Flashdrive of Andrea's Writing

One of Andrea's (Watcher Rook) flashdrives. This one primarily houses fictional stories she wrote in her free (sometimes not so free) time. It's not known why Andrea knows of Kraymen outside of Watcher legends or of Krayplane, but it could be simply attributed to her imagination, using characters she has known with characters that could be self inserts.

## Script for my Harem Manga

A work in progress planning document of sorts. Many of the characters are based on different characters Andrea made up from inspirations from her visions / dreams. They're suspiciously reminiscent of actual characters from aeons past. Weird.

#### Approach:

The characters don't have to be good. If I wanted to, I could use a generic tsundere, yandere, whatever dere. What matters more is the quality of the writing.

Most anime is bad because it is cringe. The character interactions aren't realistic or meaningful. The narrative makes no sense or is hardly developed. If a bad anime isn't cringe, it's probably boring. Boring anime introduces nothing new and lacks meaningful conflict.

If you want to script a manga that isn't boring or cringe, you need a reasonably convincing narrative that utilizes suspension of disbelief to make your narrative believable, and subversion of expectation in order to make your narrative interesting. Unbelievable narratives are cringe, and uninteresting narratives are boring.

*"Execution is more important than premise."* Partially. Execution deserves much more effort than the premise, but an interesting premise can lead to a very interesting story, while execution is necessary for a believable and non-cringe story. If your premise is decent, put all of the work into execution. Story beats, character interactions, conflicts, plot development, the works.

I don't believe that I've ever written a complete plot before, but I can definitely design a premise. The premise should include characters, setting, and overall themes of the story.

#### Setting:

Suburban elementary through high school area. Some verticality. Suburb is surrounded by nature and parks, but not far from Koyoto. Home to a lot of students who live alone, with parents who work in Koyoto.

In this universe, Koyoto is functionally Stockholm from the stockholm project. Dynamo are being developed in the Kraylabs underground facility, but this is more of a "hidden lore" detail than a plot point. The Harem Manga is just a high school harem manga, and isn't intended to be science fiction related.

#### Scenes:

**The Guardian Angel** - During the most dire circumstance, it is revealed that humanity has a protector. This protector makes the sum of humanity's progress look like middle school jungle juice experiments.

**The Hummer** - When your self preservation hits the point that you no longer need to hide, fear, and take advantage of the creatures that surround you, a habit of humming may begin to form. You may hum a song, to make your presence known to those of whom it may concern, so that those who hear may act accordingly. There is no need to fear any beast that preys on those who announce themselves, because you are not prey for those beasts. You are the prey of a bigger beast, a bigger beast that feeds on beasts that hide in silence, fear, and take advantage of smaller creatures. A bigger beast that has no incentive to swallow a fellow hummer out of the mutual respect for the boundaries of each other.

**An Illusion Shattered Too Late** - In reality, many things are impossible. We live in a world of rigidly defined rules. The mere implication of a scenario were those rules are broken have ousted a plethora of myths and legends as hoaxes and fabrications. "You didn't see a ghost because ghosts do not exist". Many of our fears revolve around threats that do not exist, or real 'threats' that haven't been properly evaluated in terms of probability or lethality. We live a life where we know our irrational fears are irrational. But if there was a moment of raw reality where that irrationality was rewarded, how would our last moments be spent? Crippling, paralyzing fear? Regret? Or perhaps, epiphany? Enlightenment, and euphoria. A perverted glimpse of freedom.

**30 Seconds** - A very expensive mission where resources are extremely limited and valuable. A clinical researcher calls out the conditions of various resources over the radio/intercom/whatever. "30 seconds of oxygen remaining!".

**Generalsort** - A scene where a large corporation or highly positioned individual searches for a specific, every-day individual.

**The 'Extra Service' Guide** - A detailed handbook on how to seduce a male and female professional of every possible profession. This book includes detailed guides for: massage therapists, geologists, psychologists, astronauts, scientists. It is the "Holy Grail" of romantic satisfaction. There is only one known copy that somehow snuck its way into the school library.

**Glass** - An eccentric girl goes to a fancy restaurant for the first time. She's given a fancy glass to drink out of. After the meal, she casually takes the cup with her.

