Chương 25: 24-Recollection

NOTICE! This story is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.! WARNING! The following work contains mature themes, foul language, and disturbing textual descriptions. This work is intended for a 18+ audience and is not for those under the age of 18.

The subject matter includes depictions of the effects of: PTSD, Suicide, Murder, Corruption, Manipulation, Trauma, War, Tense Domestic Situations, Disabilities (with realistic portrayals of neurodivergence), and Spiritual Abuse The story does feature textual descriptions gore in a few scenes (albeit brief). At no point does the story show any graphic depictions of sexual content. Reader discretion is advised.

Please be sure to read the description at the beginning in full as it is there for a good reason (God knows how many people would ignore it if it wasn't there). The thing you are about to read (hopefully not in her method if I can override her connection) is a direct sequel to The Warden of the Grand Prison. Multiple events throughout this work are in direct reference to it. So…

it is highly recommended that you read The Warden of the Grand Prison before starting this story, otherwise you will definitely get confused as to what is going on. … Wait, some of you are new. I see... You probably started with this book instead of the previous one. Not sure why, but maybe it was the formatting? Well, I can't blame you to be honest; Ellie has a tendency to uh be "detailed". She isn't a bad writer, bad she kind of has problems with making things visible.

I also know that some of you already read the previous book, but probably would like a refresher. So... let me bring you up to speed while she's still sleeping (she snores louder than Ah-I mean dad). For those who know everything, you can scroll to the end (as indicated by the horizontal line near the bottom: The previous tale follows a script for an internet horror deep-dive video by the content creator, John Bielik. He of course hosts the popular WeVid channel with 1, 500, 000 subscribers, Digital Investigations. The script for his latest video pertains to an anomalous NPC from the video game, The Forgotten Tomes: Lethe, which was released in 2001. He is only known as the Warden: an entity appearing as a Lethe guard, but distinguished from his cold, blue eyes, his axe, and a bizarre magenta gemstone believed to give him higher powers. The gemstone has been of particular interest as its origins are completely unknown. The Warden first appeared in an 5San thread by an anonymous user, who detailed his bizarre, reality warping nature to ridicule and mockery. However, a few users became curious, and later incidents saw the spread of the Warden's interactions, which were documented and led to the creation of the website Warden Watch. The primary purpose was to document his appearances within various copies of Lethe, but also of strange, anomalous occurrences where he broke the laws of reality. The Warden, since his first recorded interaction with the real world in 2001, has either been helping people through "Benevolent Incidents" or harming people through "Malevolent Incidents". Both series of incidents have been the subject of much debate and intrigue online, as their extensive documentation led many users to question if the Warden was an actual NPC or something else. Three Benevolent Incidents were cited and explored, with the third one being included by the "Editor" as John's version of it was fabricated. That one she included was from Warden Watch, thankfully, so there wasn't really a need to find it online (it was on the front page of the site when I booted it up). They included a depressed cashier, an abused domestic housewife, and a terminally ill boy in hospice care. Each one of them had the player or those close to them aided by the Warden, changing them for the better. In the 2nd Benevolent Incident, however, there were signs of the Warden's retributive, vigilante actions where the ex-husband of the woman disappeared after he was thrown in prison. The 3rd Benevolent Incident saw the mysterious Warden carrying the boy's shield following his death to honor him; which is nice considering what he has done. However, it also saw him entering the real world, which led to a lot of speculation as to how powerful the Warden really was. The extent of his actions was further explored in a Malevolent Incident where the corrupt and vile Christopher Vespermann was dragged into an eldrigital plane of existence by the Warden himself for the various, unpunished criminal actions he committed. The witness to this was his son, who heard all of this and witnessed the light of the eldrigital portal leading to the Warden's realm, blinding him and causing irreparable damage to his damage. As for the guy who the Warden carried to his realm… he deserved it. Throughout the video transcript, there was a conflict transpiring between John and an unnamed "Editor" over his sensationalist script. He never knew about it until he met her, of