Maria Goodwin

We were hanging out in the front room when Demetri returned from the spying mission Daniel sent him on. The little lizard creature crawled through the window and skittered over to Daniel Daniel picked him up and started speaking to the little guy in what I can only assume was the language of shoggoths.

“Tony, I need paper,” Daniel said.

I got him a pen and some paper and Daniel began listening intently to Demetri's incoherent gurgling hissing sounds as he sketched something on it.

“The little guy saw this symbol in there, “ Daniel said, handing me the paper. The symbol was an odd looking glyph, consisting of several overlapping squares, with a sharp looking S with a cross at each end of it.

“I'll look into it,” I told him.

“Go do your thing,” Daniel said, and Demetri scampered off back to the Monroe residence.

I retrieved my demon book, and started looking for the symbol while Daniel began lazily checking out the pictures again. It took a few minutes to find it, but I eventually located the symbol Demetri had described to Daniel. Or at least something close to it. I got up and approached Daniel.

“Uzilha,” I said. “The first lieutenant to Salazchia, the Daemon Lord of Malice.”

“The sin of wrath,” Daniel said. “If Monroe is associating himself with creeps like that, then Jacky boy's right to concerned.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “We should be worried.”

“Regardless, we need to wait for him to get back before we can bring him down,” Daniel said.

I joined Daniel in examining the pictures. One of a young lady caught my eye.

“She's cute,” I said, pointing her out to Daniel.

He looked at it for a moment.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “She has very nice-”

He suddenly stopped talking, and I saw his eyes widening.

“-Eyes,” He gasped silently.

He snatched up the picture and turned to face Kay, who was seated at the couch. He lifted the picture for Kay to see.

“This woman!” Daniel said. “Who is she!? What's her name!?”

Kay looked sadly at the picture for a moment before speaking.

“Maria,” he said softly, then added “Surname of Goodwin.”

“Surname,” Daniel said. “Is that her birth name or marital name?”

“Birth name,” Kay clarified.

“What's her marital name?” Daniel demanded.

“What makes you think she was married? “I asked.

“What was it?” Daniel said.

“Are you sure you want the answer?” Kay asked, the sad tone never leaving his voice.

Daniel remained still for a few seconds before he made up his mind, and nodded slowly. Kay nodded back, and gave his answer.

“After being wed to young David, Maria's last name became Malkator,” Kay said.

The picture slipped from Daniel's grasp, and I barely managed to catch it. I looked at it, and I finally saw what Daniel had. Her eyes. Their shape. Their color. Their lashes. Both Daniel and Eye had seen such eyes before.

“This is Ben's mom,” I gasped.

“Yes,” Kay said. “He did have his mothers eyes.”

I looked over at Daniel. There was a vacant look on his face, that lasted only a few seconds before his expression twisted into one of anger.

“Hey, man,” I said reassuringly. “You don't need to get mad about this.”

“His anger is understandable,” Kay said. “I've felt the same way many times. All those emotions. Fear. Confusion. Sadness. Grief. With the storm of conflicting feelings raging within your heart, anger will rise up to eclipse them all. Am I not wrong. Daniel?”

Daniel remained silent, but nodded slowly.

“You're not mad at me for telling you this,” Kay said. “You're mad at your own emotions.”

Daniel began breathing in and out slowly. It took about five minuted for him to calm himself. Usually his breathing exercises don't take nearly that long. When he had cleared his head, he took the picture from me and approached Kay, and took a seat on the ground before him.

“Tell me,” Daniel said. “Everything.”

“Very well,” Kay said. “I first met Maria when she was sixteen. She had dropped out of school and ran from home. Ran from the creature pursuing her.”

“Which one,” Daniel asked.

“The one you once called the Entity,” Kay said. “The Slender Man. When I met her, she told me of her plight. I gave her all the help and advice I could. But our ways eventually parted. Later on, she was assaulted by a group of Proxies led by Julius Strife. She thought she was gone. However, the descendants of Marshall Smith have a habit of performing over the top acts of heroism. David Malkator, descendant of the Vision and sentry of the Scions, intervened and sent Strife running home to his master.”

