Waking Up To The Sound That Nothing Makes

It's been about a week since I fought Camazotz, roughly, from what I've heard. I don't know where O'Zalia is. I don't know where Wildfire or Sound or any of the others are. I know the Intended Emissaries are all dead- one was erased from the physical plane of existence entirely.

The fight happened at exactly where Isaac said it would be- the Tehauantec Gentleman's Club. Of course- Mayan name, Mayan bat man, it wouldn't take a Dark Knight and plucky boy sidekick to figure that out. Also, it is the hangout for the various members of the police force that were being hunted down by Camazotz.

Isaac went off with Sound to fight Nolla Row, and I went to fight Camazotz.

We found the Tehauantec desolate- no, not desolate, that's not quite the right word- the walls were matted with blood and tiny, fuzzy, black shapes darted to and fro under the red moon. It was almost cinematic, really, but I digress. I did see something strange though. One singular bat was flying away from the Tehauantec Club- a single bat carrying what seemed to be a vial of dark, red blood.

Wildfire was talking to me.

"You ready to do this, Kord?"

"Yeah. You ready to turn tail and follow O'Zalia?"

She shook her head.

"Nope. O'Zalia is not a man to be crossed. His powers can erase entire people from existence, and I don't want to get on the bad side of that."

"Well, I don't need help on this one either. I fought a Demi-God once, you know."

She raised her eyebrow.

"...I ran away from him and got pardoned from a beat-down by his lackeys."

"Mmm, yes, well, I wouldn't say that was fighting, and you've pretty much proven that you're gonna need my help-"

Her words were cut off by a swarm of at least eighty bats coming towards her. She inhaled deeply, and then erupted a column of sulfuric flame at them. A handful were burnt to unrecognizable cinders, but all it really succeeded in doing was splitting the spear-like column in half. The cluster of Convocation Bats regrouped, and grew.

Wildfire flew in the air, and then, taking out her claw gauntlets, began hacking the slowly-enlargening swarm of bats into the air. She cursed, then told me to run. This was going to be her fight. As the bats began growing to impossible proportions, so did she.

...okay, I MAY have sent one or two sonic bolts at some of the sound-sensitive creatures. ...and MAYBE Wildfire breathed fire at me in retaliation.

When I entered the lounge, I heard the screams and shrieks deepen and turn into great, bellowing roars. The bat squeaks in return turned into ear-shattering lower squeals.



The lounge was covered in blood. Eight police officers moaned, while their very visible system of veins and arteries were being grotesquely munched on by fifty more of the bats. The rest were only a mite luckier- they were all filled with bullet holes. The city councilmen, the young waitresses. What got me were the small children. Eight to twelve year old boys and girls lay in a heap in the very center. The words "En el frio en el silencio" were painted in their own blood. Their hearts were torn out. That really, really, pissed me off. Camazotz really did get worse from prison, and he showed me just how much him and all his fellow Intendeds deserved little more than death- painful, if possible.

"How do you like it?" I heard the all-too-familiar Guatemalen accent ask. I turned around, and I knew it was merely an after-image, but I fired at it anyways. This time he truly appeared behind me- he was eating one of the childrens' hearts. "I believe I've created nothing short of art here, Kord. And I know the you I met in San Juan would agree."

"Drop that fucking heart, you sick, sociopathic fuck."

He dropped the heart. And then he jumped down. But instead of attacking me directly, he monologued.

"So, how does it feel to know you're the one with little to no power in this fight, ese?"

"That's funny. That's the question I should be asking you."

"You don't know what my new mistress has done for me, Kord. You could do well in siding with her. You never had the powers the almighty Temerus gave people like us, but your use of the... the 'voices', as you've called them, are so wide and varied that Madame Nolla would make an exception."

"Fuck you, you child-murdering fuck."

"Enough with the expletives, Kord."

"...yes, enough with the expletives."

We clashed at the same time, our fists hit each other. Knuckles were cracked. Camazotz seethed, then blinked out of existence. I knew he was behind me- I did a few lightning-fast clicks and, brain registering he was directly southwest of me, I aimed in that direction and sent him into the bodies of his victims. He cursed at me, then sent a wave of bats. I dodged and jumped from side to side, not noticing he was blinking towards me. I put up a hand to dodge the attack, but before I realized how stupid that was he pounded my skull in from over me. He laughed, and I sent a sonic burst at him. It clipped him, barely, earning a curse which helped me pinpoint his exact position.

Then he crashed into me with his black, sharp tendrils for fingers. He was becoming more and more batlike. Two wings flapped intently at his sides.

