...Thank you all for opening yourselves up to me. You didn't have to do that. Really, you shouldn't have. Thanks to you I can finally be free from all of this...
Yours,
IIIIIIIII
Never before have I been as satisfied as I am today. Two days ago, I stepped in to the very nexus of rampant ignorance, and today, the lambs have invited the wolf into their fold. The counter resets. We begin again today, on a larger scale than before. I will hunt the ones who wronged me down, tear everything they stand for apart, and as sky crumbles around them, they will realize that this was all inevitable. You can't fight fate.
Dawn of the Second Day
48 Hours remain.
Last night's prophecy was troubling to say the least. Certain members, Father included, had reported hearing more to the message. References to Ben. It had been almost five years since he drowned. Rosa had done a good job of throwing off the investigation, and it became sort of an unwritten rule in the order not to mention him. Indeed, Mr. D had only shared this information the people who had witnessed Ben's Ascension.
He will grant what has been requested
The world will burn
He returns from the murky depths
And shackle us all with the chains of fate
The website was almost finished. The pages were password protected now, and all that was left to do was to set up the guestbook. Matt rubbed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. It was 12:34 and the contact page was still having problems. It didn't help that he kept feeling like someone was reading over his shoulder. It didn't matter. He got back to work, and within the hour, It was done. He posted a confirmation message on the main page, and almost immediately fell asleep. Before he did though, he took a last look at the moon. Recently it had begun to look larger. If he turned his head a certain way, it almost looked like it was below cloud level. He had yet to mention this to anyone, but now was really not the time. He laid his head on the desk and closed his eyes. It had begun to rain.
40 Hours remain.
A storm is brewing. Fight with every last ounce of your strength.
Matt woke up to sound at his door. Stumbling out of his chair, he made his way to the front door. Trying not to look too groggy, he swung it open to reveal the empty porch. A vague feeling of disappointment washed over Matt, but it was too early in the morning for anger. Matt glanced up and started. The moon was definitely closer. He had heard about this phenomenon before, but apparently it only lasted for a few hours. Why was it making him so uncomfortable? But he knew that the moon was only part of it. Memories resurfaced. He and Ben, fixed parallel to the surface of the lake, hovering for a moment it seemed, his adrenaline throwing him into the Theta State. In that moment, a moment that brings enlightenment to most, he felt absolutely blinded by rage. While he was operating completely on instinct, Ben was, for the first time, seeing clearly, or so he claimed. Then, breaking the surface of the water, holding the heretic down- that was his thought process exactly- then the hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach that never left, no matter how dim it was, it never, ever left.
He shut the door and went back to his computer to check the number of hits. Glancing over his notes, he saw that, last he checked, there were 30 new accounts since launch and 107 hits. He pulled up the stat page and… 217 new accounts, 1063 hits. "What the hell…?" He checked the guestbook. The first few comments, two Children coordinating some school shooting, seemed normal enough. But then… something else. The discussion shifted. People began discussing some "Jadusable" thing- no. Jadusable was apparently a person. Something else caught Matt by surprise: They were talking about Ben. They wrote it as BEN, all caps, every time to the point where Matt determined that it meant something. He was about to call Rosa when he noticed his own username: Ifrit. The users in the guestbook were all collaborating to find out how to contact him. Sure enough, a new message appeared:
User:Shinigami_red
"Okay, we found him. Before everybody jumps at the email link, lets keep this civilized. No more than maybe seven people messaging him at a time. We don't want to overload him. Transcribe each of his answers because we'll need to keep this all on record for later. That timer we found on the BEN contact page says we've got about 40 hours left until… I'm not sure, but if what happened in the game is any indication, it can't be good."
Less than a minute later, Matt got an email. Then another. Then another. Too many, too quickly. He clicked "Reply All" and told them to ask one question at a time so his computer wouldn't explode. They obliged. The first question came in after a few minutes of deliberation on the guest book. It was from Shinigami.
"I need you to tell me about Ben. Who was he, and why is he doing this?"
Matt was taken aback. How did they know Ben? Why were they acting like there was some kind of danger?
"Ben was a Moon Child like me. He drowned a few years back during his Ascension. As for your second question, I have no idea what you're talking about."
More discussion in the guestbook. Then,
From raidermags:
"Are you aware of the danger you're in? BEN is free. He killed/imprisoned Jadusable and now he's coming after someone named Matt. We need to save him."
That response raised more questions than answers, but he held his tongue and explained to them that he was Matt. At this revelation, they panicked. They warned him that BEN would be coming for him soon. He turned his head.
From Shinigami_red
Matt, try to stay calm. We'll think of something, but until then, don't do anything stupid. We don't understand how BEN operates, but it'd be safest to avoid any sites that BEN has overtaken, and as far as we know, that may be all of them.
From Ifrit
Give me a second, someone keeps knocking at my door.
From Shinigami_red
NO!
Ifrit is not online.
From Shinigami_red
…
Ifrit has met a terrible fate.
From Shinigami_red
Abort mission, everyone out, now!
Night of the Second Day.
36 Hours remain.
They are gathering their meager forces for war. Thirty-six hours until apotheosis.
Tick-Tock.