SCP-5888: Pariah King (Or: The Greatest Stories Are Those We Carry With Us)

Author: ItsDenali, and thanks to cybersqyd for crit.

Image Credit: See the Discussion page below.

2/5888 LEVEL 2/5888

CLASSIFIED

Item #: SCP-5888

SCP-5888 shortly after transfer to Site-19.

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-5888 is to be housed in a standard humanoid living quarters at Site-19 and is permitted to socialize with other personnel and residents as desired.

Any SCP-5888-1 instances generated by SCP-5888 are to be documented and backed up digitally; all interviews with SCP-5888 are to be recorded, transcribed, and stored with this file. Should an instance not demanifest, it is to be stored in a designated locker at Site-19.

Description: SCP-5888 is an elderly humanoid male whose physical appearance suggests his age to be in his late seventies. The subject is believed to actually be far older, due in part to his anomalously negligible biological aging.

SCP-5888’s primary anomalous quality is his ability to reproduce any form of informational media that he had previously observed or experienced firsthand. These objects are collectively designated SCP-5888-1 and individually designated as Items within this file for brevity's sake. This ability is aided by SCP-5888’s proclaimed photographic memory. SCP-5888-1 instances will take on a variety of forms depending on the date during which they were initially experienced by SCP-5888, typically appearing as the form of media viewed or otherwise relevant at the time.

Despite the accuracy of details recorded in these memories, SCP-5888 is unable to mentally recall long-term memories traditionally and must resort to the creation of these instances to recall such information. By coming into and sustaining contact with the instances, SCP-5888 is able to recall memories or information initially associated with that instance. SCP-5888-1 instances remain inert upon contact with individuals other than SCP-5888.

SCP-5888-1 instances are generated through SCP-5888’s skin, where the flesh on the desired portion of SCP-5888’s body will part and reveal a dark void inside of SCP-5888’s body from which the instance will emerge; once retrieved, the opening will close. This process generally does not cause harm or discomfort to SCP-5888. Instances will usually demanifest a few minutes after their production unless intentionally retained by SCP-5888.

SCP-5888 has proven cooperative with Foundation personnel in terms of containment and interviewing, providing instances to personnel and manifesting relevant information upon request.

Discovery: SCP-5888 first came to the Foundation’s attention in September of 1995 after reports of an elderly man who was able to produce items from his skin began circulating near Tashkent, Uzbekistan. On 11/4/95, agents located a man in that area matching the descriptions in the rumors; the man was declared anomalous and brought into Foundation custody without resistance. SCP-5888 proved cooperative with personnel during and after his transfer to Site-19, despite being initially hesitant.

Addendum 5888.1: The following is an abridged detailing of several notable SCP-5888-1 instances created by SCP-5888.

Item-15

Item-21

Item-29

Item-38

Item-51

Item-59

Item-91

Item-15 upon manifestation.

Specimen Description: A cuneiform-inscribed clay tablet.

Date of Memory: Roughly 2000 B.C.

Content: A military order to attack a city named “Saatiae” with a force of three thousand soldiers. The entity or kingdom that would have issued this order remains unidentified, and no city by the name of “Saatiae” is known to have existed at any point in known history.

Comments made by SCP-5888: Innocent blood was spilt that day for little reason more than money and political squabbling. A shame that things have changed very little since then.

Specimen Description: An old piece of paper, yellowed with age.

Date of Memory: Late eighteenth century.

Content: A letter written in French detailing an execution order for several members of the French nobility alive before and up to the French Revolution. A small red stain is present on the letter’s surface.

Comments made by SCP-5888: Violence, and war by extension, is not itself bad, it is simply evil or good depending on the purpose for which it is used; sadly more often than not, it is used for evil. However, when the Revolution broke out, all men trembled: the poor with anticipation, knowing what was to come; and the rich with fear, knowing what they had caused. The day the doors to the Bastille flew open, a just fight was begun, and its combatants were sure to deliver for even centuries afterward.

Imagery contained within Item-29.

Specimen Description: A bound manuscript.

Date of Memory: European Medieval period.

Content: An assortment of hymns, prayers, and various depictions of scenes from the New Testament, as well as several additional scenes of figures performing unidentified rituals. The later pages of the book contain illegible scribbles and symbols, Latin characters, and crude drawings of smiling stick figures grouped together.

Comments made by SCP-5888: All societies have outcasts in one form or another, and oftentimes those outcasts will come together to form a society of their own. The worries, fears, anxieties of isolation truly are unhealthy, no matter the era in which one resides. One common factor across the ages is the power of a community to strengthen its members and let them find meaning, and in this case, belonging amidst a world that had cast them out.

