SCP-2814's anomalous effects become apparent whenever it is 
worn by a human being (SCP-2814-1). It should be noted that 
SCP-2814 suffers no damage from exposure to heat and flames up 
to 5000 degrees Centigrade, and SCP-2814-1 shares these 


properties while the mask is being worn. 


SCP-2814-1 is capable of interacting with fire as if it was comprised 
of static matter, rather than being a chemical reaction of matter. 
They can manipulate fire into forms that resemble solids and liquids, 
and can do so without touching it directly (the maximum observed 
range of the effect is roughly twenty meters). Normal substances 
that make contact with the anomalous flames are ignited like normal 
fire, but the flames produced can also be manipulated by 
SCP-2814-1. SCP-2814-1 can modify the temperature of flames 
under its control, and may touch or "hold" the fire with no detrimental 
effects. 


While wearing SCP-2814 for extended periods of time does not 
adversely affect the wearer, observing the mask's thermal properties 
repeatedly constitutes a degenerative psychological effect. Subjects 
express profound curiosity to test the limitations of the mask's 
properties, and will progressively lose their previous ethical and 
moral standards. Please see the attached documentation for further 
details on this effect. 


Addendum [2814-001]: 


During recovery of SCP-2814, all members of Hudju zhi Zi that were 
encountered (totaling five) committed suicide. One member, 
identified as [REDACTED], left a note evidently intended for the 
recovery team. Originally written in Chinese, here is a translation of 
that note: 


| don't know who you are or what you think you 
understand, just listen to me. Destroy the mask. Don't 
put it on or try to do anything with it, just kill it. Burning it 
won't work, you must [DATA EXPUNGED]. Yes, | helped 
steal it. Yes, | participated in all those killings, but that's 
the extent of what you know. You don't know what I've 
seen, what happened when our leader put it on, or what 
would have happened if | hadn't forced it off him. We 
love our Radiant Father, but we cannot resurrect him like 
this, not by means of the heretic. 


Addendum [2814-002]: 


It was determined by Dr. Jack Garland, an anthropologist of Chinese 
culture and mythology, that SCP-2814 was craftedin BCE by 

, who was associated with the same extinct religious group 
upon which Hudju zhi Zi's practices are based. is believed to 
have maintained tenuous and frequently hostile relations with other 
members of the group. 


Dr. Garland, given his considerable experience with the Hudju zhi Zi 
artifacts, was allotted supervision of SCP-2814's evaluation and 
experimentation. For details of the ensuing incident, please see 
here. 


Footnotes 
1. "Children of the Torch," a Chinese occultist group. 


« SCP-2813 | SCP-2814 | SCP-2815 » 


Document-2814-Gamma 


Recovered Journal of Dr. Garland and Attached Documentation 
Entry | 


Hudju zhi Zi has been busy. After three years of grasping 
at straws | finally have the damned thing in my hands. | 
find myself somewhat disappointed; it is crude and 
mundane, maybe because it's illegitimate? It was crafted 
by , after all. It passed the incinerator test, so | 
guess it at least qualifies as one of their artifacts. 


| should probably be grateful; it's been three years of 
nothing, and this gets delivered directly into my lap. 


Anyway, onto business. I've pretty much established 
that, aside from not being able to light it on fire, the mask 
doesn't do anything until it's put on. Obviously, strapping 
an ancient magical relic to my face isn't the brightest of 
ideas, but the D-Class we made wear it are fine, and we 
won't make any more progress until someone puts it on. 
That someone might as well be me, there's only one 
other person with the qualifications, and | don't want 
Albert to take this risk. He at least still has a family. 


Entry Il 
This certainly is intriguing. 


| did catch a glimpse of the mask's powers when the D- 
Class wore it, but | had no idea the effect was this 
intricate. | hooked up a Bunsen burner for the first few 
tests, and when | put my hand over the flame, it 
collapsed in my hand like a puddle of water. It was warm 
(not hot, just warm), and it really felt like | was holding 
water. | slowly drained the liquid flame from my right 


hand into my left, and then back to my right. Nothing 
spilled, at least until | thought that it logically should spill, 
then it did. The floor caught fire. Instinctively, | reached 
down and scooped the flame back up into my hands, and 
thought that it would be easier to hold on to it if it were 
solid. It became solid. | was holding a ball made out of 
solid flame. 


| may have given less credit than he deserved, 
this is certainly a remarkable toy that he's created. It 
doesn't seem, however, that the mask can create 
"gaseous" fire. When | tried, the ball in my hands 
shuddered and exploded into a fine mist; perhaps that's 
the closest it can get to actual gas. Maybe it was 
intentional, maybe he didn't want invisible fire "vapor." 
Maybe it was just too difficult. In any case, realizing that 
the mist would probably light the entire room on fire, | 
gathered it back in my hands and returned it to the 
burner. 


