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"You remember the rules, right?"
"I think so." The overview sat fresh on its mind as eyes gazed upon empty land. For a moment, the second's eyes closed, processing endless depths of wildlife and scenery, a blend of all the worlds it had seen before. Each one, then outfitted with specks of nuance that bloomed more beauty and captivation. From it sprung droves of red flora and listless skies of orange and pink. The winds whistled sweet melodies into the ears of both Acolyte 1 and Acolyte 2. And even though it was stagnant, the second knew Acolyte 1 looked towards it proudly.
"These are beautiful." The first mused, jerking its body forward as it looked to the gradient sky above, all while they stood on the salmon-orange tiling. The acolytes watched as even in the tinted universe, the dappling of twinkling skylines covered the sky, each shined in a bright white, only enough to make its mark, and nothing more to it. As the second looked to the skies, the arrangement spoke something else to the Acolyte. Acolyte 1 didn't take long to connect the dots either, sighing as it knew of the third's ego. "I'll be back, maybe give the tiles some more life.." Acolyte 1 hurled itself off the stairs, entering some portal before it hit the ground. And there Acolyte 2 was left.
Walking further up eternal stair wells, it thought of secret chambers filled with silky water, though cloaked in darkness, the light scattered across the pools of its mind's eye and made the tiny chamber glow softly. It was almost otherworldly to the second as holes formed within the pillars, perfectly what they asked for. Stepping in, the soft scent of chlorine trickled on the nose as the water exposed the dull white interior. When Acolyte 2 moved deeper, the terrain did as well, making dark tunnels for the discomforted to be comforted.
Even in this darkness, Acolyte 2 was at peace, knowing the rules it was told. But climbing out of the dusklaid chambers, it was not greeted with a sky of orange and pink. Acolyte 2 saw a sky of cold, dead, gray.
"You remember the rules, right?"
Acolyte 2 felt its mind slip as it looked around for the source of the words, within an instant, its mind was directed to the stars. Almost by force it looked upon them. Within the bright gray sky, the stars glowed white. It pierced through Acolyte 2's eyes, their sheer brightness confined to such a fine point that even if it was to shut its eyes, the stars could still be seen. They shattered the veil beauty the sky was meant to maintain.
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"You remember the rules, right?"
The whole universe spoke to Acolyte 2 at that moment. It felt like waves of sound reverberated through the level, perfectly bouncing off every wall to consume its ears with sound. The noise wasn't just powerful, it was overwhelming. It radiated millennium of judgment and hatred that Acolyte 2 didn't even know existed. Such beholden to it was a storm of light, hungry and maladaptive. Resentment surged itself through the hollowed bones and body of the second, seeping through both mind and flesh. Acolyte 2 braced itself on the wall, looking down at the salmon stairs. Despite legs of lead and the questioning ceaseless, it stepped, and stepped, and stepped. Til slowly, it stood upon the top of the pillars, aesthetic grass and buildings welcomed the Acolyte when it kept its eyes on it. But even in the smallest shreds of reflection, it saw the stars.
"Please! I know the rules!" Acolyte 2 screamed into the void of the cosmos, slamming its fists into the ground as the podium changed. Grass plucked itself off the tower and replaced itself with gooey seas, yet they too showed the stars. Every building was developed with less color, less nuance, and more brutal. Dogged was the world shaping to be, as the tower grew boxy and the caverns became darker. Not through willful intention, but from fear. With the sea at its feet deepening, Acolyte 2 fell into it. It's body, slowly became sluggish and it chose not to fight.
For only so long it could hear the phrase.
"You remember the rules, right?"
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"You forgot, kid." Spoken with contempt, it awoke the second out of what should have been death. As it looked to the sky, it noticed the gray first, and the lack of stars afterward. Before it turned left, its head moved right, seeing all it created now covered in monochrome. Acolyte 2 felt the huff of still skin as it turned its head the other way, looking toward Acolyte 3. Consumed by anger, Acolyte 2 jumped it its feet, staring down the obviously taller janissary.