#### Plot:

**Les Indescribales?** I made this term up to describe indescribable horrors; stuff that's never resolved and never gets closure- stuff that sits in the back of your head. (Tales from the gas station, Park ranger stories)

#### Characters:

**Protagonist chan** **-** Unlike the average harem manga script, where a single small teenage boy is able to win the attention of ~5ish cute girls, the protagonist of this manga will be one of the cute girls. In a way, many of the characters in the protagonist's 'harem' will also have a sort of 'harem', in the sense that most characters will also be surrounded by a posse of cute girl friends who they all share close-knit bonds with. The "Protagonist chan" would be the one character whose defining characteristic is that she develops a close-knit bond with every other chan character. This is a harem manga where every waifu is technically the protagonist of their own personal harem manga. This isn't a 'yuri' manga because I intend to keep the level of intimate romance and sexuality rather low. But many of the characters will have other characters who they consider themselves very friendly with.

**Lawful evilchan** **-** Brown ponytail, green eyes. Normally cheerful. Extremely social, networks with tons of skilled people. Always 'knows a guy'. Very polite. Constantly making real life progress behind the curtains. Gets into a lot of situations that allow her to benefit where other people are hurting. Realistically plans to be a millionaire by the age of 25 by working with banks, real estate, and loans. Very honest, but speaks in a way that is hard to understand due to how complicated her affairs are. Has no solid end goal in life, just wants to be generally successful. Chooses to be a wolf rather than a sheep. She would totally choose to benefit herself at the expense of people she doesn't know. Has a ton of small passion projects she would work on if she had unlimited money, like opening up public libraries or coffee shops. She actually has a soul. Not exactly a sociopath. Has people she cares about, but not many. Hopes to have a good future with the few people she cares about.

**Scientistchan -** The embodiment of morbid curiosity. Best friends with genius chan, childhood friend of kray chan. Chaotic evil. Often bounces thoughts and ideas off of genius chan. Slowly becomes more violent and bloodthirsty the longer she is separated from genius chan. Batshit crazy, probably a psychopath. Pretends that genius chan is her little sister. Sometimes spends the entire night in the chemistry lab, then brews coffee from a beaker and flask in the morning. Great at cards and rock paper scissors. Likes sweet food. Completes her homework as the teacher collects it. Wants to 'experiment' on other classmates (usually dissection or castration, occasionally mystery supplements). Can be an absolute nightmare for the student council and teachers if necessary. Occasionally joins clubs for the sole reason of dismantling them as quickly as possible. Once joined the debate club and managed to convinced an entire room of people to "ban dihydrogen monoxide", then quit the debate club seconds later. Joined the student council to convince the school to enstate a school-wide dihydrogen monoxide ban. This resulted in an embarrassed student council president resigning shortly afterwards. Has a weirdly wholesome psuedo-mother-daughter bond with chemistry teacher chan. Occasionally demands "human sacrifice" in exchange for favors.

**Eccentric geniuschan -** A girl with a natural understanding of the most complex topics. Best friends with scientist chan, friends with kray chan. Moved to SugmaaAiko sometime during elementary school. Suffers mild separation anxiety and irritability that increases over time when removed from the presence of scientist chan. Will literally always be found around scientist chan. Somehow, interacting with scientist chan and genius chan as a duo is similar to interacting with one singular well-adjusted person. Instantly knows how to find the answer to any complex problem. Decent social skills and scarily deep understanding of social dynamics, but refuses to utilize any of that knowledge unless she's around someone she's comfortable with. Behavior is unpredictable to a new person due to how much her behavior varies on certain conditions, but classmates can reasonably predict her behavior in any given situation. Breaks down crying in social situations where she is alone, unless the social situation involves a project or challenge with a clear solution (literally every project/challenge has a clear solution to her), where she will then become extremely assertive, decisive, and demanding. Probably autistic. Godlike at rhythm games and all board games. Completes her homework whenever scientist chan does. Has a sweet tooth. Actually a trap.

**Kraychan -** The leader of a "secret scientific organization". Melodramatic and grandiose. Speaks with elegance and pride. Absolutely delusional. You can never tell if she's serious or not. Loves roleplaying. Kind of funny due to how much she's practiced and mastered her subversion of expectation and presentational skills, but also very much so cringe. Very scientifically intelligent, but overshadowed by her inhumanly smart peers. Childhood friend of scientist chan, friends with genius chan. Will eat any sweet candy no matter how old it is. Will also season food with pure capsaicin if scientist chan leaves it out. Refuses to do homework for "secretive" reasons. Insecure about her grades, and refuses to acknowledge that they aren't great. Something is definitely wrong with her mental state. Overwhelmingly purple clothing. Plays a lot of tactical shooters. Absolutely hates losing, and will use the most batshit insane strategies in order to succeed. Becomes increasingly more unconventional the more emotionally charged she feels. Secretly facing a ton of internal and external struggles behind-the-scenes. A warrior, hiding behind the face of a clown, hiding behind the face of a leader. If she ever drops the facade and shows just how expansive her hand truly is, shit just got real.

