The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

I've spent months trying to track down Daniel. Ren has tipped us off to his approximate location a number of times. Unfortunately, it's never precise enough. It's always “Somewhere in England” or “Somewhere in Italy”. And, apparently, he is now on the Board, putting him pretty far out of our reach. None of us are able to access the Game Master's domain, so we can't do a whole lot until he returns to the normal world. Just fucking perfect.

Healing

Onre's recovered. The Medicine worked out. Impressive stuff. Still, I wouldn't want an injection of it.

I spoke to the Timberwolf girl who survived the little encounter from before. Her name is Hazel. She's okay.

Mute hasn't said anything in a while. I mean, I know he can't really speak at all, but he's choosing not to communicate at the moment. We spoke after the fight, but all he said was that the Proxies have some superior tech that he's interested in. He's been silent since that conversation.

Ren's pretty much vanished. He said he'd be in touch, but that's it. So now we're waiting. Great...

Defeat

Adon called several of us to Sanctum earlier. It was me, Lazarus, Onre, Lasciel, and Mute, along with five other Timberwolves I didn't know. It seemed no one else was available.
“I've received word from Ren,” Adon said. “He has given us the location of both Daniel Ferris and his acquaintances.”
“What?” I asked.
“Please calm yourselves,” Adon said. “I do not want you facing Daniel again yet. Lasciel and I will confront hi and his accomplice, Tony Helioson The rest of you shall visit the home of Hiroshi Isamu, where the rest of his friends are. If Lasciel and I fail to reason with him, then they will serve us well as hostages.”
I almost objected to this plan, but I stopped myself. I was ticked I wouldn't be able to fight Daniel, but Adon's plan was logical. Get to him through his friends. It made sense.
We all set off and made it to the house. Onre and Lazarus took their positions outside the front door, with their weapons drawn. Onre held his long rifle with a bayonet attached, and Lazarus had a dart gun in his hand and a grenade launcher across his back. Me and Mut stood behind them and to the side, with the other Timberwolves waiting behind us.
Onre was about to kick in the door , but it swung open before he could.
“If you're looking for Mr. Helioson, he isn't in right now,” the man inside said. He then glanced over us quickly, taking note of the Twin Triangles we were wearing. “Unfortunately,” the man said, “He would not do business with Timberwolves either way, so I'm afraid I must ask you to leave.”
“I'm afraid we aren't here for him,” Onre said, lowering his weapon calmly.
“We've been assigned to capture you and anyone else residing here,” Lazarus said.
“Ah, I see,” the man said, turning around. “Hey, Kelterry, you hear that? They think taking us hostage'll work in their favor!”
“That's classic!” said a voice from inside. “Please, let them in!”
The man at the door stood aside, confidently, and allowed us to pass. We could all see that something was up, but we entered anyway. Once inside, we could plainly see the man sitting behind the desk. He was Japanese, it looked like, and though he appeared to be in his late 20s, I got the sense that he was much, much older.
“You must be Hiroshi Isamu,” Onre said.
“There's only one person I know who still knows me by that name,” the man replied, leaning back in his chair. “Tell me; how is Ren doing?”
“You've set up a trap for us, haven't you?” Onre asked.
“Not really,” Hiroshi said, standing up. Now that he was on his feet, I could see the medium length Japanese sword in his hand. “But we do not intend to lose against the lot of you. Right, Moss?”
“Right,” said the other man, loading a revolver.
One of the new timberwolves started laughing. Onre I exchanged knowing looks. This guy was gonna get himself killed.
“Is that all?” he asked. “A cheap handgun and a fucking katana?”
“It's a kodachi, you ignorant prick,” Hiroshi snarled, gripping the hilt of the sword. “Katana are longer.”
I barely saw him move after that. The next thing I knew, his sword was drawn, and he was standing on the other side of us, with the corpse of that dumbass on the floor at his feet Then the fight broke out. Onre and Lazarus charged at Hiroshi, who took up a fighting stance against them. Two of the other Timberwolves went after Moss, but I didn't get to see what happened with that fight, because two more opponents appeared out of nowhere before Me, Mute, and the remaining two Timberwolves. Both were girls. One was wielding a pair of miniature scythes attached by cords to the gauntlets she was wearing, and the other wielded a cutlass in one hand, and her other hand was radiating a bright red light. You take the one with scythes,” I told Mute. “I'll handle the other one.”