Kay paused and chuckled softly to himself.

“At least, that's how she described it to me, the next time we met,” he said. “Eventually, she and David were wed, and they had a child. I saw him as a toddler. He looked much like his father, but his eyes were unmistakably those of his mother. They settled down here in England, and tried to have a normal life. They made friends, put young Benjamin in school, and kept him safe from the horrors of the world. But it didn't last.”

“Phantasm?” Daniel asked.

Kay nodded.

“David Malkator was found dead, while their son was only 5,” Kay said. “The scene was made to look like a proxy attack, but Maria suspected foul play of another source. I agreed, as the Slender Man made a point of avoiding conflict with Descendants, unless provoked. So I agreed to look into it for her. After a few years, I acquired the truth. David was killed by his own brother in law, Carlton Kallaway. I tired to tell her, but by the time I made it back to her estate, she was already dead. The scene was gruesome. String penetrating her body implied the work of the Wooden Girl. Her son was nowhere to be seen. I didn't meet him again til nearly a decade later. He was a Martyr, by this point, working for the Archive.”

A tear dripped from Kay's eye as he recalled the encounter.

“He attempted to apprehend me. I managed to escape, but I see his father's fighting style in all his movements. Realizing his own weaknesses in order to exploit them in others. His father would have been proud, had Benjamin chosen a better side.”

“He did,” Daniel said. “It took him a while, but-”

“I know,” Kay said. “I've heard the stories. He broke away from his master. Discovered his powers. Fought against his darkness.”

Kay paused and breathed quietly, wiping his eyes.

“And he died a hero,” he sighed.

He took the picture from Daniel and gazed at it sadly.

“f only Maria could hear her son's tale,” he said.

Daniel remained quiet for a while, before getting up.

“I need to go for a walk,” he said.

He walked out the door. I decided to give Kay some space, and returned to the guest room to start typing this post. After I got the browser opened and logged into the blog, I saw Daniel's sword vanish from its place on the bed. He must have summoned it. I have no idea what he's gotten himself into, but I'm sure he'll be fine. Maria Goodwin isn't the only person I can see Benjamin in. Daniel has a lot in common with Malkator too. I know he can handle himself.

-Tony Helioson, signing off

Dates

We've been here a little over a week now. I figured it was time to question Kay about the pictures he keeps on that table.
“Hey Kay,” I asked. “Who are all these people?”
Kay sat down on the couch and stared sadly at the picture a few feet away.
“Friends,” he said. “Friends that the war has taken from me.”
“You mean the war between the Fears, right?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said. “Men are pawns in the Great Game. And as pawns, their time is short.”
I payed attention to his wording. He said “their” time, as if he was excluding himself.
“You had a lot of friends,” Daniel noted, glancing at the pictures. There were easily more than 30 frames there.
“Yes,” Kay said. “I remember them all very well, as much as I'd like to forget.”
“What's that mean?” Daniel asked.
“I have the misfortune of possessing, what some call, a photographic memory,” Kay clarified. “I remember their deaths vividly.”
“Must suck,” Daniel said, sympathetically.
“Even without ,y mind constantly recording everything around it, do you think I'd be able to forget?” Kay asked. “I know such things have a way of engraving themselves in peoples memories. Is this true?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Yes,” he said sadly. “Yes it is.”
Kay nodded.
“I'm going to bed,” he said. “I need to rest now.”
He stood up and ascended the stairs. After I heard his bedroom door close, I approached the table and lifted one of the frames. This one was carved in ivory, and bore the portrait of a man in his thirties. I turned it over to see a date written on the back of the frame. 1979-2013.
“So this is a memorial,” I said. “These pictures have the dates that the people were alive.”
“Like a tombstone,” Daniel said, taking a seat on the couch.
“Exactly,” I said, picking up another picture and checking the date. “1988-2004.”
“The good die young,” Daniel sighed.
“By that logic,” I said, putting the pictures back in their respective spots, “You should live forever.”
“Cool,” Daniel said, slumping down where he sat.
I picked up another picture and turned it over. My eyes widened.
“Whoa, Daniel,” I said. “Listen to this one. 1895-1932.”
Daniel sat up straight.
“He knew someone from that time period?” He asked.
I took another picture and checked the date on it.
“1856-1889,” I read.
“He says these were all his friends,” Daniel said. “Which means he's been alive for a while.”
“From the way he phrased things earlier, I don't think he considers himself human,” I said.
“Plus, he's fluent in Veratian,” Daniel added.
“This deserves looking into,” I said, stretching. “But I think Kay had the right idea. We should rest up.”
“Guest bed's yours tonight,” Daniel said, sprawling out on the couch. “This bitch is mine.”
I grabbed the folded blanket off the edge of the couch's armrest and tossed it to him.
“Sweet dreams, douchebag,” I said. “Punch the Grotesque in the face if you see 'im.”
“Don't let the Intrusion bite, dickhead,” Daniel replied, resting his head on one of the armrests and trowing the blanket over himself.
I went to the guest room and started typing this. And now, I need some sleep.