"You believe you are the only one who learns new tricks? Well, I have a few more for you!" His form kept blinking repeatedly, and then, two more forms showed up to his left. And then two more. And then two more. A circle made of Camazotz images circled me, laughing.

"Ha! You can't catch me! There are twenty of me- which one is me?! Which one is the after image, eh? You can't tell? Well, let me help you!" All twenty of him kicked at me. Not knowing which one was actually going to land, I did what I could- I used a sonic burst and went upwards into the air.

Landing back down was rough. I landed on two iron spikes, impaling through my feet. I screamed. And screamed. And screamed. The screams were both out of pain and out of defense- Camazotz' batlike ears couldn't take the screaming and when he did lunge, I knew where he was. But soon I was out of human screams.

He came towards me. Sixty bats were at his heels. He had a dagger raised to my throat. No display of force. No monologue. No "any last requests". He was going to just slit my throat after all that.

"No," I thought, grabbing his stupid rusty dagger out of his sunburnt clawed hands, "No he fucking doesn't." I lifted him with my other free hand. Bats were clawing and biting me, drawing and sapping blood. If he wasn't going to give me an impressive death, I would at least show him the gratitude of giving him one.

So I used a very dangerous technique O'Zalia taught me. I lowered my voice, with the help of the things in my mind, to an absurdly low frequency. And then I belted it out. Bats popped into viscera and bone around me. Glass shattered. Camazotz looked at me for a second or two- with a confused, tentative look- then his head inflated and burst like a blood-filled balloon. The bats that were not already popped crumpled to the ground and sizzled away. If I could have gotten to my knees and passed out right then I would have. But there were spikes in my feet. So I went comatose standing up.




Walking back through the old base of operations was difficult. O'Zalia contacted me telepathically one last time. "For now, this is the last we meet. I have to think. If you find another person hellbent on genocide or catastrophe, you can talk to me, but for now this will be my last message to you." I tried finding Wildfire, Sound, Myrir, and all the others. Whatever happened to the Fury creature, what happened to the man in the lettered mask? I had so many questions, and I wanted to continue fighting evil- killing Demigods and Servants that dared try to kill crowds of people or worse- and I wanted to get stronger.

But no. Nothing. Not even the man in the lettered mask.

And now, my life sinks into emptiness.

Well, at least I have my memories.

And the voices in my head.

...y'know what?
Fuck it. I'm going to look for trouble.
From what I've heard of others, it seems to work wonders. And I want to take that big blue giant of the masked man's down a peg first. Because nobody slams me against a wall without losing a few teeth or a life. But for now, I guess this is Kord, signing out. For now.

Week Three

I couldn't focus any of my time on training this week, unless you count me running and barely fighting for my life against a Demi-God and his small army of Norse-themed thoughtforms as training. Well, I guess it could have been.

So. The Demi-God and Servants. I don't know what they're called or who they are or what they have to do with anything, but I did see them kill. So, I stumbled across a young teenage couple and their small gang of friends, and the young girl had a piece of paper titled Romeo and Juliet. I kept an eye on them after I overheard the fact that they had it, and it eventually paid off. This man walked up- I guess, you could call him a man. He seemed human enough, I guess. He had a tan fedora with a black stripe and a tan trenchcoat- classic PI style- but the weirdest and most eldritch thing is he made the fedora actually work. I'm kidding you not. Okay, there was also the blank mask with the endless, ever-changing stream of changing words and letters on it, and the fact that he seemed to have the onion layering effect as he walked- kind of like Vigo the Carpathian in Ghostbusters II, as the closest possible example. He looked odd, and the kids knew too.

He walked up to them, and one of them asked him what the Hell he thought he was doing. Then he simply pulled out a book and read. He read aloud, and he continued reading for quite some time. When he mentioned the bright, clear skies, the clouds above him parted and made ways for the surprisingly warm ball of sun- I mean, really. I'm in Western Canada there shouldn't be any sun whatsoever- okay, whatever. Suddenly, two of them turn and fight each other. One pulls out a switchblade and kills the other. The Demi-God quitely said, "Mercutio has fallen." Then the boyfriend pulls out a pipe and beats the paralyzed knife weilder to death with it. The Demi-God then murmured, "Tybalt has fallen." Then the girl collapsed. A police officer came, trying to figure out what the hell happened. The boyfriend killed the officer, who was also paralyzed. "Paris has fallen." Then he sees her. She didn't seem to be breathing. He stabbed himself with "Tybalt"'s switchblade. "Romeo has fallen." Then the girl wakes up, sees the dead boyfriend, then tear-stricken, kills herself with the same switchblade. "And finally, Juliet has fallen. A glooming peace this morning with it brings; the sun for sorrow will not show his head." And the clouds reimbursed themselves across the sky.