"Where is the first?" Even with the body of a youngun, the voice of the second radiated the grayscale landscape with clear power. A defiance witnessed before them both, one of the other's failure.
"Don't you speak like that to me." Acolyte 3 stood up not to assume its greater form, but to try and force cooperation out of Acolyte 2. They looked at each other in a standstill, desperate for leverage. Acolyte 2 did, trying to will the first to come back, the one it could trust. But even as it shouted in their mental palace, Acolyte 2 got nothing in return. The empty promises of silence shook it. Instinctively, Acolyte 2 became smaller, realizing the possibilities laid before it. The other knew, and as Acolyte 2's mind raced with possibilities, Acolyte spoke with a deadly tranquility. "I crippled him, he's been ridden to a bed, now unable to see us." Acolyte 3 stepped forward, and the second, took 2 back. Each one step required two from the smaller Acolyte to keep their spacing. 1 step forward, 2 steps back. Acolyte 2 still could not believe it, but the hope clanged on like fine thread.
"No, it can't be. Acolyte 1 is far greater than you, how would you make it useless?"
No response, only a nod as Acolyte 3 regarded such truths. Carelessly, Acolyte 3 pulled out one of its blades. It looked to the second not like a peer, another in the creation of the world. To it, Acolyte 2 was a child, a buffoon. Simply unaware of beauty as it laid before them.
"You are unfit for these powers, Acolyte 2." With a sudden burst, Acolyte 3 rushed to grab Acolyte 2. In its bony hand was the other's head. Acolyte 2 could barely speak as its grip grew tighter, cracking not just the hollow body, but the bone Acolyte 3 placed there. It did not just feel flesh crumbling, but a bony shield fighting for the safety of a fleshy mind. Acolyte 2 felt not just its pain, but the pain of man itself, torturous and raw. With a final snap, the leftovers of Acolyte 2 scattered across a grass floor. The sky became colorful again, a product of fear now lost as the one afraid no longer thought at all.
Entity 103 is a small humanoid entity found across the backrooms. Known as the second acolyte, it has the body of a human baby, with its head significantly larger than the rest of its body. Its hands and feet are also significantly smaller than the average human, maintaining accuracy to its baby proportions. Despite these physical similarities, Acolyte 2 has been seen able to move about without the expected difficulties.
Interactions with Acolyte 2 often involve the entity asking various questions. These questions are generally tied to the level its in, and often are formatted as why questions. After asking, entity 103 is likely to not repeat the same question again, though the frequency of each question does not have consistent data. Nevertheless, any response given to the question which satisfies Acolyte 2 will cause a recursive antimemetic effect. The effect, causes the wander to forgot any immediately accessible or otherwise logical answer to the question the entity asked, no matter if the provided answer was immediate or logical. This sudden lapse appears to be permanent, as any memorative restoration techniques fail to work. Resulting from this, wanderers will often make up obscene/inappropriate answers in order to explain the question, and will remain assured in their conclusion. Evidence which proves other answers will be completely disregarded or counter with more leaps of logic.
What entity 103 deems to be a satisfying answer has no distinct pattern, though tends to follow some logical train of thought, even if it is wrong. When Acolyte 2 is given an unsatisfying answer, it acts the same way it would if the answer was satisfying, except there will be no ill effect on the wanderer. However, the entity then will ask another question, often in relationship to the answer provided. The process then grows, with any logical answer affecting both the first question asked and the second one. This cycle is assumed to be infinitely repeatable, until the conversation otherwise ends or entity 103 is satisfied.
Acolyte 2 has no consistent appearance location, though has been shown to be more likely to appear to wanderers who have never spoken to it rather than those who have. Questions to different wanderers are far more likely to repeat, however, indicating some inability to retain previous information. This oddity also appears in wanderers it already spoke to, though such cases are rare for the aforementioned reasons.
Original Page: Tusyok
Rewrite: Portul
Apart of the Our Home, Kuryente canon.