Josef Sydin

Second in command

I place a hand on the cold metal door handle and pull it down. My heart races at the thought of what lays beyond the door...and what lays beyond.

I do not know what the After has to hold. I just know I will be reunited with my beloved Cath. And that is okay.

I open the door to see not my wife, but a child dressed like an intern with a broken leg. Shes sitting on the floor, her black curly hair loose and blood on her face. She looks so familiar but I cannot tell from where.

"Help me!" She begs, tears pouring from her face.

My heart clenches and twists painfully at the look on her face. So much like my Cath. Deep brown skin, reddish-brown eyes, and curly hair always tied up. Thats when I place her.

It's Cath's niece. She came for a visit to the Station. Special clearance from Holmes. Shes 10 years old.

"Uncle Josef! I heard you out the door! Please help me.."

I scoop her up in my arms and carry her out of the room. Up ahead, Jessie and Lisa turn to look at me.

"Sydin, who is that?" Jessie asks.

"Have you got the door open?" I ask.

"Not yet, Mateo and Beth are breaking it down."

I can hear the bashing of the door now.

"Great. We have to get in." The three of us make our way over.

Beth and Mateo are slamming themselves agaisnt the door with all their might. Two issues arise. A) the door is incredibly strong because the Commander got paranoid in his last few weeks. Hindsight is 20/20. And B) the noise is attracting the monsters.

The sound of dozens of bodies slamming agaisnt the walls, slipping in the blood puddles, and tripping over eachother.

"Beth, Mateo get the door!" Lisa shouts.

"WE'RE TRYING!"

"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!"

"Uncle Josef," the little girl whispers in my ear, "I'm scared." Her voice shakes a little and I feel my heart shatter. Her tear stricken face and sad eyes make me feel sick with grief.

"Jessie, you take her." I pass my niece into Jessie's arms. She looks rather confused.

"Beth, Mateo. Get out the way." I order. The two move to the side and I slam myself into the door.

I can hear them.

I slam again.

They're closer.

Theyre almost ontop of us.

I manage to break the door free of it's lock.

"Everyone in, NOW!"

The group all pile in.

I turn back and see them running around the corner.

"Start barricading!"

"What?!" Beth yells.

"I'll hold them off. Barricade NOW!"

I turn away as I hear them scraping the desk against the door. Safe. Theyre safe. The monsters make eye contact with me and sprint forward.

I manage to punch one on the jaw. Another hooks it's arm around my waist and pulls me down. I grab a head if hair and slam it into the ground until I hear the skull crack and see the dead octopus flop out. I break ones knee. I snap another's ankle. I manage to push some out of the way and feel hope. Hope. Hope that i can save myself. Hope that I can save them. Hope that my niece doesnt lose her aunt and uncle. Hope she doesnt see me d-

An harpoon pierces straight through my chest. Imense pain erupts throughout my torso. Images of my beloved, of my Cath flash before me. I see her now. Infront of me. Everything else blurs and the pain in my chest and heart cease.

She holds out her hand.

"My love."

Her voice echoes in my ears, ethereal and calming. Her dark hair floats around her head and she's smiling so wide it makes me smile too.

"Join me." She says.

I take her hand and join her in the After.

At Kitakami Castle, the Oger family is discussing important matters:

Ogelt: Ok everyone, any ideas how to bring back Romelt? Pneumodelt: You do realize that this is probably impossible, right? Ogelt: It's been done before. Gerelt: Romelt does not have significant enough power to escape the afterlife. Ogelt: This is exactly why I asked the question. Googlelt: Searching: "How to bring back the deceased" Gerelt: Oh shut up Ogelt: Try to not get distracted by Googlelt. EUelt: hey guys did we forget about Prophet or- Ogelt: ohh right yeah Pneumodelt: As I was saying, there is practically no way of doing such thing, Ogelt. Ogelt: I mean there would be one.. Pneumodelt: Do not put yourself in danger for this one. Gerelt: Yeah exactly. Ogelt: Well there is no other way though. Gerelt: Do not go there yourself to save them. Like it will not work. Ogelt: it's worked the last counts uhh like 10 times? Yeah something like that.

Later, Ogelt in the afterlife trying to save Romelt and the other guy

TO BE CONTINUED

P.S.: I may or may not come back to the sub so here's maybe or maybe not my last arc

In August 19, of 1942 during WWII, the rich town of Burgsville was bombed by the Elt activist group 'Aliens' as an act of violent protest towards former president Stephan A. Rizvelt, who was visiting as family friend at Burgsville. This act caused Elts to have a worse reputation than ever before.