Mute turned to one of the other Timberwolves and gestured for him to follow, and they both began fighting scythe-girl, leaving me and the last Timberwolf to deal with the cutlass girl. She shot some kind of light from her hand, which I dodged. The other Timberwolf wasn't as lucky, and got blasted out the door by the force. I charged her and we clashed blades.
“Puppy Dog, right?” she asked me as we continued to fight. “Daniel mentioned you. He says you're an asshole.”
“Tell you what,” I said, parrying her attacks. “I'll work on my attitude once he's burried in a six foot hole!”
The battle royale continued, and eventually spilled out into the street I'm surprised we didn't draw any attention. It took a while, but we managed to gain the upper hand. Moss and Hiroshi were both knocked out, the scythe girl ended up bound by her own cord thingies, and then Mute and I managed to duel the magic cutlass wielding girl into submission. We though we had won. But none of us expected what came next.
A man, or maybe a monster, appeared. He had sunken, red eyes, and large batlike wings. He held an odd sword in his hand, resembling a metal pole with a hilt. He swung the weapon, which collided with Onre's skull, creating an impossibly loud clang, and knocking him out. Lazarus charged at the newcomer, and they began fighting. As they did, a dozen remote controlled helicopters appeared and starting dive-bombing the rest of us. Two of them exploded, killing another of our comrades.
“Shit!” I said. “Bombs! Mute, you're up!”
Mute took control of a couple of them with his power and forced them to detonate. I scanned the area as he blew up a couple more and I spotted  a man sitting on the roof, operating a really complex remote control. He was controlling them.
“Mute!” I called. “Up there!”
I pointed to the man and Mute nodded. He seized control of the six remaining helicopters and sent them flying at the guy, intending to detonate them within range of him. The man nonchalantly yanked one of the joysticks from the remote and tossed the remote into the middle of the helicopters before dropping from the roof. He landed on his feet, without taking any damage, and the remote blew up, taking the helicopters with it.
“What the?” I asked.
The speaker on Mute's belt switched on and began speaking for him.
“THE REMOTE CONTROL WAS A GRENADE. THE ANALOG STICK WAS THE PIN.
The man stepped closer to us. He wore a mask in the shape of Pacman, and he drew a familiar looking sword from across his back.
“Is that...,” I said.
“THE MASTER SWORD FROM THE LEGEND OF ZELDA SERIES,” Mute confirmed. “AND THE HANDGUN'S AT HIS SIDE ARE REPLICAS OF EBONY AND IVROY FROM DEVIL MAY CRY. HE ALSO WEARS THE LONGFALL BOOTS FROM PORTAL.”
“Great,” I said. “We're fighting a nerd.”
Me, Mute, and the remaining Timberwolves surrounded the newcomer.
“Well, well,” he said. “I like these odds.”
Suddenly, another girl appeared out of a portal. She had a mad look in her eyes, and I could make out Operator symbols painted on her fingernails. I knew right away that they were Proxies.
“Yeah,” she said. “This looks like it'll be fun!”
“Ugh,” the guy said. “Who invited Psycho Bitch?”
“She invited herself,” said another girl from behind me. I turned to see her there, with long blonde hair and a mask on resembling a butterfly. She held a longsword in one hand.
“Without warning, they attacked. The butterfly girl went after me, while the other two went after Mute and the other Timberwolves. I held my own against the butterfly girl for about a minute before she knocked me to the ground.
“You just got your butt kicked by a blonde chick in a sparkly butterfly mask,” she said. “How does that make you feel?”
“Annoyed and slightly aroused!” I replied, kicking her in the knee and jumping back to my feet. I swung my khopesh at her, continuing our fight. As I did, I caught a glimpse of the others. One of the Timberwolves was dead, and the crazy chick's twin short-swords were stained with blood. Damn it.
I  kept fighting the butterfly, but she managed to regain the upper hand again and kicked me in the gut. I fell to the ground, wheezing, and she gently placed the edge of her sword to my throat.
“Checkmate,” she said, calmly.
“STOP!” Onre's voice rang out. She froze.