**Quiet girlchan** - Long black hair, eyebags, no fashion sense. Tall. Serious expression. Loner, mostly in solitude. Determined and passionate about poetry. Extremely ambitious, but not very successful. Cares about nothing but poetry. Lives independently, but lonely. Extremely reactive. Socially awkward, sensitive about social cues. Will become dependent on you if you give her enough attention. Absolute poetry beast, probably one of the greatest geniuses of her generation. Introspective and analytical. Gets emotionally drained from group interactions. Literally nobody she can relate to, completely alone in this world. Probably kinky, but upholds her decency as much as she consciously can.

**Gardenerchan** - Grace. A kind girl who likes gardening. Likes to wear summer hats and a summer dress. Gardens in a greenhouse on the school campus. Head of the gardening club (also the only member of the gardening club). Grows a very large variety of plants, including various peppers and vegetables. Very mild tempered. Innocent sweet angel. Her favorite season is spring. Embodies the purity and fragility of life. Patient, almost motherly. Considers herself "everyone's friend", even if people don't treat her kindly in return. Actively tries to make people's lives better. Grace is very forgiving, and tries to think of people as kindly as she can. She often accidentally ends up on the receiving end of aimless pranks. Somehow tends to just \*be nearby\* in extreme situations. Will probably almost die tragically in a freak accident.

**Shut-Inchan** - Walks outside at night. Quit going to school due to bullying. Hates everyone and also herself. Tries to avoid people whenever possible. The more she likes you, the less she tries to avoid you. Goes with the flow. Unless the flow could lead to getting bullied, then she avoids it.

**Student Council Presidentchan** - Daughter of a general, but doesn't come across as militaristic in-person. Often surrounded by her "friend group" (an entourage of high ranking student council members). Pretty and delicate. Very kind and easygoing. Will take the (extremely precious) time out of her day to speak with anyone person-to-person per their request. "Values coherency and transparency" according to her student addresses. Hums often to make her presence known. Her main skillset is her ability to decrease pressure, but she doesn't actually handle high pressure scenarios well. Takes a lot of "preventative measures" where needed.

**Murderous Thoughtschan** - Actually not a bad person. A perfectionist with a lot of ambitions, but even more anxiety. Hates being in situations where she isn't in control, and experiences mass regret and guilt over small mistakes. Constantly self deprecating, and emotionally spirals out of control after making mistakes. Thinks murderous thoughts as a coping mechanism for a minor fuckups, but doesn't reveal these thoughts to anyone. She doesn't dislike anyone, and the murderous thoughts are directed at nobody. Wants to be normal, and acts happy and sociable around others in order to fit in.

**Rich girlchan** - Silver hair, monocle. Always smug and confident. Speaks in an extravagant tone. Often condescending, extremely judgemental and harsh about appearances. Surprisingly competent in certain strategic/business scenarios. Doesn't seem to realize that nobody wants to be her friend. Rich girl chan will sometimes pay people in treats and favors, but rarely in cash. Secretly has daddy issues. Throws tantrums.

**Secretarychan** - The "Secretary"(only friend) of rich girl chan. Long blonde hair with reading classes. Dresses professionally. Deadpan expression. Takes everything literally. Doesn't voice an opinion often, but when she does, her opinion is like a beaming godray of reason. Tasteful and tactful. Awesome at hyperspeed mental math. Nobody knows why she sticks around with rich girl chan.

**Serious Girlchan** - ?????

**Wolfpack Girlchan** - ?????

**Matchmaking Entrepreneurchan -** Extremely charismatic. Actively approaches random people at her school and convinces them to sign up for her matchmaking service. Sets people up on blind dates. Also has a "friend making" service if you aren't looking for dates.

**Boobchan** - (Hey guys. Future Andrea here. What the fuck?)

**Standoffish Girlchan** - Kasi. Close friends with Luji and Akay. Plays In the theater club. Very quick to put a lot of distance between herself and people she isn't comfortable with. Thinks quickly. Jumps to conclusions quickly.

**Mature Girlchan** - Luji . Close friends with Kasi and Akay. Completely normal. Little to no social anxiety. Stoic and not temperamental. Not afraid to approach people. Conversational, but not talkative, and doesn't talk about herself much. Straight A honors student. Cares about graduating highschool with a good GPA, but doesn't push herself harder than she needs to. Neutral good. She's the class rep, but didn't choose the role voluntarily.  She will confront you if you blatantly violate school rules in front of her during class hours, but she can be easily negotiated with. Commonly seen as a go-to 'leader' or 'role model', but she isn't assertive in casual situations. Cares about being a good person. Goes with the flow, but tries to make good decisions when possible. Willing to perform tough and decisive actions if necessary. Takes care of herself and the people around her.