"Curtains fade. Exeuent. Show's over, witness. Now you have to die." He turned to me.

His eyes looked human enough behind the mask, but I saw what he could do. I set forth a static burst at him. He stumbled back a little- so he wasn't Fury strong- but it didn't hold him back for long. So I pulled another one of my new magic tricks out- I made myself sound like I was running in three directions at once. I ran to the right. I heard the man laugh and say, "Fine. Be like that. I'll just do this." Then I heard some strange noise and suddenly a giant bipedal wolf and a giant blue man with plants growing out of his back.

"Found him, master," said the blue one.

"Excellent," said the masked man, suddenly behind me.

"The fuck are you?" was something close to what I asked. The blue man walloped me into a brick wall thirty feet to my right.

"You will speak fondly to the master of words, insect!" cried him in what sounded like a deep cockney accent.

"Leave him be, Laufey. I need to ask him questions. So- why are you here? Were you sent after me?"

"I was just here to train," I began, slowly at first, "I didn't mean to stumble across the things you've been doing- whatever you've been doing, but you need to stop."

"Hmph," he smirked. "Do you know what I am?"

"A Demi-God of some kind."

"Bingo. Question two- who taught you those skills?"

"..."

"Answer the master," continued the blue giant. Other beings- a flaming giant, a naked girl turned halfway away from me, and a man with a horse mask, to name a few- appeared behind the first two.

"...Isaac O'Zalia."

"I've heard of him. He's a god among telepaths, is he not? Why were you training here?"

"There are a group of people set on raising another Demi-God..."

"The Game Master?"

"Yes... how did you know?"

"I hate The Game Master with a raging passion." He paused for a while, then continued. "You've gotten off lucky. If you were anyone else I would have killed you. Laufey, Surt, Jormungand, Hel, Slepnir, back to the Page." The figures turned into strange, incoherent jumbles of words, concepts, and letters, and dissipated. "They're some of my favorite soldiers. You work on your training, get strong, and kill the assholes who dare try to bring back the Game Master. Also, I understand the need to get stronger. A year ago, my powers were so underdeveloped- but that's not a topic I wish to discuss." He motioned for me to go back and drive back to wherever I came from, but then he called me back.

"If you, O'Zalia, or any of them try to intervene in my own training again, I will not be so lenient. This is your only warning, Greyskin." Then he turned into a jumble of words, and flew away.

And so ended my nearly month-long vacation. Woot.

I've decided not to talk to O'Zalia about it. In fact, I'm keeping it locked away in my mind until Nolla Row's defeat and, if I can help it, the Fury's defeat, if not even further beyond. O'Zalia's got enough problems.

But now, I'm coming home.

I'm keeping up my training. I've learned a lot of new powers and I've increased in skill. Now I get to fight Camazotz and end that murderous bastard once and for all.

Week Two

******
Week Two: Part One

Fifty two hours meditating, thirty four hours practicing hand to hand combat and mental powers, ramen, water, yadda yadda yadda.

One of the two big things is that I came back to Team Malzallaway (my new name for it, named after the three people most frequently brought up in conversation) briefly when O'Zalia broke just enough through my mental barrier (hurt my head like Hell, by the way) to tell me I needed to come back for a short period of time. He said he wouldn't interfere with whatever work I was doing so long as I came down to give him a brief update and lowdown on the new powers I'm practicing. So I drove all the way back there in record time.

******
Brief Interlogue: My Day Back at O'Zalia HQ

Basically, he just asked me how many hours I was clocking in with meditation, what powers I was practicing, how, why, assessing my new powers and strength. According to him I'm far from the level of Demi-Gods, but I'm definitely getting some progress in and eventually I could be on the level of lesser Demi-Gods if I continue my practice for several months. However, we do not have several months, so I only have one more week.

Then some shenanigans happened.

Then the Butterfly Proxy's water broke. I assisted in the birth by turning down her screams to assist O'Zalia in the birth. I kept my eyes shut for the duration.

Then the Fury showed up, right nearby. I jumped back, knowing fighting him would just get my ass handed to me, with Mr. Francois Bandages as the server for the day. He apparently said mental wordy things with O'Zalia. I couldn't tune in- my Choir-based frequency is nothing like O'Zalia or the bandaged guy's mental frequencies, so...

When he was done and left, O'Zalia just stopped and sat in thought.

"I don't know about that person." He muttered to himself, drowned out to most by the cries of- get this- Isaac Malkator. So Little Isaac got a lot of attention, but for some reason his namesake was too busily deep in thought.

