If I could tell you something incessantly, it would be, "I love you." Not because I'm afraid you'll forget, but because when the time comes for you to depart, your final memory is full of a truth truer than the universe's constants.



⚠️ Content Warning:

Extreme Violence

Suicide

Loss

Extreme Portrayals of Death

Estimated Reading Time: ~2 hours, the length of a novella.

Genres:

Fantasy

Tragedy

Horror

Mystery

Espionage

Politics

Draft Critters: Henry, Kate, Loubee, Spacestealth, Tommy, YourBloodFox

Idea Critters: Ama Strovik, Bhomas Tourget, Nonaggress

Author Note: I had the idea simmering in my head since October of 2023. Then, when 8K was announced, I scrambled to put my garbled thoughts onto paper. Amidst my university semester, my Model UN conferences, club meetings, other writing competitions, and midterms stabbing me in the face, this is what I procured.

I hope you enjoy.

⚠️ content warning

WARNING

The following documentation includes information only

RAISA personnel and O5 councilors are permitted to view.

If you hold insufficient clearance, log out immediately and await security personnel.

Greetings, Supervisor Kinsey Aishatu

Your randomized passcode today is: 1039321RAZOR

Item#: SCP-8484

Containment Class: uncontained

Secondary Class: archon

Disruption Class: vlam

Risk Class: danger

THREAT LEVEL: ORANGE

Special Containment Procedures: Activities and communications related to SCP-8484 are to be monitored by MTF Epsilon-66 "Wiretap" in cooperation with RAISA. Rituals performed by any necromancers related to and outside of SCP-8484 must be intercepted immediately by MTF Psi-8 "The Silencers."

Expeditions into SCP-8484 are unfeasible due to foreign complications.

Description: SCP-8484 refers to a five-story ziggurat structure approximately 1.5 kilometers east of Mesopotamos, Greece. SCP-8484 has been cordoned off by GOC personnel under the guise of Hellenic Armed Forces, prohibiting entry within a 1 km radius.

SCP-8484 is the Global Occult Coalition's headquarters for Acheron, an initiative specialized in necromancy1 and reanimation mageia2 that incorporates thaumatology and symbolism from Greek mythology. As a result, they are able to access information from otherwise unavailable sources which has been used to interrupt allied and Foundation operations (see addendum 8484-2).

Overheard recounts proclaim SCP-8484's internal structure is configurated into a prison, designed to forcefully confine deceased spirits and employ various torture techniques.3

Even with Acheron's blatant injustice, the UN Undersecretariat D.C. al Fine has insisted on its continuation despite objections from even the Coalition's own legislative body, the Council of 108 (see addendum 8484-1). This has strained Foundation-Coalition relations, and Foundation diplomats are working on diplomatic resolutions.

Addendum 8484-1: The following is a transcript, retrieved by covert Foundation agents, of one of the Council of 108 (C108) meetings relating to the ethical permissibility of Acheron.

RECORDED MEETING LOG

Time and Date: 1433 EST; 26/06/2019

Bavarian Illuminati Delegate: Undersecretary, our goal is to mitigate, not instigate.

D.C. al Fine: Digressing again, are we, your illuminance?

Bavarian Illuminati Delegate: Absolutely not. I see no reason not to open this discussion now.

D.C. al Fine: And I see no relevance between Acheron and bioethics.

Bavarian Illuminati Delegate: Have you not heard the rumors, ma'am? Slaughtering the slaughtered? A period of tranquility instilled with pain by your orders? How do you justify yourself?

D.C. al Fine: You said it yourself, your illuminance. They are rumors. Laytalk.

Bavarian Illuminati Delegate: Yet you seem oddly silent rather than eager to dispel them. Acheron goes against everything this Coalition stands for. Your adamance only shows how tight your fist is around our throats.

D.C. al Fine: Leonardo, I will remove you if you attempt to deviate from the discussion again.

The Bavarian Illuminati Delegate stammers, his face blanched.

Bavarian Illuminati Delegate: What?

D.C. al Fine: This moderated caucus has limited speaking time and a set discussion topic. You are out of line. The next time you want to speak about Acheron, I suggest you raise your hand after drafting a sufficiently destructive motion.

Bavarian Illuminati Delegate: How do you know my name?

D.C. al Fine: Otherwise, there won't be a next time.

D.C. al Fine has been suspected by both Foundation intelligence and C108 members of using Acheron to obtain private information of political rivals without consent.

