Recovered from the moon's surface. Playback fidelity: Varies. WARNING: Extreme content.
Designation: Prospector Velyn-3, Independent Operator
Location: Whispering Vein, Entrance Chamber
Timestamp: Unknown (estimated pre-war)
[AUDIO ONLY. Breathing. Ragged. Wet.]
Velyn-3: [gasping] Still alive. Still... [cough] ...still recording.
[Long pause. The breathing slows.]
Velyn-3: Went in alone. Stupid. Knew it was stupid. But the metal... the metal pays so well.
[Wet sound. Movement.]
Velyn-3: Found the vein. Beautiful. Terrible. Purple. Reached out to touch it—
[Screaming. Not his. Others.]
Velyn-3: It touched back.
[Long silence. Then—a voice. Not his. Feminine. Warm.]
Unknown: You're warm. You're alive. You're ours.
Velyn-3: [whispering] Get out of my head.
Unknown: [laughing] We're not in your head. We're in your blood. We're in your bones. We're in the spaces between your thoughts where fear lives.
[Pause.]
Unknown: We've always been there. You just couldn't hear us.
[Until now.]
Velyn-3: [screaming—then singing—then nothing]
[RECORDING ENDS]
Playback note: Prospector Velyn-3's body was found at the entrance. Still standing. Still breathing. His eyes were pink-white. His mouth was open. He was humming.
He's still humming.
They put him in storage.
He won't stop.
Nothing stops.
Nothing ever stops.
Designation: Sentinel Vareth, Unbroken Seal
Location: The Unbroken Perimeter, Watchtower 7
Timestamp: 347th Year, Day 189
[VISUAL: Cracked visor footage. A watchtower interior. Blood on the walls. Bodies on the floor. One figure standing—armor cracked, visor shattered, still moving.]
Vareth: [breathing ragged] They... they came from inside. Not outside. Inside. The perimeter was already breached. For weeks. Months. Years.
[He turns. Shows the bodies. Fellow knights. Their armor intact. Their faces... wrong. Smiling. Pink-white eyes open.]
Vareth: They were Hollow. All of them. Standing watch beside me for decades. And I never... I never noticed.
[He laughs—broken, wet.]
Vareth: The perimeter isn't holding anything out. It's holding something in. And that something just... asked them to stand up. And they did. And they turned. And they—
[He looks at his hands. They're covered in blood. Not his.]
Vareth: I killed three. Before I understood. They kept smiling. Kept thanking me. Kept singing.
[He holds up his memory-erasing blade. It's cracked. Flickering.]
Vareth: The blade won't erase them. They're already empty. There's nothing left to erase.
[Long pause. He looks at the camera.]
Vareth: I can still hear them. In the walls. In the floor. In my head. They're singing my name. They're asking me to join.
[He raises the blade to his own throat.]
Vareth: I won't. I won't.
[The blade falls. He's crying.]
Vareth: But I'm so tired. And they're so warm. And the singing is so beautiful.
[A tendril emerges from the wall behind him. Touches his shoulder. Gently. Lovingly.]
Vareth: [whispering] ...yes.
[RECORDING ENDS]
Playback note: Sentinel Vareth was found three days later, standing at his post, eyes pink-white, singing in perfect harmony with the other Hollow. His blade was still on the floor. He didn't need it anymore.
He never needed it.
None of them do.
Designation: Drone Observer 47-Gamma (Automated)
Location: The Proving Grounds, Crater 47 (post-battle)
Timestamp: 347th Year, Day 190
[VISUAL: Drone footage. Night vision. The crater floor is moving.]
Auto-Report: Casualty count: 847 Unbroken Seal. 612 Adamant Crown. Melded Kin: uncountable. All deceased.
[The drone descends. The crater floor isn't rock. It's flesh. And it's eating.]
Auto-Report: Correction. Casualties not deceased. Casualties digesting.
[The footage shows bodies—hundreds of them—slowly sinking into the crater floor. The floor ripples. Pulses. Chews. Faces emerge briefly—screaming? singing?—then sink back down.]
Auto-Report: Crater 47 is not a geological formation. Crater 47 is a mouth. It has been feeding since the first battle. It has never stopped. It will never stop.
[A hand emerges. Reaches toward the drone. Dissolves before reaching.]
Auto-Report: Survivors: 0. Remains: 0. Voices: 1,459 and counting.
[The drone pulls back. The crater continues feeding. The faces continue surfacing. The singing continues—faintly, beautifully, eternally.]
Auto-Report: Crater 47 is satisfied. For now.