**Shy Girlchan** - Akay. Close friends with Luji and Kasi. Socially anxious. Plays with ribbons, paper clips, rubber bands. Doodles. Doesn't like scary movies. Gets scared easily. Can easily be peer-pressured into doing anything. Very reactive. Surprisingly isn't afraid to voice her opinion.

**Yanderechan -**

#### Special Characters:

Characters that have interesting concepts but would send the plot to levels of extreme that the story may not be ready for. This would include characters that would completely break the immersion of a normal high school life.

**Gardenerchan's twin sister** - Sera. Almost perfectly matches Grace in behavior, mannerisms, hobbies, and appearance. Unlike Grace, Sera has a personal demon that causes her to snap under stress and become actually just fucking homicidal. Under sufficient stress, Sera will straight-up shoot up the fucking school. Sera has no inbetween when it comes to stress. Either she's Grace's exact match, or a fucking domestic terrorist. Sera has an internal monologue that is similar to Grace's, but with slightly more cynicism. Sera is probably the result of some fucked up government experiment, because she somehow knows the ins and outs of assassination, bomb crafting, hostage control, and mass terror.

**Not-a-Skinwalkerchan** - A girl that you never see at school. Quiet, but occasionally makes weird noises. Somehow always found in the woods. She can be found deep in the woods wearing a perfectly clean, unscratched, undirtied school uniform. Loves talking about her love of nature with really vague, almost nonsensical statements. \*Really\* likes fish. "Homeschooled". Always asks if you'll come back when you go home. Has a cellphone, it's always covered in dirt and scratches, weathered and faded, with a cracked screen. Never picks up the phone. Disappears one day, never to be seen again. Years later, one of your friends goes missing in the woods. 2 days later, the park rangers find your friend alive, covered in dirt and shaken, 30 miles from her entrance point, claiming to have chased a girl who looked like not-a-skinwalker-chan into the woods, only to find that your friend became completely lost. ALT: Your friend got lost in the woods, but a distant voice that sounded like not-a-skinwalker-chan led them to water.

**Luckychan** - Treats her teachers with the same amount of respect that she treats her classmates with (Much more respect than necessary). Guided by an ancient spirit that knows every possible branching path of action, every deterministic outcome to every choice, and how to achieve those outcomes with 100% consistency. For example, when dealing with a slot machine, the outcome may vary depending on the precise nanosecond that the lever is pulled. Given that there is a 1 in 1 million chance of winning a slot machine jackpot, but there are 1 billion nanoseconds in one second, there are on average 1000 nanoseconds per second where pulling the lever would result in a jackpot. Given one second of time, 1000 individual nanoseconds pass where pulling the lever would result in a jackpot. Whenever the ancient spirit instructs Luckychan to pull the lever, the ancient spirit accounts for the delay of time between giving the instruction and the nanosecond of Luckychan reaching the pull threshold of the lever, resulting in Luckychan scoring a perfect jackpot with 100% consistency. Luckychan does not know how to distinguish the ancient spirit from her inner monologue because she is a naive baka. The ancient spirit often guides Luckychan on performing extremely mundane tasks, like guessing someone's favorite flavor of ice cream or predicting when teachers are going to be out sick the next day. Luckychan dubiously claims to be an esper, but nobody believes her. Most of her friends are somewhat suspicious of her intuition, but the ancient spirit ensures that nobody will ever come to the conclusion that Luckychan is remarkable. Sometimes Luckychan dreams of eldritch horrors beyond comprehension, but she brushes them off by simply not comprehending the horrors.

Hands of Midaschan - Not Midas herself. King Midas was one of the few humans to ever be granted any wish of their choosing. Stricken with greed, Midas wished for the ability to turn whatever he touched to gold. The wish was granted, and with excitement, he ran home and embraced his family, only to discover that they had turned into solid gold. Overcome with grief, Midas vowed to live the rest of his days with his hands bound in blocks of gold, never to touch anything again. He hired a hardworking, homely girl to serve as his hands. This girl was known as the Hands of Midas.

## Cryptographos Abystracta

A short story about Lou (an original character) and Zhi (one of Andea's self-inserts). Interestingly, the title of the story is named in a similar manner referencing the Crypt Abyss of Krayplane. In the story, it also references The Dynamo Project's dynamo 9 and 11, Delta and Eternities Engine, respectively.