I looked up and saw Onre was back on his feet, focused angrily on her. He snarled and put more power into his words.
“Kill yourself,” he said.
She began to obey. She raised her sword to her throat, about to draw it across. But before she could, the sword disappeared abruptly. Then a young man, wearing a tranchcoat and holding her sword, appeared behind her. He swiped his free hand at her head, knocking her out.
“Suicide is whack, yo,” he slurred, in a fake rapper accent His eyes were completely bloodshot, and he reeked of whiskey, despite looking too young to drink.
The fighting stopped. Everyone seemed taken aback by this man's arrival. We all just stood still for a while. One of the remaining two Timberwolves was the first to move. She raised her gun and fired a bullet at the man. He vanished before it could hit and reappeared behind her. He moved quickly, and I barely saw it when he twisted her head around, breaking her neck.
“Stop this at once!” Onre ordered, putting power into his voice again.
The man seemed to sober up instantly, and glared angrily at Onre.
“Did you just tell me what to do?” he demanded.
I felt a chill go down my spine, and for a second, I saw an image of a black mask with a question mark on it flash across his face, before it was gone again.
“Only one man tells me what to do,” he hissed. “And he's GONE!”
The man vanished.
“Onre!” I cried out, trying to warn him, but it was too late. The man had appeared before Onre, and stabbed the sword through his torso.
“Fuck you, Apostle,” he said, pulling the sword back out.
I stood there in stunned silence, unable to wrap my head around what had happened. I was lost for words. I was totally blanking out. That's probably why I didn't notice Ren's arrival. I just know that suddenly he was there. He had lost his coat, and tree branches were growing from his arms and shoulder blades, growing wildly and lashing out at the new guy and the proxies. The proxies were knocked unconscious quickly, but the newcomer held his ground, chopping through the branches before they could get close to him. Ren kept up the offense for a few minutes bbefore slowing down A look of recognition seemed to cross his face, and he stopped everything, opening up a portal to the Path. His branches shot out, picking up Onre and wrapping around his wound to stop the bleeding. He stepped through the portal and turned to us.
“We're leaving,” he told us. “Come on.”
“But we can't just leave!” I said.
“Come with me, or stay here and let him kill you,” Ren said. “I don't care either way.”
“But-” I said.
“You can stand up to him if you want,” he said. “But a punk like you doesn't stand a chance against the Black Joker.”
Lazarus stepped throught eh portal and turned to me.
“He's right,” he said. “We have to go.”
Mute and the remaining Timberwolf girl went through as well, and I reluctantly followed. As I did, Hirsoshi spoke up, seeming to regain consciousness.
“Ren?” he said, weakly, looking through the portal at him.
Ren stared at Hiroshi for a few moments. I could read his expression. The Black joker guy just stood there, calmly.
“Please,” Hiroshi said. “Stop this. You're only going to make your pain worse.”
“It will all be worth it,” Ren said. “As soon as I get the chance to tear him apart. Tentacle. By. Tentacle.”
Ren shut the portal behind us and lead us through the Path. He eventually opened a new gate, leading into what seemed to be an abandoned hospital. He set Onre down on a table and grabbed a syringe from a shelf. Onre looked up at him weakly.
“Tell me, Metatron,” Ren said. “How desperately do you wish to survive this?”
Onre clutched his stab wound with one hand.
“I need to live,” he said. “For... the Apostles. For... the Archangel.”
“Very well,” Red said. He then jabbed the syringe into Onre's arm and pushed the plunger down.
Onre cried out in agony and began writhing on the table.
“What did you do to him!” I demanded.
“I've either healed him, or I've killed him,” Ren said. “It's up to him whether or not he lives.”
Onre continued to writhe in pain for the next hour, before passing out. He's still alive. Thankfully.
“What was that stuff?” I asked.
“Medicine,” Ren said. “It's effective, yet dangerous. Only to be used in emergencies.”
“Pardon me,” Lazarus asked. “But what is this place?”
“Shady Lawn,” Ren said. “What's left of it.”
“But this is Oathbreaker territory!” the other Timberwolf girl said.
“Used to be,” Ren said. “Until I took it from them. Now rest up. We'll be heading back to Sanctum once numbskull here wakes up.”