The tricks it can do are interesting, but I'm failing to see 
ritual value to this thing. The cult never just made toys, 
they always had a greater purpose. I'm hoping that it will 
reveal its secrets under more...specific circumstances. 


I'll conduct some routine human immolation tests 
tomorrow. 


Entry Ill 
| don't understand. 


Three subjects offered exactly according to the protocols 
described in [REDACTED], and nothing happened. Is the 
damn thing a dud? Was just an incompetent fool? 
No, this mask has...something. There is power here, | 
know it. Why the hell won't it show itself? What am | 
doing wrong? I've spent a decade working on this 
project, | must figure out how it works. My entire career 
at the Foundation has been leading to this. 


I'm not burning them the right way. 
| must burn them the right way. 


It is believed that the following two entries were written after the third 
testing session but before the destruction of the site. 


Entry IV 
let burn the warmth swim 
Entry V 


The entry consists of three consecutive pages of inane 
text, often written over itself. The phrase "the third eye 
burns as it looks to the Father" is repeated in several 
places. 


It is believed that the following two entries were written after the 
destruction of the site but before the arrival of security forces. 


Entry VI 


The molecules and thoughts of this facility have been 
liberated in the billowing. Flesh and steel alike return to 
iridescent heat, and to our Father. Only one soul 
remains, a D-Class that | found huddled and quivering in 
his cell. So young; he arrived here for the crime of 
liberating himself from his abusive father. Gene. His 
name is Gene. | will bring him to his true Father, and 
complete his liberation. 


Entry Vil 


This entry is written entirely in burn marks upon the back 
of the previous entry; how these marks were formed so 
precisely is unclear. 


Gene and | have become one, our flesh made into light 
reverberating with songs for the Father. Constructs burn 
away. | took his body unto me, and we became lost to 
the fires of passion. Then our bodies were sublimated, 


and only the passion remained. We have become the 
gaseous flame. We are a Spiraling fume, outreached to 
the Father, and we will draw breath from his body once 
more. 


Contact with Site-278 (Dr. Garland's location) was lost at 5:15AM on 

/ /2008. Aerial reconnaissance made contact with the site 
approximately four (4) hours later. Upon discovery, the facility had 
been largely demolished by what was later determined to be a 
series of explosions. Thirty-five (85) minutes were required to 
extinguish the flames, after which a closer inspection was instigated, 
resulting [DATA EXPUNGED]. Mobile Task Force Alpha-77 ("Crux 
Ablation,” which is specialized to engage electromagnetic/thermal 
entities) was dispatched to the area following initial losses, and 
successfully terminated the entity. The entity's post-transformation 
form, as indicated by recordings from the on-site aerial unit, was an 
autonomous and mobile (via levitation) mass of flame. Ground units 
have attested that the flames emitted frequently resembled human 
faces. SCP-2814 was recovered from the rough location of the 
entity's disintegration, undamaged and intact. 


Eight (8) minutes following the entity's termination, multiple 
astronomical observation stations reported a 2.45% increase in 
detected solar radiation, lasting 14 minutes and 28 seconds. 
Standard information suppression protocols were sufficient to 
prevent public knowledge of the incident. 


Attached Interview Log 


Interviewer: Dr. Ryan Albert 

Interviewed: Agent Esteban Vasquez 

Foreword: Agent Vasquez was attacked by the entity at 
Site-278 and rendered temporarily unconscious by the 
encounter. Due to the possibility of contamination, Agent 
Vasquez is classified as an anomaly until further notice. 
<Begin Log> 


Dr. Albert: Agent Vasquez, is there anything you require 
or would like to say before we commence this interview? 


Agent Vasquez: Are you going to kill me? 


EXPUNGED]. Foundation Agents, under the guise of federal agents, 
recovered the object with acceptable casualties. 


Addendum: Due to continuing security issues, SCP-330 will be held 
in Dr. Kondraki’s office when not required for testing. 


Experiment: 
Name: Researcher Voct 
Date: / /20 


Subject D-330-01, a double amputee equipped with prosthetic 
forearms and hands, was told to remove three pieces of candy from 
the bowl. Subject complied, with no immediate effects. However, 
within 45 seconds, subject reported a burning itch from both his arm 
stumps (right arm: 2 cm below elbow; left arm: 1.5 cm below elbow), 
and phantom pains from both his absent wrists. Subject's distress at 
this discomfort increased rapidly; within 180 seconds of having 
removed the third candy from the bowl, the subject began forcibly 
removing both his own prostheses. Upon hurling the prostheses to 
the ground, subject reported that the discomfort had ceased. 