Addendum 8484-2: The conversation below follows two GOC members planning a deliberate attack on a Foundation Containment Team transporting an SCP. The conversation was intercepted by MTF Epsilon-66 at SCP-8484's inner cordon using equipment from Project VOIDSEEKER.

[BEGIN RECORDING]

The audio is slightly muffled due to spatial disturbances. There is the soft sound of crashing waves, predicted to be a subterranean lake.

Research Director Azrael Silver: What's the spiel?

Agent Leon Periklis: Weapons transfer. Twelve men, two cars, six each, one with the payload. Tomorrow, Montana, 0500 local time. I have a Strike Team on-site right now.

Research Director Azrael Silver: This is verifiable?

Agent Leon Periklis: Yes, sir. We got it from the MTF Captain.

Research Director Azrael Silver: Soothsayer?

Agent Leon Periklis: Pilgrim as well. His body was still fresh when we brought it into Acheron. About four days after expiration, so memory is fairly intact.

Research Director Azrael Silver: How'd you manage that with the Pilgrims?

Agent Leon Periklis: Turns out that asking for a spirit's permission is optional. They summoned him like that.

Leon snaps his fingers.

Agent Leon Periklis: His screams were weirder than most, but they were genuine. It was Limb Mangling done at the highest level five times, so confidence is high.

Research Director Azrael Silver: Good. Deploy your team. But keep the Captain's family until after the op. Ensure he understands that if this is a trap, it's his loss, not mine.

Agent Leon Periklis: And, sir, Assistant Director Tilade requests at least one live prisoner. It's for interrogation.

Azrael Silver scoffs.

Research Director Azrael Silver: We don't need them alive to make them talk.

[RECORDING STOPPED]

The purpose of the planned attack was to embezzle an anomalous weapon under Foundation property to expand the GOC's arsenal. It was carried out approximately two minutes after the recorded conversation.

MTF Nu-7 "Hammer Down" arrived at the scene approximately eight minutes after the Containment Team requested reinforcements. Unfortunately, the vehicle responsible for transporting the SCP was already stolen, likely airlifted.

Due to recent GOC incursions being related to Acheron and SCP-8484, MTF Psi-8 was given plausible cause to search the scene for members of the Containment Team to investigate if necromantic rituals or traces of reanimation were conducted.

No survivors or corpses were retrieved.

Addendum 8484-Z:

LEVEL-5 CLEARANCE REQUIRED; INPUT PASSCODE?

ACCESS GRANTED

Greetings,

Due to the lack of attention paid to this particular file, the two aforementioned pieces of evidence are convincing enough.

Do not take unnecessary risks appending additional information here. Divert attention to Acheron's political and diplomatic fallout. This document should be simply kept as a reference.

Let the noise blur everything out.

Nonetheless, if you believe the evidence you've procured is urgent and you have thoroughly deliberated your choices, I suggest ghost-booking an appointment with me immediately. Use extension 919302241274 on your burner. Yes, it's nine digits more than your regular extension number.

—RAISA Director Shaw Clay

TEXTUAL CHANNEL ESTABLISHED

YOU HAVE REACHED EXTENSION 919302241274

RAISA Director Shaw Clay

Status.

Did you retrieve the leak?

Supervisor Kinsey Aishatu

Supposedly.

But it was too easy.

RAISA Director Shaw Clay

To find it?

Supervisor Kinsey Aishatu

No.

We didn't need to find anything.

It practically fell onto our lap.

RAISA Director Shaw Clay

Elaborate.

Supervisor Kinsey Aishatu

This isn't a leak.

It's an announcement.

Access SCiPNET Email? One (1) new message!

Alibis are expensive

To: You

From: VÉRITÉ

Subject: The Lapse

WARNING:

The following documents do not have valid RAISA serial codes. Stay vigilant.

► OPEN DOCUMENT 1: THE_LAPSE.pdf ◀

► OPEN DOCUMENT 2: NT_0080_Templum.pdf ◀

► OPEN DOCUMENT 3: VERITE.pdf (UPDATED!) ◀

Footnotes

1. Also known as "nekyia." A paranormal field that questions ghosts and/or spirits about the past and future.

2. Also known as "modern necromancy." Involves the revival of physical corpses devoid of the host's spirit.

3. This includes threatening the termination of the subject's family and/or spouse, experimentation regimen aimed to optimize pain in spirits, and intentionally repeating faulty summonings, leaving spirits mangled when called upon.