[Long pause.]
Auto-Report: It will be hungry again tomorrow.
[The drone rises. The crater recedes. But the sound—the wet, rhythmic, hungry sound—follows.]
[RECORDING ENDS]
Playback note: Drone 47-Gamma was recovered three kilometers from its last known position. No damage. No malfunction. Just... moved. Closer to the crater.
It's still recording.
The footage now shows only darkness.
And chewing.
Always
chewing.
Designation: Unknown Civilian (female, approx. 30s)
Location: The Garden of Unwanted Things, Outer Edge
Timestamp: 347th Year, Day 231
[VISUAL: Handheld recorder. Shaking. A woman's face—terrified, bleeding, running.]
Unknown: [gasping] They said... they said this place was safe. The Garden. The Requiem's Garden. They said the Requiem protected it.
[She turns. Shows the Garden behind her. Fleshy stalks. Fractal eyes. Whisper-metal vines. And bodies—dozens of them, hanging from the stalks, becoming part of them.]
Unknown: They're not protecting anything. They're growing it. They sit among the growths and they feed them. With themselves. With us.
[She points. A Requiem knight—seated, still, armor cracked—has vines growing through him. His eyes are open. Pink-white. Peaceful.]
Unknown: He's still alive. They're all still alive. The garden keeps them alive. Keeps them conscious. Keeps them feeling everything.
[She moves closer. The knight's lips move.]
Knight: [whispering] It doesn't hurt. It loves. It loves so much. You can feel it. If you just... stop running.
Unknown: [backing away] No. No. No.
Knight: [smiling] Yes. Always yes. The garden has room. The garden always has room. It's been waiting for you.
[A vine reaches for her ankle. She screams—drops the recorder.]
[VISUAL: Ground level. The vine wraps around her ankle. Pulls. She falls. More vines. More stalks. More eyes.]
Unknown: [screaming] PLEASE—!
Knight: [singing now] Shh. Shh. It's warm. It's home. It's always been home.
[The screaming becomes sobbing. The sobbing becomes humming. The humming becomes harmony.]
Unknown: [last words, barely audible] ...I can feel them... in me... growing...
[The recorder is pulled into the garden. Darkness. Then—faces. Dozens. Hundreds. Pressing against the lens. Smiling. Singing. Thanking.]
[RECORDING ENDS]
Playback note: This recorder was found at the Garden's edge, partially dissolved into a fleshy stalk. The stalk had a face. The face was hers.
It was smiling.
Designation: Justiciar Velas-7, Adamant Crown (deserter)
Location: The Echo Fields, Central Glass
Timestamp: 347th Year, Day 247
[VISUAL: Stable footage. A lone figure stands on black glass. Beneath him: reflections. Too many. All watching.]
Velas-7: [quiet] I deserted. Three days ago. The Crown will judge me. I know. I am the Crown. I've judged deserters. I know the sentence.
[He looks down. His reflection waves. He didn't wave.]
Velas-7: The Echo Fields... they keep things. Reflections. Memories. Versions. I've been walking for three days. My reflection has been walking beside me. Inside the glass.
[He kneels. Touches the glass. It's warm. Alive.]
Velas-7: It started talking yesterday. Not to me—to itself. Whispering. About hunger. About wanting out.
[His reflection looks up. Smiles. Wrong.]
Reflection: You're tired. You've been walking so long. Let me carry you for a while.
Velas-7: [backing away] No.
Reflection: [standing now, inside the glass] You will. You always do. Everyone does. The Fields have been here longer than your order. Longer than your species. We've collected so many. So many echoes. But we're still hungry.
[More reflections gather behind his. Hundreds. Thousands. All smiling. All hungry.]
Reflection: We want the originals now.
[The glass cracks beneath his feet. Not cracks—hands. Reaching up. Grabbing his ankles. Pulling.]
Velas-7: [screaming] NO—!
Reflection: [calm, as he sinks] Yes. Always yes. You were always going to be here. You just didn't know the address.
[He sinks. Slowly. Screaming. Then—silence.]
[The glass seals. His reflection stands alone now. Looks at the camera. Waves.]
Reflection: He's settling in. He'll be quiet soon. They always are.
[It points at the camera—at you.]
Reflection: You're next.
[The glass shows your face now. Smiling. Waiting.]
[RECORDING ENDS]
Playback note: This recording was found floating in orbit, no source, no transmitter. It plays on loop. The reflection at the end changes—always to whoever is watching.
Look away.
It won't help.
It's already seen you.