OH GOD THE RAPTURE IS BURNING

SATURDAY JULY 16TH, 2011
(Infinite Series)

9:59 AM
Yawn.
Alright, wakey-wakey! We’ve got a lotta work to do today.

10:00 AM
Sleepville just got darker.
What.
The other sleepers are all standing up at once.
“Go back to sleep.”
…RUN

10:01 AM
Their eyes are in REM, spinning so fast. But open.
“Sleep forever.”
oh god get in the raptor get in thE RAPTOR
okay great
oh god
THAT’S PYRAMID HEAD WHAT THE FUCK
RUN HIM OVER
IT’S SWEEPING ITS THINGY
OH GOD

10:03 AM
it got a chunk of our hood
we weren't going fast enough to run him over
donnie's backing up
okay let's just go around it then
"No. I've got this…"
oh god
okay

10:04 AM
still weren't going fast enough. Pyramid Head's taken our whole hood off. it's rearing up to hit us through the windshield
donnie.…
"I can do this. I can do this."
she's trying one more time
pyramid head is ready to strike us when we drive up to him…
we need more speed than what we've been getting…
and there are other sleepers coming up to our car…
donnie, please…
"In for a penny, in for a pound." she's reaching her leg up
SLAM
down on the gas pedal

10:05 AM
CRUNCH
we fucking knocked him over
we hit another sleeper on the way and it lifted the front of the car up enough to really hit pyramid head in the chest
and then donnie kept driving
that crunch was either its spine or its... pyramid.. head
and now we're off.
We’re past Pyramid Head. u_u;;
But where are we going?
It’s just miles and miles of pillow hills out here!

10:10 AM
Is it just me, or is the..
oh fuck.
The blanket sky is lowering.
DRIVE FASTER, DONNIE. D:

10:13 AM
The blanket will hit us in a matter of minutes.
And I don’t see any exit in sight.

10:14 AM
…oh god.
Behind us is Cthulhu. No, really. That’s Cthulhu.
Look, it’s even got a giant nametag that reads “HELLO, MY NAME IS cthulhu.”
It does take something away from the horror of the freaky tentacle mouth, but those eyes don't lie. Trying not to look at them.

10:15 AM
...actually, Cthulhu may be doing us a favor. He's a fuck-off big monster, he's gaining on us, yes yes, but, that blanket sky is gonna hit him first before it hits us. So if that sky's really some kind of threat, we're.. about to see...

10:18 AM
The blanket hit Cthulhu, and now it’s wrapping itself around his entire body, forming a giant blanket cocoon.
And now he falls over, either asleep or dead.
The terms are probably synonymous here.
There’s another blanket coming for us now.
This one looks a good twenty minutes away.

10:23 AM
Donnie really put her foot down.
We’re not sure where we’re going, but we’re going fast.

10:27 AM
WAVE OF FEAR
WHAT
A large wave of energy just flew over us.
Now there’s no more blanket descending, no more eternal nighttime, no more crazy creatures being beckoned to sleep.
We’re in a different rabbit hole now.

10:29 AM
The sky here is morning blue. It looks like a sprawling mountain range.
We’re on a tall mountain, driving on a cliffside road a long way up from the ocean below.

11:02 AM
This place is absolutely gorgeous. Not a single other car in sight; it’s just us and miles of nature.

11:46 AM
Donnie, you want more music?
Okay. Here’s Rust in Peace. c:

12:30 PM
..whoa! Hold up.
The road ahead is completely covered by rubble.
We’re getting out of the car. Gotta stretch our legs anyway.

12:31 PM
Yep, that’s rubble.
Clearing the road would require a bulldozer or something.
..but god, just lookit that scenery.
We must be a hundred-and-seventy-thousand miles above sea level.

12:32 PM
We found a small cave nearby!
Not really got anywhere else to go. We're taking the rifle out of the car and
Do we have any flashlights? ...do we still have those suits?
"I did try to bring them, but I think we lost one of them back in St. Louis. It was easier to keep track of them when we were able to drive, but we had to walk through there."
Well, that's.. better than nothing.
"Which one of us should take the suit?"
You wear it. I can just look good in my hat. :3
"At least the helmet's torch still works…"

12:35 PM
There’s a little brick house inside this cave. o_o
Knock knock!