Dermatological examination of subject's stumps revealed no 
unusual irritation or inflammation; mechanical examination of 
subject's prostheses revealed that, in addition to the physical 
damage sustained by being hurled to the ground, the prostheses 
had [DATA EXPUNGED]. 


Subject was supplied with fresh prostheses, identical to the first pair, 
but reported feeling that it was "wrong" to put them on. Coercion 
was applied, and subject reluctantly put on left prosthesis (note: 
subject is right-handed). However, when told to put on right 
prosthesis, subject began weeping incoherently and flailing his arms 
until the left prosthesis detached itself. Analysis of video footage 
revealed that subject had not properly attached the left prosthesis to 
his stump; mechanical examination of left prosthesis revealed only 
physical damage sustained from being thrown across the room. 


Twenty-four hours later, subject was given fresh prostheses, and 
reported no difficulty in putting them on. Subject not terminated, as 
D-class amputees who are already used to their prostheses are in 
short supply. 


Dr. Albert: Not in the foreseeable future. My supervisor 
made an injunction to preserve your life on a conditional 
basis. You are aware of why we have to classify and 
treat you as an anomalous humanoid? 


Agent Vasquez: Oh, | am. Are you? 


Dr. Albert: Honestly-no. | only have the after-action 
report of what happened to you. This debriefing exists to 
verify our provisional decision to classify you as 
anomalous. 


Agent Vasquez: So | have to give testimony supporting 
your decision to treat me as a scip? 


Dr. Albert: Frankly, yes. We can't rule out the possibility 
that you will turn into something like Garland. 


Pause 


Dr. Albert: (Sighs) Look, Jack Garland was my friend. | 
knew him for ten years. We worked on the Hudju zhi Zi 
artifacts since the beginning. | need to know what you 
saw. 


Agent Vasquez: ...| don't remember what happened 
before | lost consciousness, there was just that thing 
coming at us and my teammates shouting. Then | woke 
up in the...storm. 


Dr. Albert: Storm? 


Agent Vasquez: A vortex, | guess. A tight column of fire; 
| remember that even as abstract and overwhelming as 
the place was, | was terrified by how tightly wound it was. 
Just...stretched and agonizing. 


Dr. Albert: A vortex of fire? 


Agent Vasquez: Well, partly fire. It was also made of 
voices. | don't mean that there were voices in it, | mean it 
was made of screaming. 


Dr. Albert: Can you clarify further? 


Agent Vasquez: Not really. | could see the voices, not 
people-| didn't hear anything. | didn't hear anything at all 
while | was there. It was horribly silent, but | could see 
the flames and the screaming. 


Dr. Albert: Did you see anything else? 


Agent Vasquez: | saw Garland, | saw the D-Class he 
killed, | saw my...teammates, and | saw the guy who 
made the mask. 


Dr. Albert: You saw Jack? 

Agent Vasquez: | saw their voices. 

Dr. Albert: How do you know it was the mask's creator? 
Agent Vasquez: | don't know. 


Dr. Albert: Did they communicate anything to you, in 
One way or another? 


Agent Vasquez: No...but | could tell that they were all 
helpless, even the creator. 


Dr. Albert: Helpless? 

Pause 

Agent Vasquez: I'm sorry. 

Dr. Albert: ...Did you see or feel anything else? 


Agent Vasquez: | saw the voices...attack the creator. | 
don't know if it was verbal or physical, | think both are the 
same, there. They called him "Heretic," and said 
something about "the father's brothers." 


Dr. Albert: "The father's brothers?" 


Agent Vasquez: | honestly know nothing more about 


what they said. 
Dr. Albert: Do you have anything else to add at all? 


Agent Vasquez: | saw stars. One of them, | think, was 
our sun. But | saw nine more, and something wrong with 
all of them, our sun included. 


Dr. Albert: Clarify "wrong," to the best of your ability, at 
least. 


Agent Vasquez: The stars were very dim. The vortex 
seemed like it was...feeding our sun. It was making it 
brighter. But the other stars were trying to leach on it, | 
think. They were trying to "steal" the vortex from our sun. 
As the other stars got brighter, the screaming got larger. 
Not louder, well, maybe it's the same thing...| don't 
know. |...don't know anything more. 


<End Log> 


Update: While Agent Vasquez's anomalous status in relation to 
SCP-2814 has not been fully evaluated, he has been remanded to 
an undisclosed location for safety. Hudju zhi Zi is aware of 
Vasquez's interaction with and connection to SCP-2814. On / 
/20 , aletter with no return address arrived at Vasquez's most 
recent residence. The only thing contained in the letter was Hudju 
zhi Zi's insignia (a three-legged crow, known as Yangwu or Jinwu). 


SCP-2815: Tree of Life 


Item #: SCP-2815 
Object Class: Euclid