-Tony Helioson, passing out.

Kay

“This is it,” Tony said.
We had arrived in front of Demetri Monroe's house.
“So, what now?” I asked.
“Jack wants you to put him out of commission,” Tony said.
“Won't be easy,” Said a voice. “He's out of town, on business.”
I spun around to see a man, in his late twenties, mere feet from us.
“I'm sorry, Mr. Ferris,” he said. “I didn't mean to startle you.”
I summoned my sword to my hand and drew it.
“How do you know my name?” I demanded.
“How can I not?” the man asked. “You were sent by Jack, you say?”
“Who's asking?” I said.
“You may call me Kay,” he said. “I'd tell you my full name, but like you, I understand the value of a low profile.”
I became aware of something stirring inside the breast pocket of my jacket. I found myself wondering why he'd wake up now.
“You said Mr. Monroe's away on business,” tony said. “When will he return?”
The creature within my pocket called out and up my shirt, remaining concealed behind the jacket.
“It will be at least a few weeks,” Kay said. “He's gone to the states, to collect something.”
“The disappearances?” Tony whispered to me.
“Maybe,” I whispered back.
The creature crawled up my neck and around to the back of my head. Kay seemed to notice it, and smiled. He then uttered a clusterfuck of seemingly random syllables. But what I heard in the back of my head was “You do not need to be so paranoid. I mean to help you. You can trust me.”
“You know,” I said, the words escaping my lips in the same alien language he had spoken in. “Learning that you speak fluent Veratian makes me trust you slightly less.”
The creature, called Demetri (odd coincidence, that it's the same as the guy we're after), is a shoggoth. An artificial being creature through a complex ritual. Aside from all the alternate universes and Fear domains that exist, reality also has layers. Ours is layer 1, but there's other layers beside that. Demetri, while in contact with me, allows me to speak in and understand languages that originate from a specific one of those layers. The language we were speaking, Veratian, belongs to a place in that layer called Veratis Kalohella, a place I've been to once, and have some nasty memories of. And the Veratian tongue isn't a language that normal people learn.
“I assure you,” Kay said, still in Veratian. “I Can offer you food and lodging as you await Monroe's return.”
I looked at Tony.
“He says we can trust him,” I said. “I'm not too sure.”
“Anything else?” Tony asked.
“He's offering food and a place to stay,” I said.
Tony briefly looked down at his stomach.
“Wanna risk it?” he asked.
“Fine,” I said, turning back to Kay. “But I've got my eye on you.”
“Very well,” Kay said, in English this time. “Follow me.”
Before we went with him, I set Demetri on the ground outside the house.
“Spy for me,” I told him. He nodded and went to hide in the bushes.
Kay brought us to his house, a couple blocks away. It seems normal, I guess. Aside from corner table covered in framed pictures of various people. I'm gonna have to ask about that later. Right now, I need a shower. I'll talk to you all later.