12:36 PM
There’s a little green praying mantis man inside. Calls himself Polygamus.
..right! Hi, how you doing?

1:13 PM
Polygamus invited us in for tea, and we’ve been having it and talking about stuff.
He confirmed a detail we'd heard (but not enough of): This "Universe X" is called "Xanadu" by the natives.
"I've been meeting travelers who look like you that seem to think this is an Empty City or something?"
They looked like us? Like... humans?
"They were the same species as you. Do you have some Empty City where you're from?"
Uh!
We literally have no idea what they were talking about.
Frankly, I'm intrigued.
he shrugged "I'm not. Who needs a city? Xanadu is everything. Xanadu is life to us. Xanadu is eternity. Do you want to know why we call it 'Xanadu?'"
The. The universe? Do you need a reason for that?
"There's an old myth, see, about the One who was Three who were Five who were Eight."
The. The what?
"He's a hero and a monster. My mother used to tell me about him to scare me, but she got it from her mother, and she got it from hers, all the way back to forever. In the older times they cared more about the stories, and I spent some of my life traveling around and reading all I could about the older stories."
Right. sip
"So, the story of the Name goes like this: The One was searching for the Infinite... and when he found it, he could no longer leave. And that's why it's called Xanadu."

(Attached: "Polygamus's telling is of a really poor quality, very abridged, though not actually that inaccurate. I've done my research too, and in fact I still have the books here in front of me. So here's, as I understand, a more authoritative source.
The Story of the Name:
The One, before He was All, was only a work of function. He tasked Himself with great adventures, each one adding Another to his Number. His first adventure made him One, and after his second adventure He was now Three. When His fourth adventure was complete, He knew with His Eight minds that He could not rest, that His adventures would never end.
And so, when He set out on His fifth adventure, now as the Eight, He found the Infinite. He named it Xanadu, knowing He could no longer leave, knowing He could no longer die. The rest of His adventures took place here. And that is why His adventures are called the Infinite Series.
...and that's how it goes. Now, there are a lot of baffling things about the myth. Like, for one, that number sequence does not give us enough information from which to deduce an infinite series, but there are other stories elsewhere which make the series more clear, if no more interpretable. And, for another, it doesn't actually explain the logic to the name Xanadu. But that's because it's supposed to be the Story of the Name 'Infinite Series,' the ontology of the name of the myth itself. This just also happens to be the oldest source that mentions Xanadu's name.
It is significant to me, at least.
'He found the Infinite. He named it Xanadu, knowing He could no longer leave, knowing He could no longer die.'
That's all we get on the subject. It's tantalizing, isn't it?
Who is He? Well, you'll have to keep reading for that one. But you know where he's hiding. Now you know to watch out for him.")

...but... wait, if it's called it because you can't leave, then.
donnie "We've been able to leave. And everyone we meet who talks about this place can also leave."
Polygamus is puzzled.
"Well, maybe that part's just a metaphor?"

1:16 PM
We told him about the apocalypse and the upcoming Rapture, and he said “Maybe it's got something to do with that?"
I don't actually think he has any idea.
"But if I know anything about Xanadu, that is, if the childhood stories that I grew up with have any truth to them, the scary ones? I'd bet that even if you manage to leave, you'd come out different. A shadow of your former self."
donnie went "Huh."
yeah, I don't think this guy has any idea, at all.

2:01 PM
Alright, thanks for the tea and the lunch. It was nice to meet you.
let's get the heck out of here donnie

2:10 PM
…the rubble is gone. o___o
Works for us!

2:15 PM
It got storm-cloudy really quick.
..”storm-cloudy” is totally a word now.

2:18 PM
Rain!
…wait.
The rain isn’t hitting us at all, or the road or anything.
It’s just falling.

2:50 PM
And faster.
So fast now. o_o

3:13 PM
…OH.
The rain is hitting something— the ocean below!
And it’s.. well, the ocean is rising!
Fast!
We’re gonna drown!

3:19 PM
…and there’s a random jump ahead!
Ramp, and everything! o_o

3:20 PM
Donnie, I sure hope you know what you’re doing.
Hell, I at least hope you were good at Mario Kart.