I asked if I could go back. He agreed. He said I need to come back in a week.

Sadly, I don't think I can go back in a week. Actually, let me explain...

******
Week Two: Part Two

I did let the investigation take a backseat the first few days this week, but then it started increasing. Entire buildings were destroyed. It seemed to escalate so suddenly- and near one of the burnt down buildings there was the title page of Farenheit 451 nearby.

The pages laid out seem to be either instantaneous or took weeks. Apparently, there were two farmers nearby. One recieved a single piece of paper in the mail and began mentally regressing. Then the man accidentally choked people to death in the streets, and the other man eventually shot him after a small conversation, according to witnesses. The piece of paper in question had six words smack dab in the middle.

"Of Mice and Men

 

 

John Steinbeck"

 

It's definitely no normal human- likely not even a Servant, if whoever it is is having the power to mentally change and alter reality itself.

 

It's beginning to escalate quickly, but I still can't bring O'Zalia into this. He's dealing with a lot of shit right now, the Fury and the little baby Isaac and the impending fight against Nolla Row and Camazotz and according to his blog a creature I can only assume is the infamous Slender Man of urban legend. I can't get him involved in yet another thing while he's so preoccupied.

This is my fight. Demi-God or no Demi-God.

Or at least my investigation.

Kord out.



Week One

I meditated for ninety six hours. I practiced hand-to-hand combat and the use of the Voices in my head for approximately twenty four. I ate nothing but Insta-Heat Ramen and drank water. My stomach hurts like a bitch but it works. Echolocation is working like a charm. I blindfolded myself and walked around for an entire day without the use of my eyes. The rest

Though I am hearing things of mysterious deaths in the area I'm in. The MO is never the same- stabbings, electrocutions, bisections, shootings, and burnings, to name a few. There is no concrete connection between any of the numerous killings, save a title page of a book is always left at the scene of the crime. I'm going to have to investigate, it's likely just some sadistic human piece of scum, but it might be something worse. A Servant, Demi-God, or worst case scenario- a Fear. I'm going to assume it is at most a Servant, but I'll approach them as if they were a more dangerous threat. It's just safer to assume that.

Update #3 of 3- I'm Going Away For A While

Today I had the shit beaten out of me by what could be best described as a screaming giant in bandages. I walked up to him and, shocking my own nerves in my forearm enough to paralyze it and harden it like stone, socked him right in the jaw as soon as he started making his way towards the others. The man- if I can call him that- was unfazed. He's not normal- I know that, for my paralyzed forearm is usually strong enough to crush rocks if aimed right. And then he bashed me back a few feet. I tried sending a static scream at him, but he deflected it with one arm and w me against the wall, and I woke up hours later.

Apparently, he's on a power level similar to, if not greater than, according to O'Zalia and the others, the mysterious Game Master himself.

I learned just how weak I really am. Even after... well... months of training, I'm still weak as a feather, compared to Demi-Gods. But I expect everything coming up against me to be crushed. So I'm going to train.

I'm leaving behind O'Zalia, Myrir, and the others, just for a little while. I've come up with my own moves. I'm going to be training for a while. At least three weeks of nothing but intense meditation and practice from here on out. I'll be blocking myself off from them at the same time so they don't hunt me down and drag me back.

You see, I'm going to train and practice until all my enemies fall and die before me. That's the only way I can be assured I'll survive in this fucked up world.

So I'm off. And when I come back, I'll be stronger.

Kord.

Update #2 of 3

All right. So first thing's first. Training's going okay, I guess. Mostly meditating. I haven't mastered the new technique, but I think I'm close.

Anyway, We've been patrolling, trying to find those Emissaries, and that hard work finally paid off. Our teammate Wildfire got in a fight with Jerard, the animal guy O'Zalia interrogated before. I heard later that he had bad mouthed someone called Kallaway, which I guess is what set her off. Whatever. She managed to win by entering this dragon form and long-story-short, he's dead now. That's another one of those dickwad Emissaries ticked off the board.

So anyways, O'Zalia told me he thought of an idea for me to finally finish off Camazotz once and for all- I can't strictly talk about it

I learned something interesting during that fight. Nolla Row isn't actually projecting mental barriers on anyone. She can give people immunity to radiation, which allows them to carry uranium unharmed, which can apparently disrupts O'Zalia's powers. That's interesting and makes me worried for the upcoming fight with her. She's either a push over or a nuclear-powered beast of destruction hell-bent on bringing back a sadistic game-playing psychopathic mummy man, and since she commanded all these other powerful creatures with an iron fist, I'm assuming it's the latter.