A Visitor

So this morning, I was in the cathedral of Sanctum, training with Lasciel. She's a hell of a fighter. She's proficient in the use of Dao, Chinese broadswords, and wields two of them at once. She kept gaining the upper hand during our sparring match. It was pretty one sided.
Meanwhile, Adon and Onre were discussing something from a distance that I couldn't make out. Onre kept glancing my way the whole time. It had me worried.
At some point, Nick appeared in the room, with another man accompanying him.. Someone I had never seen before. Lasciel and I paused our fight as they approached Adon.
The new man was about 30 years old, give or take, and looked Asian. He was dressed in blue jeans and a loose coat that looked easy to slip out of in a tight situation. All he had on underneath it was a tank top.
“Adon,” Nick said. “This man has requested an audience with you.”
“And you brought him here?” Adon asked.
“He didn't give me much of a choice,” Nick said.
“I see,” Adon said, turning to the man. “Might I ask your name?”
“Ren,” the man replied.
“Ah, yes,” Adon replied. “I've heard of you.”
“I doubt you've heard everything,” Ren said.
“So what is it you wish to speak of,” Adon asked.
Ren glanced in my direction, then turned around.
“I'd like to discuss this somewhere more private,” he said.
Suddenly, the air in front of him began rippling, then tore apart, opening a rift into another world. Beyond it, I could see a forest of dense, black leaves. The Path. The Slender Man's domain
Ren turned to Adon and said “Not scared, are you?”
Adon grinned confidently at him.
“Should I be?” he asked.
“Come, then,” Ren said stepping through the gate.
“Nicolai,” Adon said. “Stand by.”
Nick lifted up his Trinket in front of himself.
“Will do,” he replied.
Adon stepped through the gate, which closed behind him. As soon as it sealed shut, Lasciel spoke up.
“So, does anyone else get bad vibes from that guy?” she asked.
“Yeas, Onre and I said simultaneously. Nick just shuddered.
“You didn't have to walk with the guy,” he said. “He's definitely missing a few screws.”
Suddenly, Nick's Trinket flashed a golden light. He sighed and sent some kind of red light through it.
“There's definitely something off about him,” Lasciel said. “I don't trust him.”
“He's a proxy, right?” I asked. “how else could he open up the Path Of Black Leaves?”
Nick's Trinket flashed again, and he sent more red light through it.
“No, he's not,” Nick said. “I talked to him. He's actually Slendy's enemy.”
“Then how does he open the portals?” Lasciel asked.
Nick repeated that thing with his Trinket twice more as Onre spoke.
“Ever heard of the Thorned Prince?” he asked.
“No,” Lasciel and I said.
“It's complicated,” Nick said. “But he has access to the Path because he's connected to it.”
Nick did the Trinket thing three more times, groaning in frustration as he did.
“The Path isn't exclusively Slender Man's domain,” Onre said. “Not anymore. Things have been becoming strange lately. The Streams Of Destiny becoming corrupted. The Rake's domain is falling apart.  The Bleak Shore has changed...”
He looked up at the walls of the Sanctum uneasily.
“Even Sanctum feels different...”
He was right. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it felt like things were changing, and I don't know why.
Nick's Trinket lit up one last time.
“Oh, come on!” he snapped, sending a final wave of red light through it.
A few moment's later, the path opened again and Adon stepped out. The rift closed behind him. Nick lifted up his Trinket, looking annoyed.
“That's eight!” he snapped.
“I know,” Adon said. “I was counting too.”
“So what did he say?” Onre asked.
“He offers his help in exchange for ours,” Adon said.
“I don't trust him,” Lasciel said. “He's insane. I can tell just by looking at him.”
“He is but a man driven to the edge of madness by the pain of lost and the sting of betrayal,” Adon said, glancing sideways at her “Something you of all people should be able to sympathize with.”
Lasciel fell silent at that.
“We will await a word from him,” Adon said. “In the meantime, back to your training.”