Specimen Description: A small painting.

Date of Memory: Renaissance Era.

Content: The painting depicts a scene highly similar to Thomas Cole’s The Savage State (1834), though differs in its inclusion of a group of pale, slender figures in the foreground, each holding unknown equipment, possibly weapons or tools of sorts.

Comments made by SCP-5888: Masaccio1 always had an interest in the unknown; eventually his curiosity led him down a path few have ever walked, and he found those who were beyond his wildest comprehension, and it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever laid his eyes upon. He sought his desires, his aspirations, and was greatly rewarded for his courage. After an encounter like that I’d expect nothing less of him than to reference that beauty in his work.

Specimen Description: A hinged silver locket with a necklace chain.

Date of Memory: Early twentieth century, likely during the first World War.

Content: A small portrait photograph depicting a smiling young woman is present. The photograph is slightly discolored with age, and a shallow gash is present on the outside of the locket.

Comments made by SCP-5888: I’ve seen more carnage than most, but those trenches… my God. There was evil in that place. Had it been the madmen that created the gas, the men commanding its use, or something darker, I cannot be sure. But when I couldn’t stand to fight any longer, the thought of her gave me the drive, the hope I needed to press on.2

Specimen Description: A Polaroid photograph.

Date of Memory: August 9th, 1980

Content: The photograph depicts a smiling, elderly woman from the side. She is leaning against a stone guardrail, overlooking a small city below believed to be Edinburgh, Scotland. A message written in pen is present on the back of the Item, which reads "My fate, my love, forever. -8/9/1980."

Comments made by SCP-5888: Loss is an unfortunately inevitable part in life, that's just the way it is; the grief and mourning that follow it are inherent parts of the process. But to allow the two to consume you is to throw away all the lessons that the dead had taught you in life. To focus on the pain instead of the renewal is among the worst mistakes you can make. Moira taught me this, and though it took me a long time to accept it, she was completely right. The past may be said and done, but there are lessons to be learnt, or at the very least memories to be treasured, and not even time can erase those.3

A digital recreation of Item-91's surface.

Specimen Description: A small, black rock carved with runic symbols, measuring roughly 7 cm in length.

Date of Memory: Unknown

Content: Humanoid figures, large arching structures, and flowers are scattered around the scene. Near the bottom of the stone, a figure appears to be radiating or glowing. Much of the scene has yet to be fully interpreted.

Comments by SCP-5888: Oceans simply burned into nothing, continents plunged into the seas, entire mountain ranges sundered, and every flower on the planet bloomed in the brilliant sun as the Children were slaughtered in their sleep. Their shining cities burned, their living machines choked, and even their very minds were shattered by the more twisted contraptions humanity had acquired. In the end, humanity reigned victorious, as if it were even a fair fight, having wiped an entire civilization— as well as several continents— right off the face of the planet; all within a single day. The greatest atrocity in history, now almost entirely forgotten.

◆ Addendum 5888.2 - Level 3 Clearance Required ◆

◇ Addendum 5888.2 - Level 3 Clearance Required ◇

Accessing Log…

Interview Video Log Transcript

Interviewer: Researcher Griffin

Subject: SCP-5888

Foreword: The purpose of this interview was to ascertain the approximate age or general origins of SCP-5888 by recording an example of one of his earliest memories. To this end, SCP-5888 was prompted to produce an SCP-5888-1 instance corresponding to such memories. The following is what transpired.

[BEGIN LOG]

(SCP-5888 holds out his right hand and closes his eyes. After roughly one minute, he can be seen visibly straining himself trying to manifest the target SCP-5888-1 instance, eventually grunting with effort. Following another 30 seconds, the skin of his palm parts, produces a small green crystal of unknown composition (later designated Item-120) and closes. SCP-5888 opens his eyes and breathes deeply while running his fingers over the stone. His expression becomes solemn.)

SCP-5888: (Whispering.) Th-that's right…

Griffin: That took much longer than usual. How long ago would you say this memory dates back to?

SCP-5888: This was tens of… no, hundreds of thousands of years, at least. (He slowly thumbs object's surface.)

Griffin: Hundreds of thousands of years? What could have happened that long ago?

SCP-5888: Probably nothing that your Foundation would understand. If I am correct then even writing had yet to have been invented.

Griffin: Around the time of primitive man, then?