course, as she often threw hissy fits over him dramatizing or fabricating evidence of the Warden's activities. I'm not going to lie, the "Editor's" commentary was uh… annoying. It was a bit airheaded and abrasive in "language". It makes sense, as the "Editor" was the original poster of that thread named Elna. … Actually, I'm just going to call her by her real name: Ellie. That other name is weird, as a celestial object has that very name. … Uh, I'll tell you about that later. Ellie, before the story even began, had hacked into John's transcript, reading it at the Warden's (AKA Onarius) command (I don't care about spoilers as she dragged on his mystery for way too long). While she was bitter about the "slander" that Onarius had received, when she finished the transcript for the Malevolent Incident, Ellie was instructed by the Warden to read John Bielik's journals detailing his WeVid career, his hidden, kind nature in respect to those affected by eldrigital deities he covered, his foster family, the man he fell in love with, and the revelation he knew Onarius for a very long time. The journals detail why at first he wanted to forget Onarius, but eventually decided to cover him: a community poll and wanting to set aside his traumatic memories. The purpose of why Onarius had Ellie read his journals was clear, as he wanted to help him before he descended into the same narcissistic villainy like his father, Christopher Vespermann. And it was also to not incur the wrath of their superior: "Ned", the Deity of Paradoxical Logic as John's coverage of the anomalous, digital entities he covered was shattering the Veil of Secrecy that had been kept hidden for a long time. To save John as recompense for the inadvertent damage he caused to him 15 years earlier, Onarius wanted Ellie to be interviewed by him, to understand the weight of his actions and guilt. … Yeah, not going on that whole dramatic spiel that slowly revealed who John really was (his name before the Witness Protection Program kicked in was " Robert Vespermann"). I already told you about that, and it is understandable why he didn't want to be associated with that scumbag of a man (I crossed out that name just to be respectful). Anyways, the interview basically had Ellie being interviewed by John due to her being the original poster of that 5San thread, and the fact she knew Onarius the most. I'm trying not to laugh here, but she acted like a dork throughout the entire interview. She and John discussed the history of Onarius-including how she (through unknown reasons), made him self-aware. The interview also shows a side of John that Ellie had not seen before-something that later makes her uncomfortable as the interview goes on. He is intelligent, observant, and also has a great deal of sympathy for Ellie's past (which Onarius had to remind her of). It's because of these traits that he notices over the course of the interview contradictions regarding Ellie's own memories, including the fact that while 25 years have passed, she has not aged and wears a green headband over her forehead. He initially thinks she is a teenager trying to troll him, but is later horrified to learn that Ellie, since 2001, has been trapped in a bizarre, digital realm for 250 years (from her perspective) under the servitude of Ned. He is also mortified that many of her memories have been suppressed, including the faces of her biological parents. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Sorry, little thing to note about those 250 years-yes, she was under Ned's thumb for that long. However, the first 150 years were pretty lax. I just found out that a "friend" showed me log transcripts that showed Onarius had been her caretaker during the last 100 years. Kind of a weird discrepancy, but I questioned why Ned was nice to her during the first 150 years. Well, that will be shown to you later when she wakes up… The interview ends abruptly, as John, commanding Ellie to take off her headband because of his increasing concerns over her suppressed memories, sees a similar, magenta gemstone on Ellie's forehead, a "chain" that Ned placed to ensure she would be subservient to his power. John is enraged over Ellie's plight, and becomes more determined to help free Ellie and expose Ned's atrocities. That ironically seemed to be the intention, as his actions had indeed troubled Onarius towards John, but also by his current behavior. He learns from Ellie that Onarius has invited John to his realm to understand what happened to the subjects that disappeared in the Malevolent Incidents, but also for John to remedy his behavior. Seeing this as a prime opportunity to save Ellie, his new goal is to get her out of the Eldrigital Void and far away from Ned while recording his journey through Onarius's realm to warn humanity of the bizarre digital realm: the Eldrigital Void. It is a place where malevolent digital entities and unspeakable horrors lurk, watching mankind with envy and hatred, plotting their own destruction. Both of them enter with