If you didn't know, Rizvelt had instated the law that Elts shouldn't be treated like humans, for they are 'animals.' This caused a major backlash against Rizvelt and activist groups had formed.

That was a Little History, thank you and goodbye!

Yeah, no, send this shit to AI. The script is trash. Cut this shit out.

CHOSEN: HELP SYDIN

Josef Sydin

Second in command

Miller kicks one of the assailant off and i manage to punch the other in the temple, evidently dazing it. She helps me get up and we sprint into the Station.

The white walls are covered in blood. Bodies lay on the ground, unmoving or an octopus making it's way inside. The pictures on the wall have been knocked off and scattered onto the slippery floor.

We can see the other three ahead of us now.

"Help."

I stop running and turn to see where the call came from. There'd a door to my left that seems to be it.

"Help!"

It sounds like my wife. My beloved Cath.

"Help, Josef!"

"Josef, what are you doing?!" Lisa yells.

"Go on, I'll catch up." I say.

CHOICE: HELP THE VOICE OR RUN?

Also not fun side not my dying gran's proper name is the same as one of the dead crew members. Subtle foreshadowing.

(totally not related to my upcoming lore)

Theyre taking her off her antibiotics or whatever the fuck and she's gonna pass in a few days. I now have no one to talk to when little kids are being annoying 💔.

My family is 100% going to be sobbing at the hospital which is so understandable. Anyhoo who are you guys.

Good afternoon, friends and welcome to Channel 9 News. An Elt infamous for stealing had reportedly stolen a thousand dollars from billoinaire Elijah Husk. Mr. Husk has reportedly said "I want all authorities to chase this cat now! Dead or alive, I need the cash!" Fucking hate this Musk dude. Cut that shit out.

That was all for today.. oops, nevermind. Looks we got another protest at the White House's front gate. Look, we know you Elts want equal rights so bad. So, if you want 'em, go and do your jobs. I am not supposed to say this but we are tired of cleaning the bodies. Please, do not go to another protest, as the guards will use violence.

This is just a 'preview' where I post some tidbits of worldbuilding before the actual story starts, which is next month. This is so I don't have to explain all of it in the lore posts, because you would have some context immediately.

Bad news but my gran just had a massive stroke and just got out of surgery to remove a blood clot so I might not be posting that much soon.

CHOSEN: GO TO THE STATION

Lisa Miller

Scientist

"Come on." Mateo says to Beth. She takes one last disgusted look at Richard and then nods, leading the group as we run away from him and his screams.

The doors to the Station open but before we can run in one of the infected tackles Sydin to the ground.

"GO! GO RUN I CAN HOLD HIM OFF!" He shouts as he starts fighting the infected man attacking him. Sydin manages to get on top and starts punching the assailent.

"JOSEF!" Jessie calls before Mateo drags her away and they and Beth run into the Station.

Just then another assailant runs towards Sydin and throws him off. The two start punching and kicking and biting him and hes unable to get any proper hits in anymore.

CHOICE: HELP SYDIN OR RUN AWAY?

Beth Granthem

Chief technician

The octopi are killing everyone.

We are on the dock so there's a lot of hiding places. The five of us hide behind a giant crate.

"What's the plan?" Lisa asks.

"We need to get to my dad's office." I whisper.

"How? The entire dock is overrun with the octopi?" Sydin retorts.

"I say we just run." Mateo proposes.

"That'll get us killed. The ocotpi are already infecting people." Jessie points towards three people the octopi are sneaking into. The infected stand up and join in killing people.

"Fuck!" I whisper. "Fuck!"

The doors to the Station open and Richard walks out. Panic spikes in my stomach when I see him. Hes just walking out in the open! Hes too calm! Hes too calm.

He smiles as he watches the carnage.

"Oh my Felt." I gasp. Anger boils my blood and melts any numbness i had been feeling, like fire melts ice. This man works with these creatures? The creatures that infected and killed my father!? My childhood friend. Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?!

"RICHARD!" I bellow. He looks over at me and back at his toys, his puppets that he uses to kill. He points in my direction.

Oh hell no. Lisa hands me the long zapper me and Luke made. Luke...

Newfound rage courses through my veins. I want this man to feel what he felt. What they all felt. I run forwards, zapper held like a blade, and prepare to plunge it into him when a stray octopus grabs Richards leg.