All that's left now is Camazotz and Nolla Row herself.

Update #1 of 3

Hi people, it's been a while and that's because I've decided to stay silent and train for a while... well, if you consider "over a month" as a mile, in which case you have a fucked up sense of time like me.

So basically, we have two people in our party now- a proxy named Myrir and a guy named Jerome. I don't know these people and I generally enjoy staying away from the main group, but O'Zalia got me up to greet them, and I finally got to see O'Zalia the Great Psychic make a faux pas right out of Buffy. Honestly, I chuckled a little when he said, "There is a thing in your stuff!" but I was cackling wildly inside and I think he could hear it. So if I don't make another update it means I am dead. Very, very dead... or vegetized. Then Myrir explained she's pregnant to someone named Malkator's child. I asked Isaac who he is but he just stared off for a while, looking pissed and about to kill something, so I'm deciding to do my own research eventually, but I kind of got the jist that he's some kind of modern eldritch Perseus.

Then I found out that Jerome was an Emissary and... kind of flipped. See, at this point the only Emissaries I knew were bad, bad people- Jerard and Camazotz and this Nolla Row lady- so the fact that there is an Emissary on our side makes me more than a little suspic

Oh. I just got a mental IM from Isaac. Apparently he's an Intended Emissary as well. Well... this is awkward. ...dare I try to see if tinfoil will work, because I can't blog while someone's mentally looking over my shoulder.

Anyways, after our last little mission, O'Zalia went off on his own and found one of Nolla Row's henchmen. Not only that, he killed said henchmen, with seemingly no scars to prove for it. He told me all about it afterwards. Apparently, the spear he carries is fireproof, so it worked pretty well since his opponent was a fire elemental.

He's also been helping me truly master the voices inside of me, and practice intense concentration. He said he based it off of Tibetan meditation and the practices of Tulpa, to try to create illusions similar to him. It kind of works, but it barely fades into view, changes colors spordadically, spins around in midair then disappears. So... for now that's a total flop.

He's also been teaching me to perfect my Static Screech, and he's helping me come up with new tactics. And I got to say, that's pretty damn cool-

...and Isaac just telepathically said, "Damn right it is." GET OUT OF MY HEAD O'ZALIA. MENTAL SCREECHOWFUCKNOMYHEAD.

Okay. So I got to sign off. More meditation and concentration. Woo hoo, said sarcastically.

Kord.

The Meeting

O'Zalia planned this. It was supposed to work out so well. But it didn't. I don't know why, but somehow the whole damn plan backfired on us. O'Zalia was able to break into one of Nolla Row's people's minds- maybe they weren't in a close enough vicinity or something- and pinpointed the location of the meeting they were supposed to be at. They were supposed to be at the old industrial Cadillac factory.

Old, spooky, and good enough for a Batman villain. Heh. More like good enough for Bat Man. As in Camazotz. As in I suck at jokes. As in I should probably get on with it.

Also, Collector Rho did some bloodwork and found that the fungus was fused directly to my blood cells, right atop the nucleolus or something. Right in DNA storage central. She wanted to run some more tests, but enough was enough. She did ask a couple questions, of course. Mainly about my life before. Then I asked questions about her life before all this shit went down. She says she can't remember life before this shit.

...memory. Touchy subject with Archivists. Anyhoo- so... we took Tom along with us, just to bring in some possible backup, though if the mentally enhanced superbraniac and I were in a spot, a kid with some moderately handy knifework (I've been in prison and I've seen better than that) and a small .38 won't do much good. Unless he had some cool powers of his own. I asked O'Zalia about this on the way there. I asked him why doesn't the other three get ... granted superpowers or something. O'Zalia said something about equilibrium and protecting the peace of humankind and the warping of the fabric of the universe. And Demi-Gods.

He explained about a couple of the Demi-Gods. He talked about the Game Master, whoever the fuck that is (I remember hearing him interrogating one of Row's lackies about it... Jerard, I think), and some of the sick things he did. Then he talked about others. Mainly he talked about Benjamin Malkator. He took on a somber tone to his voice when he told me about the brave things he did in his life, the lives he saved and the straight up supervillains whose asses he kicked with his Archive-y soul-eating-mouth-y powers... I'm trying to build a mental barrier around my thoughts right now by-the-by. If he heard me call the brave Malkator kid that, he'd tear my heart out with his mind, I bet. He seems like the person who takes out his loss and sorrows on a hapless sap, good guy or no. And I ain't gonna take that chance.

