Chương 12: 12-Consultation

[1449 HOURS: 01. 04. 2026] ROBERT: > HORRIFIED WHILE OBSERVING {me} Kid…? ELNA: > LOOKS AWAY DEFEATED I'm sorry for lying… Robert. ROBERT: > EYES SADDEN softly Well… yeah, that kind of does make me a bit upset… ELNA: > SIGHS ROBERT: > GLARES HEY! I need you to look at me. ELNA: > DOES SO RELUCTANTLY, AFRIAD ROBERT: > FOCUSED Did Onarius do this to you? Trap you in there? ELNA: > PROFUSELY SHAKING HEAD ROBERT: > RAISES EYEBROWS Was it this other guy? ELNA: > NODS ROBERT: > DEEP SIGH You can talk; I'm not mad at you.

Even with you accessing my computer… I know what you did. ELNA: > SADDENED SIGH What do you mean? ROBERT: You accessed my private journals. I noticed my screen flickered a bit with those files. ELNA: > SURPRISED {I thought I-?!} I was trying to help Onarius analyze- ROBERT: > HALT HAND GESTURE slowly Can you enter my world? Like Onarius. ELNA: panicked Y-Yes. ROBERT: I figured… > DEEP SIGH WHILE STANDING UP AND HEADED TO THE BEDROOM DOOR He allowed you to attend that interview, right?

ELNA: > NODS ROBERT: I want you to enter in person. Let's talk. [ODD DIGITAL NOISES HEARD AS DIGITAL PORTAL CREATED] ELNA: {This digital portal a lot of white static, though it has no harmful effects} > {I} ENTER ROBERT'S BEDROOM, NERVOUSLY ROBERT: > TURNS OFF THE COMPUTER AND UNPLUGS IT mumbling That should prevent any more lights… > POINTS TO COMPUTER CHAIR Sit. ELNA: > DOES AS TOLD > SEES AND INSPECTS PHOTO OF JOHN WITH [REDACTED] AT WEVID CON Is that your thumbnail artist?

ROBERT: > NODS AND CONTENTLY SIGHS My boyfriend. > SITS ON BED STARING AT ELNA INTENSELY One more thing: do not call me "Robert"; I discarded that name for a very good reason, which I think you know why now. ELNA: > FRANTICALLY NODS {ADJUSTING USER_ID NAME… DONE} JOHN: > SLOW INHALE Were you really in that place for 25-no, 250 years with Onarius? ELNA: > CONCERNED Yeah… But the time there is 10 times slower. JOHN: > SADDENED And you don't remember much of your former life? ELNA: Yeah… > HEAD DROOPS …

Including a lot of stuff during those 250 years… JOHN: Do you remember how or why you got in there? > FINGER SNAPPING Also, look at me. ELNA: > DOES AS TOLD meekly No, sir, I don't. JOHN: > CLASPS HANDS So, what do you remember exactly? ELNA: > BLANKLY STARES That I've done a lot of things for the other guy, "Ned" and- JOHN: > RAISES EYEBROW"Ned"? > ANGRY Like what exactly? The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ELNA: > GULPS awkwardly Uh…

Mainly to help Onarius imprison people that, uh-are kind of dangerous to your reality… > CLEARS THROAT, DEFEATED awkwardly … Also, to help maintain his realm, by making sure the part I was given by him was maintained. I don't really remember exactly how- JOHN: > FROWNS In what way? ELNA: By just staying in my portion, and just making sure that I-well, maintained it. Like Onarius does with his. JOHN: > VISIBLY TREMBLES IN ANGER exasperated Are you saying you've been alone for 250 years out of Ned's employment?!

ELNA: > FRIGHTENED panicked No! I didn't mean it like that! Onarius has been caring for me for 250 years. He constantly checks up on me and makes sure that "Ned" doesn't make me do anything he finds too dangerous for me. > TWIDDLES THUMBS Though I don't remember exactly what we did for those 250 years... JOHN: > RELAXES mumbling At least he has some conscience…

> CLEARS THROAT softly Elna, I want to make it clear that I'm not asking these questions out of spite or to put you in danger, but rather, I am far more concerned about, well, the fact that what you have told me is a child basically holed up in some demented entity's prison for 25- > SLAPS FOREHEAD exasperated 250 years! ELNA: > FRIGHTENED panicked But Onarius made sure I was safe, taken care of, and had someone to talk to! JOHN: > GLARES AT {me} Doesn't matter.

> DEEP SIGH I have no idea why Onarius sent you, or why even he wanted you to access my computer for my private journals, but I'll say this: you aren't going back to whatever "place" Ned made you take care of. ELNA: > SIGHS WHILE TURNING HEAD SLIGHTLY meekly Onarius needed to assess them for judgement. JOHN: > SMIRKS slowly So, he was targeting me then?