Clouds glimmered through a brilliant streak of golden light as the rays of luminescence caressed the ground at Lou’s feet and doused the monolithic pillar iconic of the region with bright and nuanced hues. Easily hitting heights well above two stories, the gargantuan pillar stood, inscribed with large runes and what appeared to be numeric symbols.

Lou squinted, shielding his eyes from an anomalous glaring radiance confined to the dimension. Architecture and foundation made no sense in this world, no place on Earth could host natural clouds and beaming daylight deep underground, far below a gothic mansion built by no apparent human. Above his current location, a large Corinthian labyrinth that rebelled against the laws of gravity with platforms that casually curved upwards crowned Lou’s interest, featuring floating debris which would have easily cracked the floor suspended weightlessly in midair.

The Cryptography Abystract, a world not entirely inside of Lou’s world, served as a library of infinite answers to infinite questions; the solution to every mystery, memories lost to time. Before the Cataclysm, Lou had wondered about the identities of his ‘friends’ who hid themselves across the corners of the globe so effectively that even Lou himself couldn’t find them. The Cryptography Abystract helped break his narrative of helpless frustration, it blessed Lou with a fair opportunity to unearth more about the esoteric organizations and eccentric individuals that took interest in him. More importantly, it gave members of the Observers a chance to uncover the true condition of their world.

Here, answers remained in a tangible obscurity accessible almost exclusively to the ones who both sought after an answer and those who needed an answer. These answers had been encoded into unreadable messages, 'cryptographs', and etched onto the unique structures found around the Abystract by means of unknown origin. Some cryptographs waited to be found and deciphered, some remained forever as secrets eternally buried.

The immense pillar facing Lou with an impenetrable conundrum likely held crucial information. In the Cryptography Abystract, the state of a cryptograph represented the significance of the secret it held. Big cipher, big secret, the sheer vastness of this enigma inflicted Lou with a noteworthy amount of curiosity. He stood his ground, facing upwards at the runic characters as the inexplicable breeze shifted tufts of his golden hair and blew gentle folds throughout his coat, evaluating the weight of his baggage.

The sound of crunching autumn leaves on the ground alerted Lou of company, but he didn’t turn. Instead, he focused his attention to the way he heard the visitor stroll throughout the leaves. Casual and comfortable, nonchalant steps signaled an soul at ease and an aura of familiarity, a friend, and by Lou’s guess it had to be -

> *“Zhi”* he called.
> *“That’s me,”* Zhi replied, trekking towards the massive cryptograph.*“Did you crack this one already?”*
>
>

Zhi removed her hands from the pockets of her brown bomber jacket and pressed them against the hard stone, Lou assumed she decided on scavenging for clues by determining the texture and composition of the rock.

> *“Not even close, I don’t know where to start,”* Lou said.
>
>
> *“I hear you say that pretty often, but it never feels like you mean it.”*
>
>
>
> *“What do you mean?”*
>
>

Zhi pointed to an illustration carved into the pillar. *“I think you recognize this symbol.”*

> *“I have no clue what that is.”*
>
>

The picture inscribed onto the stone that Zhi pointed to appeared to Lou as two interwoven mechanical dynamos that fed off of a continuous stream that looped infinitely. *“I thought you’d recognize the engine,”* Zhi said.

> *“It looks like a great idea for a perpetual motion machine, it's too bad water doesn’t defy fluid dynamics as badly as it does in the cryptograph.”*
>
>
> *“That’s not water, I think.”*
>
>
>
> *“Well yeah, it’s stone”* Lou chuckled at his own remark.
>
>

Zhi pouted, perhaps sarcastically or perhaps out of disappointment. *“I thought you’d be able to recognize the artifacts if you saw them.”*
Lou wheeled to face Zhi, eyes wide and voice cracking. *“That’s one of the artifacts?”*

> *“I think it is. This one’s called Eternity, you can probably guess why.”*
>
>

He gawked at the infinity stream. *“I hope so,”* after staring at the cryptograph once again with renewed eyes, he asked *“If that’s not water, then what is it?”*

> *“That’s the energy provided by the power source, the Delta. The Delta isn’t actually shown in the image, though. You remember what the artifacts did, right?”*
> *“I got the general gist of it before, but the explanation left me unsatisfied.”* A pause to recall the mechanics. *“The artifacts were a trinity of machines built to tear through the dimensional fabric and collide two universes together. It achieved this by piling copious amounts of energy into an infinitely dense point until the universe couldn’t hold it in and exploded - or more like imploded into another universe.”*
>
>

Zhi raised an eyebrow. *“The lack of detail bothered you?”*

> *“Of course it does, it’s not like these machines were a work of science fiction that could get a free pass with some mediocre homebrewed drunk science. I can’t find satisfaction knowing the simple explanation. I want to know how they work, how they were built, how they can withstand such an intense amount of stress and age and still function, not knowing any of this left me with so many questions.”*
>
>

Zhi began to zone out as Lou continued to rant. She gaped blankly at the cryptogram, a boring expression that masked truly deep thought, a face that waited for the puzzle to flinch or give up its own mystery. Her eyes scanned the foreign codes, searching for familiar symbols or patterns that she knew Lou might have missed on his own.