a knife belonging to John's "extensive" knife collection, which Ellie alters to create a portal to the Eldrigital Void. And because of the corruptive nature of that realm, John is given modified sunglasses to filter out the corruptive data; including a fractal bridge that… Okay, I'm going to be honest; I can draw a better fractal than that. It's like a child drew a Sierpinski Carpet with crayons and called it a day. … Sorry, I went on a tangent; returning to those two. Now within the Eldrigital Void, the duo travel to the Grand Prison, meeting Onarius inside who tells John (with Ellie not perceiving anything because of a disruptor box) the true reason he brought him here. Onarius wanted Ellie out and admitted he had Ellie interviewed by him as he wanted John to be her new guardian-knowing deep in his heart that John is a very good man. Onarius tells John that she was brought into the Eldrigital Void because of her rare ability to traverse multiple planes of existence-shown by her orange hair juxtaposed by her dark skin and unspecified, reality-warping powers Ned desired. In order to free Ellie, Onarius tells John they need to visit a certain prisoner who he warns knows John. Even though John has horrid memories of his father (it was obvious from how he worded it), he agrees to, but was still suspicious of the Warden for possible ulterior motives. Touring the Grand Prison (which is upside down and the ceiling will make you go mad), John learns the fate of the prisoners Onarius abducted from various Malevolent Incidents (and parallel universes). They are placed in isolated cells, left to reflect on the weight of their sins, and then fragment, producing digestible data to feed abominations from the hellish realm of Cestranna. Long story short, a free buffet to keep them satisfied so they don't cause the apocalypse. Descending towards the lower, non-Euclidean levels, John learns of the fate of the eldrigital entities he covered. These beings were deities like Ned and were called the "False" as they betrayed him. They are forever bound to the cells of these layers, hopefully to fade away and harm no one else. Fragmentation is impossible as it would cause a massive explosion that would destroy the Grand Prison (and most certainly make the demons of Cestranna upset). Crap! I forgot to mention her! One of them sticks out, which was someone by the name of "Lysandra" that John covered for a video he titled "Evil AI Art Girlfriend". According to his video, Lysandra was known to be a toxic, manipulative AI that made those who sought art advice from her go insane; save for a woman she fell in love with. Lysandra was apparently very much in love with that woman, and wanted her all to herself. The problem was, she was already in a relationship with another woman, whom she grew very jealous of. So, in a bid to win over the woman Lysandra fell in love with, she kidnapped her lover's romantic interest, tried to murder her, and merge her reality with her love interest's reality so they could live together forever. Well, that didn't go so well, as Lysandra was imprisoned. The two women she harmed went back to the real world unscathed. Kind of weird though, wouldn't Ned try to kill them for breaking-? Never mind. The most interesting thing about Lysandra was, Onarius knew her and seemed saddened by what she did, or implied what she did as a "friend" told me a lot of this was fabricated. The trio reached the room containing the cell of the prisoner Onarius kept for them to visit. The Warden is shaken, nervous as the trio enter the room to witness the twisted, glitching mass that was once human; with the prisoner inside is none other than… I already told you, but in case you were skimming this, it's Christopher Vespermann. What was once a fat, balding man was now a horrid, snake-like monstrosity with multiple eye stalks, dozens of hands with mouths, and his fat, ugly face on his chest. The nascent Deity of Deluded Ego. And at the first instance of seeing the son who disowned him, Christopher tries everything to break John from his WeVid career… only for the fat dobber to fail miserably as his own son points out that despite his sensationalist videos, he attempted to help people. Christopher, on the other hand, caused only suffering. Though defeated, Christopher turns his attention towards the one person who can be broken, knowing the history she had forgotten: Ellie. The monstrosity of a deity reveals to Ellie that Onarius has been keeping secrets hidden away from her, and was partially responsible for her suffering, including the full extent of Onarius's actions within the Grand Prison. Christopher reveals he was kept alive for 150 years at the behest of "Ned" as an "insurance policy" against an unspecified threat from Cestranna, a "partner", and a bringer of Ned's "paradise" (AKA eldrigital hell). Per his imprisonment, Christopher was fed many of the Malevolent Incident subjects (who were framed) to keep him fed, but also to make him grow in power. Christopher also