And given the fact that you said Ned makes your pal imprison people for being a "threat" to him, what isn't to say some of the Warden Watch posts have been fabricated to hide that truth? ELNA: exasperated He does take these dangerous people away! > POINTS TO SELF exasperated And I helped him! JOHN: slowly And you don't remember what you did... > FROWNS And you are not going to anymore… > ADJUSTS GLASSES You are coming back to this world, and you are not going back to either Onarius or Ned…

ELNA: > STARES AT COMPUTER SCREEN, SHAKING meekly John, I can't stay here forever. JOHN: > RAISES EYEBROWS Really? And of course, under the thumb of a vigilante who has been abducting people a lot since 2020. This being, this vigilante that even after 250 years in whatever hell you've been, you still call him your guardian? > STANDS UP And this Ned, who you haven't told me much about, other than that he is employing you to "stabilize his reality" like some egomaniacal asshat.

> GLARES AT {me} Did he do anything to you? ELNA: meekly No, sir… > CLOSES EYES meekly … Other than constantly yelling at me and Onarius for small mistakes. And of course, doing things to those who did not make him happy. > LOOKS AT JOHN CONCERNED mumbling But I barely remember what happened… JOHN: > NODS QUICKLY AND QUICKLY CHECKS COMPUTER > TURNS TO {me}, ALARMED, SHAKING HIS HEAD WITH AN AWKWARD SMILE Yeah, you are definitely not going back.

ELNA: > EYES DART TO JOHN John, if Ned notices I'm gone for too long, he will come here and do something a lot worse than he did to your father. JOHN: > GLARES AT THE COMPUTER SCREEN So what? The only way he can do so is through a computer or a digital device. I know Onarius can enter the real world through any of them, but the absence of one would- ELNA: Ned can enter without digital devices… JOHN: > FREEZES AND OBSERVES {me} > CLEARS THROAT slowly How can he enter without a digital device?

ELNA: > SHRUGS panicked I don't know! All I know is that he can. JOHN: > EYES WIDEN So, this is only temporary then? ELNA: > NODS SADDENLY JOHN: > SITS ON BED, STARING AT {me} DEFEATED So, you're trapped because of him… ELNA: > EYES DROOP Unfortunately, yes… > CURLS UP IN BALL And he locks my memories, as they are dangerous… JOHN: > RAISES EYEBROW ELNA: Well, that's what he told me... JOHN: > INTENSELY STARES AT ELNA And your pal, Onarius, just does what he wants?

ELNA: He has no choice; Ned could just as easily delete him. The same goes for me. JOHN: > DEEP SIGH So, if I am a threat to Ned, why didn't he just send Onarius to do what… > TURNS AWAY … He did 15 years ago? ELNA: Onarius wanted to help you; he thought you were becoming like "him". Besides, he convinced him it would "remedy a problem". JOHN: > RAISES EYEBROWS You mean my scumbag of a "father"? > SNORTS THEN SIGHS I had some little ego-driven rants. But I never truly wanted to harm others like he did.

ELNA: > SUSPICIOUS exasperated But that one part of your new video has you using AI for a benevolent incident. You fabricated it! JOHN: > SLOWLY NODS HEAD mumbling I know… I know… > STARES AT {me} BLANKLY slowly … But that was to make people doubt the veracity of the stories, to make people think that Warden Watch and Onarius himself are not sane in the head. And with you… > OUTSTRETCHES HAND AND RETRACTS … I'm starting to see he has changed, and not in a good way. ELNA: > ALARMED He has protected me though…

JOHN: … And to later harm you? > TAKES OFF GLASSES AND SHOWS THEM TO {me} These glasses, I have to wear these because of that light I saw. ELNA: > RAISES EYEBROW Which was your fault… JOHN: > ANGRILY STANDS UP frantically I was 12 when this happened! And I'm pretty sure he was not in any way conscious of the fact that there was a child listening on a bastard and this guy who thought he was helping me. Guess what?! I have to live with the memories of those assholes in my head.

These [EXPLETIVE] glasses are a reminder of what happened! > HEAVY BREATHING ELNA: > TREMBLING JOHN: > EYES WIDEN IN CONCERN AT {me} AND SITS DOWN, DEEPLY SIGHING gently None of this was your fault. And all I see now is a victim, like myself. I'm sorry, I should not have let temper follow through; otherwise, I would be no better than your friend. ELNA: > RELAXES AND LOOKS AT JOHN SORROWFULLY John, Onarius also made me bring a file over about what happened after that malevolent incident ended.

JOHN: > CURIOUSLY Did he really…? ELNA: I know what happened; he showed me… And he saved a recording so you would remember… JOHN: > SIGHS SADDENLY I do remember, but I think that is meant for you to see. ELNA: > EYES WIDEN JOHN: > FOCUSED WHILE PLUGGING THE COMPUTER BACK IN Play the video file. The Onarius in that video is different from the one you know now. ELNA: > SIGHS AND TURNS ON TURNS ON REMOTELY {DOWNLOADING "11. 21. 2011_record. mp4"… DONE} JOHN: > GLANCES AT VIDEO THUMBNAIL Are there any lights that will blind me? ELNA: > SHAKES HEAD meekly No, sir. JOHN: >STARES AT SCREEN INTENSELY slowly Play it. ELNA: {PAUSING VIDEO… DONE} {CLOSING FILE… DONE} {SEARCHING FOR 11. 21. 2011_record. mp4"… DONE} {OPENING FILE…}