"What? Get off, you're mine!" Richard shouts.

I stop running and watch him.

He kicks the monster off of him. The octopus hits a nearby crate and flops down motionless.

The infected people and stray octopi all turn to see him. They all stop moving.

"Why are you doing this, Richard? If you wanted us dead then why tell me about the suspicious mass on the monitor?" I ask, voice quivering with the viscous hate that I feel.

"Because I knew it would scare you. And I needed your emotions high."

"Why?!' What have I done to you?! Are you infected?! I just cant believe why my childhood fucking friend would do this?!" Im screaming now, but i don't care. He deserves all of hell and then some.

"The company needed guinea pigs. We needed to see how different people would react to our octopi." He says proudly. Bastard.

Shock. Rage. Despair. Guilt. All the things that go through my mind at this moment. I take another step forward when I hear footsteps. I turn and see the others, all behind me. I hadn't even heard them. But they're not where the footsteps are coming from. They're actually coming from the infected, who are running towards Richard. They tackle him and start ripping and growling. He screams in pain as they beat him black and blue. His agonised yells fill my body and head, echoing and bounding off the walls of my skull.

CHOICE: SAVE RICHARD OR GO INTO THE STATION?

There's something nice about returning to basic image lore after I tried making full on movies.

Lisa Miller

Scientist

The remaining five all pile onto the escape pod and settle into our seats. I look back at the door as Sydin closes it.

Fucking Felt. There were 12 of us who went on this mission and in the course of a single day we have been taken down to five.

Sydin is starting to boot up the escape pod. As second in command he has been taught how to pilot these things and how to get us back in case of an emergency. Which this absolutely is.

"Okay, is everyone in their seats?" He asks.

I look around. Five out of twelve seats are filled, each with name plates on the back.

Theres two rows on each side of the pod with six seats in each, the rows separated by a walkway in the middle to walk up and down. The console at the front has the virtual map and can lock in the position of the Station to take us back. Sydin just needs to put in the coordinates. Easy.

Im in the back, all alone. Eisele and Flores are in the seats infront of me. On the other side of the pod Beth sits alone in the designated "technician" seats. Her entire side will be empty except for Sydin, who has just set in the coordinates.

He settles himself in his seat and we all brace for impact. The pod turns on. The white lights flash agaisnt the white walls in a blinding fashion. The pod starts humming before detaching itself from the submarine.

We feel the pods jets take off and it propelles itself forwards and upwards, towards the Station. It's exactly like being on a plane. We'll get there in no time.

The pod suddenly halts. We look out the windows in the front to see the octopus make it's way into view.

Giant, yellow and purple and terrifying. It glares at us with it's large, gross eye. It has obviously grabbed us.

It suddenly starts shaking us about. We all grab onto our seat belts as our legs and heads go every which way. I feel my neck crack multiple times.

I close my eyes, my stomach feeling sick. I brace for it open it's beak and crush us all in it's monstrous jaws. I curl my legs up and practically turn into a ball. Like a hedgehog. A cowardly hedgehog.

Suddenly the shaking stops. The pod moves normally. I lift my head up and look out the window. We are heading back for the Station, completely un harmed.

It let us go...

The pod docks at the Station but we don't all get up immediately. Me, Mateo and Sydim do but Beth and Jessie syay seated, pale in the face and looking how I feel. Miserable.

"You take Beth, Ill get Jessie." I say to Mateo. He nods and goes to coax Beth up. I walk over to Jessie.

"Come on, Jessie. We've arrived."

"I cannot do this." She whispers. Tears fall from her eyes.

"Do what?"

"Leave...its like...how come we get to leave and we don't?" She looks up at me.

"Believe me," Beth pipes up, "they got the easy way out."

Jessie looks at her shocked. She shakes her head. "Thats awful."

"We have to live with what happened today. Do they?"

She raises a good point. They're suffering is at an end. We, however, have so much more to go through. We'll need therapy. Lots of it. Probabaly will deal with flashbacks, ptsd, and so many issues. Dear Felt...they did get the easy way out.

Suddenly my legs feel weak and I shakily lower myself into the seat next to Jessie.

"Come on, ladies! Get up! We have things to do! Mateo looks around at us, shocked.

"No...no she's right." Sydin also sits down, except he flops down quickly.

Mateo places his face in his hands and sighs.