3:21 PM
OH GOD
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

3:22 PM
WHY ARE WE STILL FALLING
WE’VE BEEN FALLING FOR A LONG TIME NOW

3:34 PM
….y’know, I think physics say we literally cannot survive after falling for this long.
I’m sure some law states that.
Maybe it’s Murphy’s Law. I dunno.

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Factory (1)
The Raptor no longer works.
We’ve been sitting in silent shock, because holy shit, we survived.
I gotta say, journal. We’re badasses. I can hardly believe it.
No air bags or anything!
Or maybe the shift between rabbit hole worlds affects shit.
Yeah, probably that one.
…what was that
shshsh

Factory (2)
We hear very strange noises outside the dead Raptor.
Neither of us can see anything when we look out the windows.
But we can hear machinery of all sorts.
Now we can even hear footsteps.
We’re.. we’re gonna wait for the footsteps to pass first before we step outside.
I mean, we can’t sit here forever. We have an adventure to undergo.
can't sit here forever. gotta be brave.

Factory (3)
The footsteps have passed.
I’m.. I’m gonna go first.
…OH HELLO
HI
...YOU'RE NOT MOVING
I'M GONNA WRITE, OKAY?
So I stepped outside and and there are four grotesque men standing around the car.
They look dead. Mangled. Crooked necks, like they were hung.
But their eyes are moving.
…HIIII. :D ohgod

Factory (4)
Donnie came out. We’re ready to fight.
…where’d they go.
The monster men are gone.
..we’re.. okay.

Factory (5)
The walls are not walls. They’re just shadow.
The ground is all we see, a metal floor.
Coupled with the distant sound of heavy machinery, and that’s why I say we’re in a factory.
Door up ahead.

Factory (6)
Yep, this is a factory. We’re in a large room now.
Giant cog wheels around here, floating in mid-air, giant eye balls in the center of each.
Factory machines drive around and lift giant crates filled with.. well, I don't know, but I hear screams coming from within. Maybe I'm not hearing it correctly? There's all kinds of noises here... yeah...
Pipes pumping blood everywhere.
Monster men standing completely still on walkways suspended in the middle of nothingness, all staring at us.
Stray factory doors floating around.
Where to first? >_>

Factory (7)
This is a storage room, I can tell. Lots of shelves of crates and boxes.
“Lots of” is an understatement; we’re in an eldritch factory, journal. Just take a guess at how many crates there are.
It's, like. A big number.

Factory (8)
We’re taking a look around. I can hear heavy breathing coming from some crates. Others sound more controlled, as if they’re in calm sleep.
Donnie’s found a crate that seems to be making a crying noise. I hope she doesn’t open it, but I can’t say a word. I don’t want to.
She's reaching for it. She looks like she has to know.
It’s up to her at this rate. That’s what I’m afraid of.

Factory (9)
We’re now in a room full of computers.
They’re all Windows 95.
I feel like someone else is in the room with us.

Factory (10)
At the back of the computer room, there’s a door labelled “TEST SUBJECT 6.”
Donnie found a computer with text on it.
"Someone's pumping a lot of gas into that 6 room. It sounds like whatever was in there caused a lot of trouble and needed to be put to sleep."
There's a porthole window on the door. Do we want to look in?

Factory (11)
The room is a closet-sized cell. No one is in there.
Dark stains are on the floor.
But yeah, no one in there.
"But." donnie's stepping back
What?
"Look, below the door. See the shadows? Something's on the other side of that door."
Whoa.
Okay.
Maybe so.
I didn't see anything in there, though?
"What if it's pressed right up against the door? Waiting for someone to enter."
..I'm stepping away now too

Factory (12)
What do we even think would be in there? Or in those boxes from earlier. Are we expecting, like. Humans?
"Xanadu creatures? Things we've never even seen before, but in a frightened and tortured state…"
dksfkf
...big rumble.
sounded like a roar.
didn't come from Subject 6. came from below.
shook the whole room from far away.
Donnie, I don't like being here. D:
"This place must be filled with secrets. The secrets of the rabbit holes…"
Yeah, well! You're the one who gets to wear the suit!
"I am. And.. I'm gonna open that door. Come hide behind me."
The. The door to subject 6?
"Yeah. C'mon, we've got to see something. Who knows if we'll ever come this way again?"
She steps over to the door.
I'm not just behind her, I'm.. near the other side of the room.
She's reaching over.