Zhi pointed at two runes. *“Lou, don’t those two look the same?”*

Lou looked back at Zhi, perplexed and slightly offended. *“It’s not a monoalphabetic cipher, simple codes were the first things I checked.”*

> *“You tried every possible pattern to prove it’s not a monoalphabetic cipher in your head?”*
> *“No, that would be stupid. Instead I checked the most likely monoalphabetic patterns, then humored another type of encoding.”*
>
>

Zhi buried her face in her hand.

> *“Lou, that’s a rookie mistake. Whenever I have to use a monoalphabetic cipher, I try to ignore the letter E and use as many rare letters as I can. It’s not that hard to hide something so simple.”*
>
>

From an outside perspective, Lou realized that conversation might have left the impression of two professionals bickering about technique, but knowing Zhi better, Lou could tell she intended to play with him. A monoalphabetic cipher is a weak, base level cipher, only one step removed from the secret it’s trying to hide. It lacked depth, complexity, and even a reason to exist. Lou, however, would be nothing if he hadn’t been thorough, and he could understand that Zhi needed to tease him for it.

> *“Maybe it’s not a real cryptograph?”* Zhi asked.
> *“That would be stupid. All the texts here are encoded, I don’t see why this would be any different.” Lou turned to Zhi and observed her gradually taking in information to pressure cook inside her mind. “Do you have a reason to believe so?”*
>
>

Zhi scratched at her cheek, *“No, it’s just a random guess.”*
Lou nodded and gazed back at the pillar. This time, he tried to process the world through Zhi’s eyes. Lou fixated his perception on the two identical symbols. Two straight lines of an obtuse angle that made up half the outline of a rhombus, marked with a diamond in the center. Ignoring the clear baselessness of her logic, he desperately attempted to sift Zhi for any reasoning. *“Do you recognize that symbol?”* Lou questioned.

> *“I’ve seen it around but it’s obscure, I think.”*
> *“Can you elaborate?”*
>
>

No answer. Lou explored Zhi’s face for any hint of curiosity or interest. To his surprise, he noticed her tired line of sight trailing off the course of the pillar and settling on an arbitrary patch of dirt she prodded at with her boot. Lou sighed and waved a hand inches from her brown eyes.
Zhi took one final stab at the earth before admitting Lou’s presence. *“I’ve seen the symbol here in the Abystract, but never outside in the real world, at least that I can remember.”*

> *“Where did you first notice it?”*
>
>
> *“I don’t think I can recall.”*
>
>
> *“You really can’t remember where you saw the symbol?”*
>
>
>
> *“Yeah, I don’t have the memory of a genius. I’m just average after all.”*
>
>

Lou frowned at Zhi, concerned. *“I can never tell when something’s bothering you, it’s troubling. Are you feeling okay?”*

Zhi carried on avoiding eye contact, glaring intently at the ground she had cleared and kicked at. *“I feel fine, I think. There’s something I need to check up on though.*” Without an amiable goodbye, Zhi pivoted back towards the exit to the Cryptography Abystract in the direction of the mansion and left the scene. Lou shouted out to her as she disappeared behind a corner, only to be left ignored.

Lou stood in the reflective silence generated by her absence. *What a natural cryptograph*, Lou thought. He looked down at the ravaged ground she left behind, an oddly methodical mess of lines and shapes. Suddenly, realization hit him like a supernova. He let out a spontaneous groan and slapped his forehead, a cry of headache and frustration as everything occurred to him at once.

With the tip of her sole, Zhi had scribbled a crude map that linked four points on the ravaged patch of ground where she stood. The labyrinth and the ancient tree, both bridged to the ruins in the shape of half the outline of a rhombus. To the side, the mansion, but drawn inside the shape of a diamond. He looked back on when Zhi teased him about ciphers. Masterfully disguised as teasing, she probed him for information and arrived at the magnificent conclusion that the clue donated by the pillar hadn’t been a cryptograph, but the instructions for a map, a concept Lou couldn’t comprehend at the time. While Zhi feigned aloof detachment, she discovered the secret of the pillar magnitudes faster than Lou would have been capable of, simultaneously concealing all of her thoughts and activities in the likeness of an enigma. After she finished her work, Zhi simply left, leaving Lou dumbfounded and awestruck when he finally pieced together all of her progress.