Release

They finally allowed me to leave Sanctum a few weeks ago. According to Onre, they didn't want me leaving yet because they had traced some sort of anomaly inside my body after my fight with Daniel that they wanted to investigate. However, the anomaly had faded away quickly, and they didn't get any answers to it. That bothers me. Just what the hell did they detect?
Additionally, they've decided they want to keep Daniel alive for a little while longer. They're interested in that flaming sword of his, as well as his ability to defy Onre's orders. People don't just ignore what Onre tells them to do. They want to try and figure out how he did that before we kill him. Unfortunately, he's fallen under our radar again. But we'll find him. Somethings bound to turn up soon.
In the meantime, they have me doing a few routine assignments. Scouting, recon, escorting cargo. Just some simple stuff. I'll hear from the Apostles once they find him again.

They won't let me leave...

I've pretty much recovered from all my wound, but they're making me stay here in Sanctum. They won't tell me why, but they don't want me leaving yet. I ju8st want out so I can continue my mission. I have to settle the score. As soon as I get out of here, I'm going after Daniel. I just need to figure out where he's run off to...

Clash

I finally found him. He was walking down the street with two other people, a guy about his age, and a woman. I texted Mute immediately and began pursuing them, staying hidden as best I could. Mute showed up after a while, on the other side of the street. He was hidden from their view, but from where I was I could tell he was there. I soon noticed that Daniel was being extremely observant of his surroundings. I began suspecting that he was on to us. After walking for a couple miles, they stopped and began talking amongst themselves. I texted Mute that it was time to act, and we stepped out into the open, approaching them.
They noticed us, and Daniel began grinning upon seeing me, and began walking toward me until we were a couple feet apart. As he did, he summoned that wakizashi to his hand. I'm still not sure how he does that.
“Devil Killer,” I said.
“Puppy Dog,” he replied.
“Daniel!” the other man called.
Daniel looked over his shoulder at them.
“You should be good,” he said. “It's me they want.”
He was right. I had no intention of doing the others any harm. But if necessary, I would.
“So,” he said, facing me again. “We doing this or what?”
I gripped my bat, which I had been carrying, with both hands. Then I attacked. He kept his sword sheathed, using it to defend himself. Then he started getting offensive. I took a few hits. I swung my bat, in an attempt to counter attack, but he drew his sword quickly and knocked it from my hand.
“So, you gonna stop holding back?” he asked me.
I drew my khopesh.
“That depends. Are you?” I said.
We began sword fighting. It lasted for maybe a minute before we knocked the swords out of each other's hands. He simply summoned his sword back to him and raised it to my throat. Stupid teleporting sword...
Seeing me at a disadvantage, Mute slipped out of his coat and prepared to fire his weird techno claws at Daniel. He failed. The woman is stronger then she looks, and managed to pin Mute to the ground with little effort. All that commotion caught Daniel's attention, and I took advantage of the distraction by drawing my shotgun and aiming it at he. He turned back to me and knocked the gun aside just as I was pulling the trigger. A bit of the shrapnel cut his leg, but other then that, he took no damage. My gun is a twin barrel, so I had one more shot left in it before I'd need to reload. I drew my bayonet with my free hand and slashed at him. He blocked it and kicked me away from him. I fell to the ground. I got back up and attached the bayonet to the end of my gun. By the time I had, he had sheathed his sword and drawn his own gun. IT was then that the Apostles arrived.
I'm sure they were watching the whole time, but now they had chosen to come forward. Ten of them, total. I didn't see Nick anywhere, and another was missing. I think it was Joseph Krell. They surrounded us in a large circle. Daniel suddenly jumped to the side and fired his gun right next to my face, and I freaked out a bit and fired my remaining barrel where he had just been. I'm sure there's a premature ejaculation joke in there somewhere... After he did that, he tossed his gun and sword to his friends, and quickly equipped his brass knuckles to his left had and drew a switchblade in his right.
“Who the hell are you guys?” Daniel asked.
I was somewhat tempted to say “Hell? Funny you should mention that...” but I bit my tongue. Not the best time for cheesy jokes.
“Don't mind us,” Adon said. “My name is Adon, and we are the Apostles.”