Factory (13)
On the other side was the slender man. Slumped by the door. Donnie poked its head with her rifle, and it made no response. Turned its head over, saw it had no face. It's. Yeah, it's the slender man.
"Someone.. captured the slender man?"
Fuck. I hate this. Donnie, can we please leave? Find the next Door and.. keep moving?
"This is so wrong. I don't understand. That computer seemed to be saying that subject 6 was captured months ago." looking at me "We've been seeing the slender man, though, out on Earth."
Donnie... please... we can talk about it later. D: Maybe there's more than one slender man, I don't know!
"More than one?"
Like. Like the Rake!
Please, let's.. get moving... I don't trust that thing to not get up.
"Hm. Okay, okay. C'mon."

Factory (14)
Following her through walkways.
She's heading downstairs.
The mangled men things are looking over at us but not doing anything more.
More doors down here. On the wall, away from the railing that overlooks a great pit of shadow. Where the roar came from earlier.
Donnie's found a door she wants to check.

Factory (15)
This is a narrow hallway with many doors on either side.
"We're bound to find a rabbit hole Door if we just keep trying."
I get the logic. I don't disagree with it.
I just really hate the atmosphere of this place. ._.;;
"We can start with the doors that have portholes on them. Look through the windows, see if any take us to a place that doesn't belong."

Factory (16)
These are all cells. Like the slender man's.
Ball of flesh in that one.
Statue of a man with a cane?
Hands coming out of the walls, reaching for a waterlogged woman with long stringy hair, eyes closed but facing the window.
A man-sized spinning top? Perpetually rotating. Seems lit from all sides, but I'm not seeing any light sources.
..daddy long-legs. hanging from the ceiling. ugh. hate those legs.

Factory (17)
That door wasn't there before.
“EXIT.”
It doesn’t look right. The door.

Factory (18)
Large chamber. Shadows for walls. Door standing in the middle of the room, opens up to an airplane cabin. That's our way out.

Factory (19)
Donnie's given the room a once-over. There's nothing, or no one, here.
There is a piece of paper on the ground. Scrunched up. Doesn't look like it was left deliberately.

Factory (20)
"Red sky, barbed wire around my thoughts. Life in prison. Cipher's ahead, a few Doors away. Someone's gotta do it. Tiresias said. Remember, Anna: Someone's gotta do it."
…
Donnie's heading for the Door.
Okay, let's.. let's go.

10:10 PM
Airplane. Flying. Empty seats.
We're sitting together. Chose the middle seats.
We do both like window seats, but, like, I'm not crazy about getting to watch alien worlds fly by right now.
Maybe after we sleep.
It's dark out there now anyway.
I'm.. so glad to be out of that world.
I do wonder about that Anna. But, like. There's a lot of Annas out there in the world.
We'll. We'll talk things through later.
We'll find the Cipher. We'll see things through.
We're safe for now.
sleep. let me sleep.

(Attached: “Yes, let’s let him sleep and dream of mills and sons; I have something on my mind. I’m thinking about parallels. Their significance in the grand cosmic scheme of things. I’m thinking about myself and Jordan, of course, but what’s puzzling me is a.. well. I’m thinking of the time the Devil and I, drifting through space, saw Omega waiting near a black hole. The Devil was possessing Omega’s previous body, so basically it was a meeting of two omega-symbol-faced dramatic bastards.
-- Devil.
-- Omega.
-- We meet again.
-- It’s been a long time.
I backed away from the scene slowly. Thunder clapped, and rain fell from above us towards the black hole. Where was that rain coming from? Nothing felt right.
-- You stole my body.
-- I did. How are you still alive?
-- You fool. You can’t put down the Omega.
-- We’ll see about that.
I heard an approaching anger shout my name. I gestured at the Devil; we didn’t have time for this.
-- Where are you off to so quickly?
-- Nowhere. He’s going to help my sister. I’m staying here to finish you off.
I told them it was best not to stick around. There was a powerful storm approaching. In space. But then Omega threw the Devil a sword, and the two started their duel, so I left for the Sampo on my own, listening for the sound of an army of Camper behind me.”)