Solemnly, Lou registered the actions of a puzzle substantially more complex than any pillar or cryptograph who worked alongside him every waking day.

## Gods

**Space** | After being created by **Paracosm**, **Space** encompassed everything that physically exists, everything taking up some amount of **Space**. It was a boring moment, but **Time** approached **Space**. Seeing **Time**, **Space** was naturally attracted to **Time**. After they were together, another entity was created, **Change**.

**Light** | With the creation of **Space** came the room for movement, and so **Light** came. **Light** became the fastest of all others before it with the help of **Time**. Soon, **Light** decided to shine it’s brilliance on all others, so that all may see the glory of **Light**.

**Dark** | There was **Light**, so there had to be an absence of **Light**, and its name was **Dark**. Wherever there was **Light**, you could always find **Dark** following behind. And with **Change**, the two grew imbalanced as **Dark** was always trying to undermine **Light**. And born through that jealousy was **Balance**. And **Balance** made peace between the two. And there was **Order**.

**Change** | Change was **Time**, but just slightly different, as it was **Time** with **Space** constantly. Afterall, **Change** exists because **Time** does too. **Change** was always playful, always moving. Loving interactions, **Change** approached **Light** and **Dark**, and ultimately forming **Balance**

**Balance** | There were things born of Paracosm, but those things were wild, like children without a parent. Eventually, **Light** and **Dark** grew unequal due to the tampering of **Change**, and as a result, Balance was born to make tame the wild things.

**Immortality** | There was **Matter**, and with **Matter**, was **Change**, but **Change** ruined some of the things that **Matter** created after **Matter** created them. So, to punish **Change**, **Matter** created things that wouldn’t be affected by **Change**. And they were called **Immortality**. **Immortalality** was the only one that could resist **Change**. That angered **Change** and **Change** avoided all things immortal.

## Knox vs The Zenith

A short story. The characters involved are mostly characters that have rooms in Watcher Faction Base Alpha (Kraymen, Syndicate, & Lace). Upon exploring the various rooms of Watchers Faction Alpha, Andrea decided to write a short story using those various characters.

Knox stood over his defeated crowd. Jack was injured, Lace, Mile, and Syndicate were on the floor with one or more broken limbs. The dilapidated clock tower chimed - and in sync, Knox summoned a blade for the execution of his first victim. Out of nowhere, Knox is kicked. He goes flying and hits the wall bursting cracks with a shockwave throughout the area. An already destroyed building starts to crumble and in the dust from the rubble, a shadow appears. Both Knox and the still conscious can’t comprehend what’s going on until the dust clears. Kraymen, the Zenith, stands in between his friends and Knox. Knox disintegrated from the impact of the hit. Kraymen looked confused for a moment before Knox appeared behind him and attempted to slice him open from behind with a black smoke bowie knife. Kraymen blinked out of sight, instantly dashing back around at the speed of sound and pummeling Knox with his fist, he prepared to slice Knox cleanly in half with his katana, but Knox suddenly turned into a black smoke, taking in and twisting Kraymen’s arm, throwing him into the sky with the force of over a thousand strongarms.

While flying, Kraymen was in limbo, he was too surprised to do anything and spent the second processing what just happened in that brief exchange. Knox pulls a rifle out of himself and took aim at Kraymen. When he fired, Kraymen disappeared and reappeared suddenly in front of Knox, he stabbed Knox through the chest, then pushed the blade further out its side. Knox dissipated himself to smoke, then lashed out from its monstrous form with multiple blades. Kraymen was quick to dodge, and flanked Knox to sever its form again, Knox was much quicker this time, and tried to consume Kraymen’s sword by pulling it into its smoke. When Knox grabbed on, Kraymen used his sword as a balance to roundhouse Knox in a partially formed head. Knox let go of the sword but instead grabbed Kraymen through the darkness. Kraymen quickly teleported out and prepared himself again. Knox lunged forward with a body that no longer resembled a human - but a horror. Kraymen stood still, waiting, when suddenly - he blinked behind Knox. He rushed forward at the most rapid speed he had ever been witnessed to break forward at, cutting through Knox clean. When Knox tried to recover, Kraymen blinked again, and in a flurry of  teleportation and insane dashing, continuously cuts through Knox from a new angle at the speed of a jet. Knox was completely incapacitated and unable to reform or move - but he was still invincible. In the distance, Mile started to come to his senses, he stood and processed the battle before trying to wake Syndicate and the others too.