I felt a little peeved at them. I wanted Daniel to myself. I didn't need them here.
“Apostles, huh?” Daniel said. “Never heard of you.”
“That's how we prefer it,” Adon replied.
“We're a bit of a covert group,” said another Apostle, who I don't think I've been introduced to yet.
“Even the Archive has little knowledge of us,” Somebody else said.
“Then why make yourselves known now?” Daniel asked.
“Because you forced their hand, you ass!” I snapped, perhaps a bit bitterly.
“Hey, dude, language,” Daniel replied.
“Stay back!” I said, addressing the Apostles. “He's mine.”
I dropped my gun and drew the clip point knife from my belt.
“Of course,” Adon said calmly. “For now, we are just spectating.”
“But if you screw up,” Lasciel added cheerily, “We'll kill him for you!”
I glared in  her general direction.
“Please calm yourself, Lasciel,” Onre said. “The boy has got this.”
With that, Daniel and I rushed each other. We both got some cuts in, but in the end, he managed to stab my in the side, narrowly missing my stomach. As a matter of fact, he might have missed intentionally.
I cried out, but was silenced quickly when his brass knuckles met my jaw. I went down, clutching at my side. My vision swam in front of my. I was barely conscious. I felt something press against my wound, and a few drops of warm liquid entered my mouth. I focused a bit and realized one of the Apostles was kneeling over me, nursing my wound. I think his name was Lazarus Freign. One of his fingers was dripping blood, and I realized what the liquid in my mouth was. My vision began to blur again, and I heard Daniel speak.
“Look, I don't want things to get any more violent then they already are. I'm sorry about what happened with the Archangel, but you have to understand that he was a monster. He attacked my friends. And my family. I did what I did to protect them. Are you really going to condemn me for that?”
This was my first time hearing his side of the story. All I had been told was that he had killed the Archangel, but I had never learned why. But it didn't matter. The point was that our master was dead, and he was responsible for it. His reasons didn't excuse what he had done.
“Matthew,” I heard Adon say. “If you will.”
Then, Matt Onre spoke, putting power behind his words.
“Drop your knife, and your knuckles,” he said.
It heard a couple metal items clatter to the ground. I struggled to life my head, and looked in his direction. Things were still blurring, but I could see that Daniel was standing before Adon, and that he had another gun in his hand. I couldn't make out what kind it was, but I don't think it was his usual one. His friends started calling to him.
“Tune them out,” Onre ordered.
They continued to call out to him, but he didn't listen. I could barely understand them either, in my current state.
“Now,” Onre said. “I want you to raise that gun to your temple.”
He did. I tried to sit up, but Lazarus held me down.
“No!” I said weakly. “He's supposed to be mine!”
“Calm yourself,” Lazarus said.
Suddenly, Daniel's sheathed sword appeared in his hand.
“Drop that sword,” Onre demanded. “Now.
He didn't. He ignored one of Onre orders. How? How the hell could he do that? As I wondered that, my vision grew even worse. I was almost seeing double, and the wound at my side began throbbing. It wasn't that painful, but it certainly wasn't comfortable.
“Very well,” Onre said, begrudgingly. “In that case, pull the trigger.”
“No,” I muttered. “He's... mine...”
A few seconds passed, in which Daniel did nothing. Then, to everyone's surprise, he turned the gun to Adon and said “Embrace whatever's left of your master!”
Then he pulled the trigger, shooting Adon directly in the forehead. I couldn't make out what exactly happened after that, but I think Adon glowed red for a second, then turned back to Daniel. He was alive. I have no idea how that works, but it's pretty cool, I guess.
“No one has ever ignored Matt Onre's orders,” Adon said. “What are you?”
“You know damn well what I am!” Daniel snapped, outrage filling his voice. “I am Daniel Xavier Ferris. I am the man who killed the Archangel, your god! I am a  god damn Devil Killer! I am-”
Suddenly, bright red light filled my vision, nearly blinding me.
“I am so fucked,” Daniel said.
Then some kind of chaos broke out. I didn't get a good look at any of it before passing out, but I learned later that the Bloody biker had arrived, bringing a hoard of demons with him. The Apostles had fought them off, but by the time the Biker had retreated with his beasts, Daniel and his friends had already escaped. I've been sitting in a room at the Sanctum, recovering from my wounds. Figures. Right when I found Daniel again, he has to slip through my fucking fingers...
Damn it all to hell...