extended a hand. She shrugged it off. She regrets it now. She regretted it a minute after.
If that's Vic, who the hell is calling to her?
Steele pushes the thought off and shoves forward in the snow. After catching Vic up on what had been happening the last few weeks, they brought Steele out to the woods. Hesitant, untrusting, but guiltily, Steele had followed, but after all the echoes, all the voices that were never there, Steele is... well, she won't admit she's afraid. Steele is decidedly unsafe, and she is a rabbit. It's instinct, she reasons.
So, for the first time, Steele asks about another B-NOMALY's face - not for their safety, but her own.
"You don't wear a mask like the others do," The words tumble out of Steele's mouth, more a statement than a question.
Vic stops in the middle of the snow, their one eye fixed on her in a look of sad bemusement. They put a hand to their face, as if they'd forgotten what it looked like - and perhaps they did.
"I haven't needed it since," Vic's voice comes out from behind their face, unmuffled, sounding for all the world like they had a mouth. "Well, since I stopped looking like myself - like one of us. I don't need a disguise if I'm permanently wearing one, I suppose."
Steele nods, a bit sheepish, a bit more trusting. Vic puts a hand on her shoulder, and she doesn't shy away from her friend this time. With more determination, the two continue into the woods. Vic peers conspicuously at the trees as they go.
"It's not just the Vat," Vic explains what they'd started to tell Steele at the lab - she'd been too out of it to grasp everything then, luckily Vic had noticed. "It's any liminal space. Portals are opening to the leyline, and people are just walking in."
"You said back at the lab that you came back to tell people how to avoid it, or how to get back out again if they get Lost," Steele turns to Vic. "So, how do you get out?"
"There are portals inside, but you have to get lucky to get to them in time - or you have to make a bargain," Vic's eye, sad at first, suddenly snaps to attention. "Steele, stop, quick!"
Blue light flashes an inch before Steele's prosthetic, and she feels a chill as the portal tugs metal against scar tissue. Stepping back, Steele watches as a portal to the leyline lights up a fork between two trees, a strange bipedal figure stepping forward. Her image flickers as she nears the portal mouth, her blue energy changing to flesh. Steele has heard the legends.
"Death Herself," Steele spits, entering a crude, chittering Nskanetian Universal. "You weren't invited to Solstice, you're not involved in celebrating. Stop stealing all our damned guests and get your own holiday."
The flickering, overlaid images of the horseman Death and Nskanetis Herself bow their head to the scowling B-NOMALY - the faceless guardian appearing curious... and perhaps apologetic? Beside her, Vic's eye widens in fear, and quickly stutters out an apology. Steele maintains her glare as the guardian's massive hands move forward, clutching something gently.
I understand your fear. Echoes the Horseman, echoes the Guardian, echoes the trees. Death's voice rings in Steele's ears like a new memory, a voice unlike the hauntings that whispered in her ears in the labs. I'm not here for you. This little one is ready to come home. May the rest of your season be peaceful.
Slowly, maintaining her gaze, Steele nods. Death's hands open, revealing another faceless B-NOMALY, the creature gazing about as if blinking in the light.
"You're home," Vic says, arms open.