Meanwhile, Kraymen slowly started to get truly exhausted for the first time in his life while buying time for the group - he slowed down slightly and gave Knox enough time to instantly snap an appendage into formation - it kicked Kraymen, who skid across the ground. Knox rushed forth with an inhuman force - one never seen before. From Liu’s perspective, it looked like Knox had the ability to change his strength so that it would always make him strong enough to leave no witnesses - but that wasn’t the case. When Knox rushed forward, his entire arm turned into a spear ready to completely gouge Kraymen, but Kraymen was always quicker than that. He broke the spear in half with a lightning fast kick and used the momentum to bring himself back to his feet. He disregarded the broken spear, but it didn’t vaporize. This time, Knox joined with the spear from an angle Kray didn’t account for in the time frame of a split split-second, and from that angle shot a knife at an unfathomably fast speed. It tore through his arm and the other end of the pitch black serrated blade stuck into his side. Bright shining gold ichor spilled out of the wound, and Knox quickly struck again only for Kraymen to blink away in an instant. All was silent. There were a few seconds of anticipation for a surprise kick to launch Knox half a mile, or a sudden dismemberment or decapitation - but instead, nothing.

Knox knew Kraymen was watching it, and scanned his area for a dark shadow of a figure - but instead, still nothing. Kraymen was gone. In his wake, the Watcher Party had gotten up and were now standing to face Knox again. Jack, face covered in blood and dirt, was brandishing a knife, on his face was the same burning intensity of hatred in his eyes that he had before being knocked out. Lace stood with her giant bow nocked with an intimidating arrow. Syndicate had a serious grimace on his face, brushing the sweat off his brow and reaching into his trench coat. Liu was obviously planning something - and had the face to show it. Mile, however, looked sorrowful. His face didn’t hold an urge to kill or a determined will, but instead remained emotionless all for a hint of dread. Nonetheless, all the heroes stood their ground against the unkillable foe, the harbinger of death, Knox. Knox started to stumble towards them, picking up pace as he slowly regenerated - it was quickly shot down by Lace’s bow and an automatic rifle Syndicate had pulled out of his coat. Mile started to approach Knox from another angle but he kept his distance. The constant shots fired at Knox only slowed it down, but it got faster as it regenerated faster and faster, to a point where the party was retreating slower than Knox was stumbling forward. Jack started to close ground between him and the monster as Lace and Syndicate ceased firing.

Mile stepped in and swung his giant scythe at Knox - missing.

The mass of smoke shifted towards him when there was another slash - a doubletap from Mile’s scythe. Mile used double tap to keep Knox at a distance while the rest of the party retreated - but they couldn’t retreat fast enough. Knox was reanimating his limbs fast enough now so that he was sprinting faster than them, Jack was more running away backwards than sprinting forward. The pace gap of how far they could run away without giving up their opposition fully was slowly lessening. Mile knew what was going to happen, he had the voice in his head speaking to him. The same voice that told him who would die, what would happen, who would have to do what. The same voice that led him to Watcher Faction, and the same voice that allowed him to survive a full on assault from Kraymen when they first met.

The voice was telling him one thing, how this all would end and how to save the party. How to survive this attack from the monster they were facing. He needed to buy time, but the time was quickly running out as Knox kept becoming stronger and stronger with each passing moment. Mile could barely keep up with Knox’s movements now, even fighting a deformed Knox, Mile knew he was only a few seconds away from succumbing completely - only a few seconds from death, but he already knew this beforehand. Behind him, a severely wounded Kraymen blinked into existence. First, he grabbed Jack, both of them blinked away - taking Jack with him to safety. A moment later, Kraymen returned for Syndicate, then Lace, then Liu, leaving only Mile all alone to face his fate.

When everyone was gone, Knox struck his first blow - a war hammer to Mile’s side. It instantly cracked his ribs and drove him to the floor. Knox materialized a revolver from his shadowy form and aimed it at Mile’s head. In half a second, every moment of Mile’s life that he could remember flashed before his eyes. The day he was orphaned, the day everything changed, the day he noticed a voice in his head, the day he went on a journey and the people he met on his journey, all leading up to this final moment. Mile looked up at Knox, and behind him, he felt a familiar glow he had known his whole life. The bright red glow of the sun peeked behind the spire of an abandoned gothic clock tower, basking Mile in the first light of day. He was too weak to cover his eyes, but at the last breath of his life, he thought about how beautiful it was. At that moment, a bullet from Knox’s revolver pierced straight through Mile’s brain and instantly killed him.

Mile was dead.