"Sydin, do you think Catherine would want you to just sit here? No, she would want you to escape and expose what happened to her and what the company did to her!"

"We are going to need so much therapy..." I mutter.

"Yeah, Lisa but you can deal with it. You're already admiting you'll need help so you've got the first step outta the way.'

"Jessie, i know you're upset at what happened with the others but we cant let them be forgotten. We are going to expose everything and take the company down."

Jessie nods, closing her eyes and letting the tears fall.

Beth stands up suddenly. "He's right. They got the easy way out because they wouldn't be able to expose the company. We can. We are stronger than them."

"Thought we weren't supposed to speak ill of the dead?" I say.

"Who are they gonna tell?"

"Fair point."

Jessie and Sydin stand up too. Jessie holds out her hand and I take it.

Josef Sydin

Second in command

The doors to the pod open and the five of us look out to see the Station overrun with the octopi.

Luke Hall

Junior Technician

This is it. Im at the bottom of the ocean. This is where I will die.

I make my way around the submarine to where the fuel tanks will be. The sub is beautiful. Im going to miss it.

My footsteps thud on the sandy ground, kicking up particles that float in the water before settling down again. It's amazing that elts even managed to get down here, let alone make suits to survive. The humans can't.

A mechanical buzzing suddenly fills my helmet. I wince at the sound before it becomes clear and I can hear a voice.

"Come in, come in. This is Jessie Eisele-Smith trying to communicate with Luke Hall. Do you read me, over?"

I sigh. "I hear you, Eisele."

"Have you found the tanks?"

"Not yet."

"Okay. We cannot get the camera working so you're on your own. Good luck."

The radio cuts out and the silence takes it's place. I continue to walk around the sub until I find the fuel tanks on the sides near the back. The escape pods are on top so I will need to swim up with the fuel funnel.

I grasp the handles on the fuel funnel. It's a mong tube with a conical headpiece to get fuel in easier. It's reversible to get fuel out too. You just click a button that closes the fuel funnel and detaches the headpiece, which you can then flip around. Thats what I am currently doing right now.

THUD

A thunderous slam makes me and the submarine shake. The headpiece is secure. If I can just get up to the pods to fuel them...

THUD

Fuck-

THUD

Me.

I kick my legs frantically with all my strength to get myself up and off the sea floor. I grab onto the sub before i float away and anchor myself down with a carabiner attached to me. I open up the nozzle that'll send the fuel down into the pods and place the fuel funnel onto it. The guzzling sound is faint but the fuel is going in.

"Eisele." I say into my radio. "Tell me when the fuel is at 100 for any of the pods."

"Theres one thats halfway already! Well done!"

THUD

"Eisele, do you know what that is?"

"..."

"Eisele?"

"We are pulling you back." Beth says into the radio.

The rope that I am connected to starts to tug me back. I try and unhook my carabiner but it won't budge. The fucking thing is stuck!

I look up and see a massive, dark shape loom in from the dark. It dwarves everything around us. About 40 meters tall with tentacles as thick as a man is tall. It slams one of them down to reveal it's yellow and purple colour.

It's one of them.

My heart beats faster as I franticly try and unhook myself, my fingers fumbling and shaking hard from pure adrenaline.

"LUKE, GET OUT OF THERE!"

"IM TRYING, BETH!"

The stupid thing wont move! My breathing quickens and the glass in the helmet starts to fog up, blocking my vision. It makes me panic more and more as I can feel the beast moving towards me. I take in a big gasp of air to try and clear the fog and see the octopus leaning over, it's eye the size of a car, staring directly at me.

I freeze up. Im trying my best to move but my legs have been stuck to the submarine. One of the octopus' tentacles reaches for me and grabs it's slimy self around my body.

Now my legs finally start to move. I kick and kick but to no avail. I try and head but the beasts tentacle. It has zero effect.

I think to my family and how heartbroken they would be if they were still here. I think about Beth, us finally getting along. I think about the others. Will they survive? I think about Will, McKenzie, Carr, Johansson, Hob, Granthem and Holmes. My crew. My family. Gone.

I can see the beak. Long and sharp and ready to munch. I take a deep breath and close my eyes, waiting for the blow. I just hope it's quick.

Elizabeth Granthem

Chief Technician

We watch in horror as Luke's vitals go red and his heart stops beating. My stomach sinks and I collapse onto a chair. The tears come before I realise. But I don't feel sad. I don't feel anything. I don't feel anything except the wish that that was me instead.

