Looking Into It

This is Tony again. I'm back at Hideaki's house now. Isiore picked me up. That was kind of her.

I don't know what's going on with Daniel right now. Can't get through to his phone. Funny that a domain with seemingly infinite Wi-Fi has no cell reception. Maybe his phone died or something. I don't know. But I'm sure he's fine.

The Panopticon has me concerned though. Their targeting Daniel now. And I know why. He's a threat to them. Their goal is to suppress information on the Fears. Stop people from believing in them. As a walking magnet for eldritch bullshit, Daniel would obviously pose a problem for them. Especially after the incident I had with them before.

So, I've decided to dig up as much as I can about them. Moss has agreed to help me with that. There has to be something we can find that can be used against them.

One more thing. I got a note today. It was short and simple. I said “I came up with a favor you can do. Get back to you soon.” At the bottom right corner of the page was a single, red thumb print. I guess Jacks finally got something for me.

-Tony Helioson, signing out.

The Board

We've been on the road for a while now. No matter where we go, those dark clouds are always there in the distance behind us.

“What do you think it is?” Kyle asked, earlier today.

“I have no idea,” I said.

“I think it's following us,” Kyle said.

“Looks like it,” I said. “But why?”

“I don't know,” Kyle said. “But I don't think it's the only thing.”

I knew what he was talking about. We were currently stopped at a gas station, and I shot a glance at another car that had parked there. It had been driving the same way as us for a while now, and now it had stopped in the same place. I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but it seemed a little suspicious.

“What should we do?” Kyle asked.

“Wait for Seraph to get back and leave,” I answered.

A few minutes later, Seraph came out of the gas station with some bags of snacks and approached us. As she did, a couple men got out of the other car and began walking toward us. Seraph noticed too.

“Bail?” she asked as she got up to us.

“Bail,” I agreed.

We all got in the car and peeled out before the men made it over to us. Unfortunately, we couldn't get out of the parking lot because a van pulled up and blocked the exit. Two more men got out of it and approached us. One of them rapped on our driver's side window, where Kyle was sitting, and said to step out.

I looked over at their van. Scrawled across the side were the words “We live in the best of all possible worlds.”

“Shit,” I said. “The Panopticon.”

The men from the other car caught up to us and circled the car.

“We're fucked, aren't we?” Kyle asked.

I felt the air behind me becoming displaced as Abdalin spontaneously appeared in the back seat.

“Not quite,” Abdalin said, flipping the men outside the bird before we vanished. All of us, including the car, were now in another place.

The skies were a dark orange color, with purple clouds scattered across it. The ground was covered in black and white squares, and all around us was the rubble of collapsed buildings. There was no doubt about our current location.

“No way,” Kyle said.

“This is the Board!” Seraph gasped.

“Yeah,” Abdalin said. Then he vanished.

“Did he just strand us here?” Kyle asked.

“It would appear so,” I said.