OH RIGHT THE PLAN

Well, you see, we went there to the old abandoned factory. O'Zalia noticed that he couldn't feel any mental presences from within the building. He then slowly turned open the door and made sure it didn't creak when we stepped in. It didn't matter anyways. I could have asked Them politely and They may have muted the sound. But to each his own, I guess.

Camazotz ambushed us. He sent out a wave of screeching bats. O'Zalia countered and used his telepathy to rip the nails out of the door and impale four of the bats. I heard Camazotz screaming somewhere in some kind of empathically-linked pain. O'Zalia then tried tracking the mental presence, but he knew as well as I that it was no use. As long as he was under Nolla Row's care, the only way we could locate him is if he came out to face us... unless...

I heard O'Zalia tapping his foot on the floor, waiting patiently, eyes like a hawk, and I took the advantage. I used the echoes bouncing off the surfaces and used it to track the sound difference... there was a moving figure to the right, hiding in the shadows. I rushed without warning, and O'Zalia called after me. Too late, and I was bombarded by swarms of bats. O'Zalia came in, and used his telepathy again and broke the necks of about a dozen of the things. Then Camazotz came down. He flew down from the rafters with two bat wings coming out of his back.

"Serves you right for trespassing into someone else's territory."

O'Zalia was calm and collected as he demanded, "The Game Master. What do you know about him and what is Row planning?"

"Oh, come now, Isaac. You think you don't know. You may have erased the Game Master's body from existence, but he's a resilient thing. And you just erased his body. You didn't erase his memory, his soul, his influence on the things around him. It just needs a new shell. Enough worship, enough raw eldritch power... and maybe a new shell can be formed."

"So you're going to bring back the Game Master!? You're going to let the man who murdered Benjamin Malkator come back and kill thousands for the rest of time!"

"Yes I am. Tough titties, telepath!"

O'Zalia may have had intense mental capacity, but it didn't mean his likely days as a lowly grunt proxy didn't pay off. He picked up a metal pipe and hurled it like a javelin right at Camazotz. The pipe went right through him... and the smoky, fog-like hole where the pipe ripped through rippled back into place... and Camazotz' false image flickered out of view.

"Where is he!?" I yelled.

"Maybe I'm over here!" Camazotz laughed behind me. I turned to look at him, and his image faded like a burnt out light. "Or maybe I'm over here! Or over here! Or is it over here!?" Images of him flickered into view throughout the whole building.

I chose to find the one that was moving... which one of these things just doesn't belong here. And I sent a bolt of sonic waves at it before O'Zalia could tell me to stop. It reverberated around, booming in our eardrums, making O'Zalia grit his teeth and close his eyes and making me kneel to the floor and grab my ears in pain. When I got back up, Camazotz was gone- save the bats O'Zalia killed.

It's my fault. He got away because I didn't realize what shooting off a sonic bolt would have done. I should have known when I tracked Camazotz by the echo. I should have told O'Zalia when I tracked Camazotz by sound, instead of rushing off. I was careless, and I failed.

I have thinking to do.

Going on the Warpath

Okay, I've been silent for about six months now, haven't I?

I've spent my time training. That first encounter with Camazotz taught me that I haven't honed my abilities enough. I have the power, yes, but I need to control the voices. I need to control Them lest They control me. He's helped me- O'Zalia, to an extent. He's helped me hone my telepath abilities. I can talk into any mind I can and I know how to push. My other abilities- my mimicry amongst other talents- he hasn't honed yet. He's working in increments.

But I've been training by myself. A few reasons. I want to hone my other abilities. My visual hallucinations, my mimickry, my deafening sound bursts, I can't do those in front of O'Zalia. I've been able to keep a pretty good telepathic block on my mind

(THANKS TO THEIR GOOD GRACES)

...what?

Oh... They're speaking through me. In any case, I've kept a telepathic block on my mind thanks to Them because I know O'Zalia will disapprove. Of both my methods of self-training and my motivations. Also, Collector Rho knows that I've lived longer than most Greyskins by over a decade, and every time I overexert myself she looks at me hungrily... in a physical way, but more of the physical dissect me open and see what makes me different than the others way. And for those who thought the other physical way, I will sonic screech you, I swear to God.

My motivation is simple- I'm after Camazotz. I've been going vigilante against him for the past three months.

Camazotz has killed ten people in the past six months. Chairmen on the city board, police officers, and even personal bodyguards to the city's Mayor. He's been talking to someone. Sometimes, when he's near, I can hone in on what he's saying to others. It's risky, but he's been talking to a few people. I recognized one of the voices. A Child of the Cold... one of the ones from the prison. One of the gang members from the prison. He brought accomplices. The other voices I can't recognize.

