Chapter Two: Idiosyncrasy

"Do you really know who you are? Can you live on delusions?"
Logan shook another voice out of his head as he continued walking through the empty streets. Well, only half empty, considering the occasional monster appeared, but they were typically easy enough to avoid. Mostly now, he was only trying to piece his memories back together and understand everything that was occurring. He knew impulse could only take him so far before he drove himself insane.
He knew the answer to the first question posed to him: the feared name was Samael. He had returned to this world. His power was growing with every passing moment, and his influence was spreading. Silent Hill wasn't the only town consumed by the darkness. Every surrounding town, including a few others, were now in its grasp, and it wouldn't be too long before the entire world would be enveloped. That's why he was here; Logan was in this town of Lonely Lake because the power had spread this far. The voices he had heard before waking to Alice were enough to prove that. There were others out there that knew; some people had faced Silent Hill and lived. Far too many faced it and died.
Lonely Lake was special to him because this was his home town. This is where he was born and raised, though he couldn't remember any of his childhood at the moment. He just knew this is where he lived, little more. The hotel he had been in was important, thought he didn't know why, and the fire had been of special significance, but not because of the fire in Silent Hill all those years ago. No, this was a different fire for a very special reason…
There was something he half-knew about himself. The product and killer of Silent Hill: the power inside him came from Silent Hill, and at some point he had dedicated himself to the town's destruction. But why…?
Those monsters were the inner demons and fears of people. What was different about him was the fact that he faced the demons of others, barely ever his own. That sword demon was the only monster of his, for some reason regarding death, regret and revenge…
Logan stopped walking to rest for a moment. He leaned back against the wall of a building just at the top of a slightly steep hill going down. To his surprise, he heard a voice coming out of the fog down the hill. It was a male voice talking to something:
"Jessie, it's Devan, and I'm still in the town of Silent Hill… I think. The fog is thick enough to choke the senses, and I haven't found a single map, though I believe myself fortunate to have found a portable flashlight and radio, though I don't know why I kept the radio. In case I didn't mention it before, I've taken it upon myself to solve the mystery of this town, that being several things: the disappearance of every living being in the surrounding area; this unnatural weather; the missing roads; the ungodly amount of ammunition lying about in the most peculiar of places; and the fact that the only living thing I've seen this whole time has been a monster that resembled my ex-wife. Make a note: her nagging was exaggerated, but I'm sure it was meant to be a crude caricature of her, though for whatever reason, I can't fathom it. Don't worry about it, though, Jessie; it stumbled after me through a construction site and managed to bring down an entire mass of steel down upon it. If only divorcing my real ex-wife had been that easy."
The man spoke so loud that Logan misjudged his distance away. He just now stepped out of the fog close to him, and it seemed the man had been speaking into a portable recorder. He was of an average height and build, maybe thirty years old, with black hair made perfectly straight and everything, and dark green eyes. He wore a nice suit and seemed to take care of his appearance. All in all, he seemed a more-trustworthy man than you could typically find in a place like this.
Logan called out to him, saying, "Hey, hello!"
On reflex, the man whipped out his pistol and aimed it at Logan, tense, but seeing him as being human and not very threatening, he returned his weapon to its holster and said with a sort of half-smile, "Greetings. I'm Federal Agent Devan Sylph. I'm here to investigate the mystery of Silent Hill, albeit unwillingly. And you are?"
Just a bit eccentric… "I'm Logan. Just Logan."
Curious as a federal agent should be, Devan asked, "Why just 'Logan?' "
Truthfully, Logan explained, "I just can't remember much else. It seems to be going around."
"Well I can remember everything perfectly. I had taken a wrong turn after the road changed on me all of a sudden, and I was drawn into this personless place. Why are you the only person I've seen?"
"Well, I have seen two other people. One was a strange woman in an even stranger outfit, but she just sort of vanished. The other was a girl a bit younger than me, but she sort of vanished, too."
Devan rubbed his chin in thought, wondering aloud, "Now why could that be? It certainly is a problem." He glanced around for a moment, then finally suggested, "I think you should come with me. Considering the fact that you're the only person I've found, and there might be more monsters like my ex-wife out there, it'd be safest if you stuck with me. At this moment, I can consider you a suspect. I hope you understand my reasoning."
Logan nodded. "Yeah, sure. Hey, after all, you're the one with the gun, and can protect me if need be."
Devan smiled after a moment. "Good."
"I suggest we keep heading directly toward Silent Hill. It's off in this direction." He pointed.
The agent nodded, then the two of them began walking. After a moment, Devan pulled out his recorder again and said into it, "Jessie, it's Devan. It's still very foggy and it's snowing. The weatherman said sunny skies all week. If you get paid that kinda money to be wrong sixty percent of the time, it'd beat working'."
Logan laughed inwardly at the man's strangeness. Quite a character.