SCP-5888: (He nods slowly and turns Item-120 over in his hands, rubbing its edge with his finger.) You were little more than primitive fairies in the woods with sticks and torches back then, though sentient and intelligent enough to carry on the stories of the early eras to your descendants.

Griffin: Go on.

SCP-5888: Before there was mankind and its counterparts, there were gods. Everyone’s heard of the ancient tales of nightmarish and incredible beasts who ruled the seas, skies, and plains. Humanity learned early on that it was best to avoid these beasts, these gods. The reality of those gods’ lives were thus always observed from afar, and mythologies developed from those observations, in one form or another.

Griffin: That’s certainly insightful, but what does it have to do with your origins?

SCP-5888: Humankind has always maintained a modicum of what you would consider anomalous but in reality is likely one of the most natural things about it: belief.

Griffin: (Flatly.) Belief?

SCP-5888: Your Foundation probably has a catchy scientific term for it, but humankind's capacity to define narratives and stories, its belief, is one of most powerful tools humanity possesses.

Griffin: (Looks perplexedly at SCP-5888.) Care to elaborate?

SCP-5888: (He pricks the tip of his finger on the point of the crystal for a moment and sighs.) It’s been said that if you can make enough people believe in a lie then that lie can become truth. Well, as it turns out if just enough people believe enough in that lie, it can… (He pauses.) …I can, really come true.

Griffin: (Stares confusedly for a moment before his eyes widen in surprise.) Wha— you’re a narrative construct?

SCP-5888: I was only a myth, a story, and then eventually I just was, rather I always had been. Simple as that.

Griffin: So what you’re saying is that the collective belief in you as a mythological entity somehow retrocausally forced you into existence?

SCP-5888: (Leans back in his chair.) Something like that. They knew me as a king of knowledge, a god even. Thus, I was, and thus I had always been.

Griffin: (He pauses and leans forward to inspect Item-120 for a moment, not taking his eyes off the object. He puts his finger to his chin before speaking.) But you were forgotten, weren’t you? (His eyes flicker back to SCP-5888.) Your story changed.

SCP-5888: (He clasps the crystal tightly, pressing the point into his right palm, and laughs bitterly.) Memory is a fickle thing, for those damned ancients at least. Now only vague whispers about a forgotten king wandering the world remain.

Griffin: So you and your myths were changed, nearly forgotten, and you were… altered with them?

SCP-5888: (He slams a fist down on the table.) I was a king, dammit! Yet thanks to the ancients' collective ignorance, what am I now? An outcast husk cursed to wander the Earth with his perfect memory, learning from history while still being forced to watch it be repeated generation after generation! Stripped of my divinity and reduced to some kind of… pariah king. Or so my story goes.

Griffin: Please calm down, five-eight-eight-eight, I don’t want to have to call security.

(SCP-5888 clenches his jaw tightly before closing his eyes, taking a deep breath, and relaxing his posture. Item-120 demanifests, and the skin on his forearm parts to reveal a photograph, which he feels with his fingers. SCP-5888 remains silent but smiles lightly as the second Item demanifests and his skin closes. He wipes a tear from his eye.)

SCP-5888: Please pardon my behavior. It’s been a very long time since I’ve looked back on this… (He pauses.) …aspect of my past.

Griffin: I understand. But what was that Item you produced just now?

SCP-5888: (He waves dismissively.) Sometimes I just need to be reminded of the lessons I've already been taught.

Griffin: Alright then. Well, this time has been very insightful, so thank you.

SCP-5888: (He nods.) Anytime.

(As Griffin begins gathering his notes SCP-5888 rises and walks to the room’s window, overlooking the courtyard of Site-19.)

SCP-5888: My era may have ended, but there are still plenty of my kind out there, if I had to guess.

Griffin: What do you mean by that?

SCP-5888: (Shrugs.) Gods, outcasts, “constructs,” I believe you said? Either way, they all tie back to belief. If I'm right then that belief still holds power. The narratives that humankind creates will shape this world for better or for worse in time. (He turns to Griffin and smiles.) I have at least a little faith that some of you will shape it for the better, one way or another.

Griffin: (He sighs and smiles lightly as he reaches to shut off the camera.) I sure hope so.

[END LOG]

Footnotes

1. A lesser-known painter from the European High Renaissance who died in 1428.

2. The subject declined to answer further questions regarding the woman photographed, and SCP-5888 was not found with any other individuals at the time of discovery.

3. Possible connections between SCP-5888's mention here and the the photograph contained within Item-51 have been considered, though SCP-5888 has declined to comment further on the matter.