I've been usurping his assassinations, for the most part with high levels of success. The police are baffled, and the Fear-knowing organizations don't do jack shit for some reason. So I've had to do it with moderate success.

This time, I've gotten crucial evidence.

MEETING, RECRUIT

9:15 PM

THE USUAL SPOT

A LATERAL MEGALITH HEMS

I don't know what the last line means, but it seems...

important.

Hopefully Isaac will know that this is personal, and that he should just stay away if he finds out. Camazotz is mine. I know everything about him. From the caves to the Skull Man's Gift.

Goddammit, I'm going after him. It's only logical. I know him best. I need to have a final confrontation.

It ends now.

-Kord

Camazotz

They let me out of those straps about a week ago. I guess I feel okay for at least being there, making him afraid, but... well, I guess it doesn't matter now. Officer Doyle as well as half the police force and the jury are under protective custody as of this point.

We haven't really been doing... well, doing anything. There's apparently Omicron and Phi, and then there's O'Zalia, who seems to have powers similar to mine. Definitely similar, but... not too similar, I guess. He can speak into people's minds like me. But he can also read them. I think I've even seen him do crazier things than that.

Phi seems to have taken an interest in me. And not in a good way, either. Upon questioning, I happened to answer that I think I've had this thing for... about 15 years? She had this look on her face. You know, the half confused, half startled face. I hope she doesn't try anything. I've actually grown fond of these people. May be Stockholm Syndrome. Maybe they're actually nice people... well, they're nicer than me, and that's a start.

Well... that's not what I really wanted to talk about.

I had a kind of crew. We called ourselves The Demons' Hands, because we each had some pretty strange powers. You know mine, but there were a few others. There was a little pale kid tried as an adult for the murder of three hermits on the beach (with an icicle, no less) that seemed to create icicles and other ice weapons from thin air, there were a couple of religious fanatics who claimed they could ask their god to raise the dead (at one point, one actually did after a man convicted of perjury got shanked in the neck over cigarrettes), there was a man with fangs who saw people in mirrors, there was a man who seemed to have a strong link to insects, there was... oh God, I can't tell what's real and what was bullshit to keep themselves from getting killed.

But then there was Camazotz.

Goddamn Camazotz. Of all of the Demons' Hands, he was the most violent, the most testy, and the one who helped me gain some control over my abilities. And he was my closest friend in that shithole. He helped me get out. I heard his power was that birds came out of his body. I never believed it before, though I guessed the scars that ran up and down his arms and chest told a different story.

I saw Camazotz today. O'Zalia said that I should wait outside, and he would try to evaluate and help me train my abilities to keep them from getting under control.

He was off smoking or doing Tai Chi or God-knows-what he does. It was late. 8:15, late. I was in an alleyway when I heard the squeaking of bats next to me.

"Hello, Kord."

"Camazotz?" He stepped out of the shadows very dramatically. He knew he was putting on a show and he played it up.

"Yes, Kord. It's me. So, how's life outside prison bars?"

"It's going well."

"So, who's you're new friend?"

"Another gifted one."

"Ah. From the outside, though, Kord. Tsk tsk, you changing heart?"

"Dammit, Camazotz, why are you here?"

"Followin' your lead, Kord. You were the first one of us to make it out, and I saw your attempts. Well, I read your attempts. So I decided, if he's getting revenge, why shouldn't I?"

"Revenge? Then why are you talking to me?"

"I need a partner in this. You scratch my back, and I scratch yours. I heard most the jury that sent you down the river is under police custody. It'd be a bitch for you to get in there, but I..." He lifted his arm to show me a large, new slit down his wrist. Instead of blood, it seemed to be leaking a black substance. Slowly a large, fuzzy bat head peeked out. "...I can hide in the night."

"...I can't."

He stopped. He glared. He was pissed off at me, for the first time I can remember since my first week of prison. "What?"
"I can't. I have people now."
"People?" He laughed. "People!? These so-called 'good, upstanding people' you're hanging with?"

"I never said they were that."

"Well, aren't they?"

"...they seem to be."

"You're getting weak, Kord. I told you my penalty for weakness long ago." He took out a long switchblade. I stepped back, but instead of thrusting it at me, he stabbed himself in the chest and pulled it to the right. A long cut appeared, and bats started flowing out. Dozens of bats began swarming, scratching and biting, trying to lift me off the ground.

I was almost pulled up and away- or killed- when I remembered something. So I tried as hard as I could and sent a sonic burst. Camazotz stumbled back, and the bats reentered his cut. His eyes were bleeding, and one almost seemed to swell out of it's socket. "Son of a bitch! What the fuck was that?"