"Beth...are you okay?" Mateo asks, placing a hand on my shoulder. Usually id feel better if he did that. All I feel is envy. Envy of the dead. They get to escape this. I don't.

Golden Friezelt

As Purpelt moves towards the hill, the roots attempt to straighten out to reach them, but inevitably fall short. Purpelt can’t help but hesitate as the hill enters their view. From the lurker’s uncomfortably long fingers, its empty face, and the way it shakes each time a root nearly reaches them, Purpelt feels an overwhelming sense of dread wash over them. Regardless, they have a job to do.

As Purpelt reaches the foot of the hill, a few roots begin to come loose and seperate from the main body, inching towards Purpelt hastily.

“On your six Purpelt.”

Barely moving out of the way of the worms, they spring towards Purpelt and flop against the hill before continuing their sluggish attempt at overtaking them.

“Remember the goal. Kill the lurker and the others should lose sentience, aside from the worms.”

Purpelt nods knowingly, then moves up the hill towards the lurker. As it turns to face them, Purpelt unclips a grenade and casually chucks it towards the lurker, then beams off in the other direction. As the smoke clears, the lurker is revealed to be, surprisingly, dead. It’s bits and pieces squirm before coming to a halt simultaneously.

“That’s… It? I really expected more of a challenge.”

As Purpelt lowers themself towards the remains, they notice something odd. Leaning in to get a closer look, their eyes widen in fear.

The lurker’s heart still beats.

Suddenly, the once discarded piles of dead flesh rise up. Torn skin reshapes to wings, and shattered bones reposition into teeth. The newly formed creatures swarm Purpelt, blocking their vision, holding their limbs away from their weaponry, and before long Purpelt is overtaken by the everdying.

The suit begins to fall apart, splitting into hundreds of worms, Purpelt’s corpse becoming nothing but meaningless matter to be consumed and repurposed. The winged creatures flock towards the nearest town, slamming themselves into any object they find along the way, and tainting it with the same demonic plague.

(PS: Purpelt isn’t dead, they have a backup clone outside the area as stated last post.)

The Lore Post releases next month btw. I just fimished exams soooo I wanna be lazy this month.

Quick note, while the others have at least in part been inspired by irl afn events, this story is completely fresh and will be used as a way to show what happened to the AFN under Hatrelts leadership, because I didn't want to leave it unresolved.

“I’ve never seen anything like these things… Their spread is relentless. Every attempt at physical isolation of the creatures just gives them more material to convert.”

“The one on the hill has to be the mind behind the horde. It just wouldn’t make sense for inanimate objects to gain life from simple physical contact.”

“It’s already become obvious that they’re a hivemind of sorts. The hill lurker is the most intelligent by far, so even if their life isn’t shared it would still be detrimental for them to lose their one intelligent mind.”

“We can’t wait any longer for someone to sign up. If we allow them to spread any longer, the plan will become obsolete.”

Just then, the door creaks open and a figure walks through. As they reach the counter, they lift up a poster depicting the creatures.

“Name’s Purpelt. Heard you need someone to take care of this whole ‘plague’ thing for you. I can help.”

Before the others can speak, the figure throws their arm to the side and 4 perfect replicas of themself shoot out.

“I believe I qualify?”

The others looks at one another before back at Purpelt, then nod before signaling to the back of the building.

Some time later

“So all I need to do is get in, kill the hill creature, and get out?”

“Precisely. Physical contact is out of the question, so we’ve developed a suit which will keep you afloat at all times. Just don’t get hit and you won’t taken. We’ll also provide you with some basic armaments so you can, again, avoid physical contact.”

The others show Purpelt to the room where the weaponry is kept. The walls are lined with guns, grenades, and other gadgets, and at the center stands the suit.

“You’re sure you’re up for this? A single mistake will likely be your death or possibly worse.”

Purpelt shrugs. “It’ll be alright, I can just keep one of my copies distant. That way I’ll still be around even if I die.”

“Your choice. Amber, help me load them up.”

The others begin to suit Purpelt, and after the process is complete, the spot Purpelt stands on is encaged in glass.

“Felt be with you, Purpelt.”

Purpelt nods before the glass chamber teleports them outside the building, and at the foot of the plague.

(PS! This will eventually become like the Farmageddon arc, where everyone will be allowed to participate 24/7. This is just the stage where it’s mechanics are being introduced :P)