~*~in a town like Silent Hill, no one is innocent~*~

The words pierced the distractedness of his mind and suddenly perturbed him. No one… Did that mean for certain that even someone like this Devan could be sinful? Couldn't he have just wandered into Silent Hill just like Laura…? Laura… Who's Laura?
As if on cue to screw up his thoughts once more, an inhuman moan broke through the silence of the fog and reached his ears. Somehow, Devan heard it, too, or at least he seemed to, considering he was waving his gun about, ready to blast any reasonable targets. White noise blared on the agent's radio, surprising the both of them. The ground began to rumble under their feet, and for a moment Logan feared the ground giving way and swallowing them up deep within the earth. Flap of wings to the right…
Devan surprised him by suddenly thinking aloud, "Wait, this seems so familiar…" He held his gun back in a ready position, then shouted out, "Jack!" Strange that it didn't echo. "Jack! Jack, are you out there!?"
That moan again; was it real? Was it a monster, a demon, or the cries of the damned?
Devan suddenly ran off into the fog, even as the quasi-earthquake continued. That annoying white noise followed him and disappeared. What the hell was he doing? Who was Jack? Flashes of images began to filter through Logan's mind: a terrible darkness, Devan calling after his partner, screams, someone evil torturing someone, more screams, terrible pain, no, wrong, stop! Logan held his head as a migraine ten times more painful than normal ripped through his head, like a thousand knives stabbing his brain with unrelenting force. Stop it!
The ground did rip open before him, appearing as a great fissure separating the two of them from each other. The way it appeared, it was as if the rest of the town Devan escaped to no longer, if it ever, existed. What…? Before he could dwell on the thought for long, moans came from a second location, to his right. He looked--and saw one of his worst fears become realized in the form of the executioner, adorned with red helmet and wicked blade: what someone, whoever he was, aptly named Pyramid Head.
Still clutching his head in pain, Logan thought aloud in anger, "Goddamn it, why did someone have to sin and release the executioner?"
He knew his life suddenly became a whole lot harder. Logan raised a hand to blast the bloody judge and jury in one, but realized the demon was far too close as it swung its great sword towards him. He leapt backwards just in the nick of time, but too strongly, crashing himself against the front display glass of a weapons store. Horrid sounds continued to escape the huge creature as it approached him, but that didn't bother Logan much as he glanced back and noticed the largely-out-of-place weapons inside the store. He thanked the fact that someone within the darkness had a love for action movies or at least a bloody history, and broke the glass, freeing the one weapon that stood out most to him: a submachine gun.
Resisting the urge to kiss the lethal weapon in thanks, Logan opened fire on the terrible demon, one of many that no doubt lurked within the bloody town. The powerful rounds ricocheted off of the mighty red helmet, but clearly dealt damage to the creature. His arm's starting to ache from the force of the weapon, he stopped firing once a hole ripped open in the center of the helmet, blood pouring from the wound as its arms flailed about, the sword dropping.
Logan took the chance and stole a grenade conveniently placed in the store display. Pulling the pin, he leapt high into the air and landed in a handstand position on top of the damn creature's helmet, tossing the grenade inside the gaping hole and leaping far back. He landed and began to wonder how he had such agility, but not for long before the grenade detonated and ripped the Pyramid Head apart, the helmet shards nearly taking his head off. Before being able to celebrate his victory, a painful, annoying siren started ringing through the air, disorienting his senses and driving him to his knees. What the hell was happening? What was that siren? What was going on…?
As darkness began to invade the landscape, Logan fell to the ground, unconscious…

AN: I admit Devan Sylph is a caricature of Agent Dale Cooper from the show Twin Peaks, but I thought it was funny. The thought-speech line in there, too, was inspired by Twin Peaks. Good show, I tell ya. Thanks for reading. ^_^