"Sonic burst. Sucks when your avian friends rely on echolocation."

"Fuck this. Next time we meet, Kord... I ain't going to play fair and I ain't going to give you any time to think."

Again, this conversation has been replaying in my mind a lot. It's almost as big a scar as when Isaac took me down.

I tried keeping this from O'Zalia. I didn't do well at that. He noticed the bites and cuts, so I filled him in. After nodding his head for a while, he finally said, "Well, we'll keep an eye out for him."

...and that's really all I have to say now.

Dammit, Camazotz.

Just...

...why?

Plans Foiled

I almost let the voices take over again. No- I'm lying to myself. I did let them take over again. But it didn't matter anyways. He won out anyways. You might be wondering how I can remember this. The voices in my head had, for some reason, forced me to think this same conversation over. And over. And over again. They're forcing me to replay the events that happened afterwards- the shame and the humiliation. And I think the only thing I can do about it is talk about it to whoever reads this.

I was so close. So fucking close. I got past the guards. I stayed out of sight. I had the trap perfectly set for him to meet a somewhat fatal demise.

It started in his Study. I was there. In the closet, garrotte and silenced pistol on hand in case They were unable to complete my goals. Then someone suddenly tried to break into my mind. My masters tried stopping the message, but it came out clearly.

"To you, the Grayskin in the wardrobe, this is Isaac O'Zalia. I am in need of assistance."

The first thought that came into my mind was that it may have been a joke on my masters' behalf. Of course, I hear voices from them all the time. No. It was different. The voice was clear and sharp, and it didn't have any hints of raspiness or scorn in it. I tried blocking it, and when that didn't work, some of the voices left my head to scream into his mind, to block him out. He seemed to be fighting them. It hurt to think. Then he spoke to me- me directly.

"Grayskin, if you can hear me, I am in need of assistance."

Son of a bitch, I thought. Leave me alone.

"Why?"

I flipped my shit as silently as I could at that, then calmly, still keeping an eye on my target, said, None of your damn business. I'll get to you when I'm done.

"I can read your mind, you know. I know what you're planning on doing."

Yeah? So? They ruined my life.

"Murdering people with less power than you. That is not chivalrous."

Chivalrous?! They wouldn't even give me mercy...

"Because they didn't know what was in your head, Greyskin. They wouldn't know what was taking over you. And even if they did... they'd just experiment. Look inside your head, rip your brain out, scrape the fungus you call 'Master' out and try to weaponize it, for all I know."

Yes. For all you know.

"It's too late."

...what.

"I'm inside Doles' house right now."

...you wouldn't.

"Too late."

I remember Doles reacting to some unseen person. Then I heard the exact same voice say, "Stop," and I heard a gunshot. Then I heard Doles struggling. I heard the voice say "There's an assassin in the house. I need to take care of him." Then I saw the closet door flung open and an angry-looking, almost Sephiroth styled man staring me in the eye. Doles' mouth dropped and he pointed at me, backing slowly.

I tried to rush him.

But I couldn't even move.

I couldn't twitch, or walk, or even blink. It was like this O'Zalia person could stop my body with just a thought. So I sent a thought back at him. I tried willing myself to react to his blind spot, to become invisible in plain sight, but I couldn't. It was as if he didn't have one, as if he saw everything. So then I did the next best thing. I sent a loud thunderclap right into his head.

He flew backwards and I was once again chasing after Doles. "You son of a bitch! I'll get you for what you did to me!" I saw a large stone being chucked at me, so I ducked. Looking to my right, there was O'Zalia. His arms were firmly crossed.

"Stop it, Kord. Let it go."

So I did. I don't know what the Masters do to me when I black out, but sometimes I see people go completely senseless, black out, spout gibberish about shoggoths or the primordial plane. My Masters do enjoy their Lovecraft. They've told me a few times that it makes the less powerful humans go weak in the knees, and they get some strange kick out of it. But no... when I woke up from the endless plane of grey they send my consciousness to, Isaac was there. So was some other guy. I forget what he looks like, so I'm not even going to give a crap about describing him.

I was tied up.

"Are you going to behave now?"

I was about to

Scouting Officer Doles, Part 2

All right.

I have everything set up.

I know the time he sets dinner.

I know the time he files his reports to the station.

I know the exact time I have.

4:12 PM - 4:19 PM

I think I found the place I could hide.

There is a wardrobe. It's unused, and he only uses it for the bottom shelves, where he stores police records.

Those may also be useful...

well... wish me luck...