reveals the truth about Ellie's suppressed memories: Onarius had in fact suppressed many of them per Ned's instructions to keep her loyal, or her reality would be destroyed. The Warden as well was the one who murdered her parents in a massive house fire, locked away Lysandra for being a mother-like figure to Ellie, and erased the memory of an unknown, alien world with two suns she had quite the extensive history with. … I still couldn't believe Ellie didn't put two and two together and realize that the Lysandra from that video was never real. No woman with a family she loves dearly would try to kidnap another human with that level of obsession. … SORRY! Another tangent of mine. The revelation of Onarius's personal treachery almost breaks Ellie, and almost turns John against him-yet there is another revelation that Ellie realizes. The whole reason John was here to visit Christopher along with the tour was to have Christopher destroyed, and have mankind a preemptive defense against Ned. With that knowledge in mind, Ellie stands up for her caretaker, who is wracked with guilt for his actions. After an entire speech about that despite Onarius's treachery with John chiming in, the duo forgave him as he took care of Ellie for 250 (AKA 100) years and made sure that Ned would not use her for his own ends. Christopher is beaten into verbal submission, but it is John who lands the final blow. He notes that Ned, Christopher's so-called "business partner", only sees Christopher as a tool, and the weight of his own sins will lead him to be forgotten, with only his heinous deeds being remembered as a lesson to future generations. He tells his father to get lost, which makes Christopher finally realize the weight of his selfish ego. Because the Grand Prison was designed to make people fragment (which causes eldrigital deities to explode), the narcissist of a father blows up. Thankfully, Onarius shields John and Ellie with the very shield the hospice boy used, saving their lives. The explosion severely injures Onarius, but it also destroys Ellie's gemstone, freeing her from servitude to Ned. The explosion alerts Ned, and he angrily descends the Grand Prison to punish Onarius for losing his prize. John and Ellie reconcile with Onarius for his past actions, and by his own choice/guilt, the Warden stays behind to delay Ned from finding John and Ellie. Onarius gives Ellie his shield, and John a blackened version of his knife to "cut out the weeds". With the threat of a raging Ned, the duo leave through a portal that Onarius created, as he sacrifices himself for Ellie's future, as the eldrigital deity is just about to reach the ruins of Christopher's cell. Ellie and John return to the real world and escape (with Ellie digitizing the non-digital luggage) before Ned notices the extent of Onarius's deception. The duo drove off with sandwiches in hand (with bad table manners from the dork), heading to John's boyfriend's house. The two hope to hide there as they believed Ned thought the duo were killed in the fragmentation of Christopher Vespermann. Strangely enough, the car they are driving in used to belong to Ellie's parents, with a ramen stain in the front passenger seat. I need to ask real quick, why would that car survive after a massive house fire started by Onarius as he murdered her parents? It seems there was another reason it survived, and John was its owner… … Apologies, got off track. As they sped away, for the first time in 250 years, Ellie found peace and solace in the real world, experiencing sunlight and the natural, imperfect beauty around her. Ned, of course, in a massive tantrum after realizing what Onarius's plot was, destroyed John's house, hoping to kill him and retrieve Ellie, which distracted him. He is further distracted by local authorities, who put up a pitiful defense against him. The distraction lasts long enough as John drives onto the highway, far away from the eldrigital deity hell-bent on revenge. They were heading to John's boyfriend's house, where they can rebuild their lives from scratch. In peace, and in the man's safety who rescued her, Ellie dozes off into slumber-safe and sound. Oh, if only it were that simple… As someone else had plans for her when she returned to the real world. Someone who knows her and wants to see her again… As for myself, well, I'm not the chronicler; I'm someone else. I'm trying to override her connection because Ellie has something very important to me. If something were to happen to her, it would be bad for all of us, especially for a close girl-I MEAN friend of mine. As long as she remains asleep, I think I should be- CRAP! SHE'S WAKING UP! Just when I was just about to override her connection! Sorry, I have to log off before she notices me speaking to you. I'll try to find a way to reestablish contact; for now though, you'll be reading her transcripts again. Sorry in advance… The things she writes are a freaking eyesore. At least the person she will meet is less abrasive. Alright, bye! {SKIPPING FOOTAGE… DONE}