WokrZ: New Discoveries

You open an old door that you need to put some effort into and once you open it, put your bag on the floor to lean onto a wall. You take a deep breath and sedately pace yourself into this space full of memories, countless birthdays, friends, and enjoyment flooding in. As you continue to walk, you hear the crackling of pipes, and for no real reason, you stop and walk over to a cupboard to open it, instead of a food stash you find rats and dust. It was dumb of you to think there would be food there. When the rats see you they scatter in all directions. You close the door in fear of infection, then you walk while messing with the metal on the counter. Once you get to a drawer and open it, there are documents instead of rats this time. Shockingly enough. You pick one of the papers and observe it.

Lug Nut Race Car Repair

For: Christopher Deaz Becker

Hello Mr. Becker, I appreciate you supporting our small business, because you donated "Twelve thousand, three hundred, forty-five dollars and sixty-seven cents" when we were in the first year of doing this, we wanted to pay you back with an alliance that if you need any help at all, we will help you. First, we will send you twenty thousand dollars to help with your further robot research and development. We hope to hear about your further development. 

Thanks for all your help: Carson Loyd Hicks

Signed: Carson Loyd Hicks

When you are done reading the letter, you can't help but laugh at how your father put "1 2 3 4 5 6 7" as the amount he donated, this was a classic move your father did. You chuckle some more while putting the document back in the drawer. When you turn around to see the workshop in full, there are torn wires hanging from the ceiling and lying on the floor, there is no electricity in the building from it. The only light there is now your phone flashlight. As you continue to walk; dodging the webs and cords in case of electricity because "It is better to be safe than sorry." your father had said once. You walk through another door and you look at the several workbenches placed randomly around the left side of the room. The medal tops; burnt to a black and a violet tint, the concrete base and floor covered in dark black oil, metal bits, and tools. A lot of heavy machinery that you aren't able to recognize on the other side of the room, with some rolled to some of the tables. When you walk towards the table closer to you to get a closer look, you hear a noise from behind you. 

You swiftly turn around to see rats running along the floor again, your flashlight shaking from the sudden adrenaline rush. As you turn around again to continue walking around to see that against the wall is a door covered in burn marks. You slowly walk closer to the door, you reach for the handle and there is a voice behind you.

"I don't think you are meant to be here, Mr Becker." said a female's voice in a strict but confused tone.

You turn around and your flashlight flickers and shuts off like the battery ran out. "Just who are you meant to be and how do you know my father?" You replied in a conflicted tone.

"Your father? Christopher Becker? Haha, No no, I am talking to you. Don't think that just because you look a little like your father, don't think I wouldn't notice the boy from a few months ago."

I took a step back, now pressing against the door and starting to feel a cold chill down your spine.

You repeat her. "A few months ago." You stand there for a few seconds looking at where she should be. "It was you!?!? The one who saved me from that… Thing?" You said being re-traumatized from the near-death experience.

"That thing was called a Nightmare, A being of metal and murder."

"A Nightmare? What is that- no, scratch that, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?"

"I understand that you have many questions and I have many answers, but right now is not a good time or place to tell you, I have a message for you from "The Oracle" and your father." She walks backwards until she seems to be about nine feet away from you and mutters something in a way that sounded like praying. Her eyes glow bright with white light, and she levitates off the ground; with you still unable to see her face. Then she opens her mouth which has the same white light and speaks.

"Beware of the voice

You have a choice

Look at the past

It might be your last

Don't let yourself falter

Try and have it altered

If you get this letter

Make life better

One last thing before I go

There is something I want you to know

Let yourself fall

Give it your all"

When she closes her eyes and falls back down to the floor; wheezing and panting, she looks up at you and the flashlight back on shining onto the black floor. You bring it up to her body to try and get a look at her, you shine the light on her and as soon as it touches her shoe, your phone explodes. Shards of glass and metal go stabbing into your hand and arm.

"AHHH, FUCK, SHIT FUCK-!" You scream at the top of your lungs but she tackles, trips you onto the hard ground and covers your mouth with her palm, and you get to see her face.

"You're not going to get to see me if I don't want you to, also shut up, you're going to bring them to us," she said while shushing you while long, slick black hair started to settle from the swift movement, her black-purple eyes; stern and proud, staring at you. You try to speak to her but all that comes out is muffled. "I am going to take my hand off of your mouth. Are you going to scream again?" You frantically shake your head no.

As she takes her hand off your mouth; very hesitantly then you collapse on the floor in pain, trying not to make a noise. She grabs your wrist and tries to take a look at it, she moves your hand in front of her to try and see through the darkness. After a minute or two, she gets up and walks away; a bright flickering light appears in the corner of the room that illuminates the whole room. You look around the workshop in amazement. There are computers and monitors around the back wall; white and decaying, cracks scouring up the wall, the black floor is like it is covered in oil. The gradient goes from Black, like the base floor color, fading to green to blue until finally it goes to purple. From what you remember is that these tables had wooden tops, now charred and destroyed. As you kept observing the tables, she came back with a first aid kit, as she started to clear an area out all you could think about wasn't the pain, but who she was and why she looked so pretty.

"Come here, let me fix you up." She said in a soft tone, a new tone of voice you have never heard from her. It reminded you of your mother.

You leap to your feet and walk towards the table and sit on the table. The woman grabs your wrist and it hurts worse than you expected, causing you to whine and wince in pain. She starts to slowly pull the shrapnel out of your hand; quickie dabs Hydrogen Peroxide with more whimpering, she tightly wraps from my elbow to my hand with a bandage. While she is wrapping up your hand, you try to dig for some answers.

"Who are you?" She didn't give me an answer. "Why are you helping me?" Trying a more detailed question, she looked at you annoyed and then went back to wrapping. "How did you know I-"

She snapped and yelled, "If you ask me one more question, I am going to break your leg again!"

You shut up instantaneously and then processed what she said and then had another question and hesitated to say it but you had an idea. *She won't break my leg… right?*, then you realize something, like a light bulb turning on. "How did you know I broke my leg?"

"First off, you sprained your Fibula, second, you have a cast on your leg," she said in a sarcastically annoying tone *Maybe she isn't so pretty.* you say to yourself, then she grabs your leg and breaks your cast; screams following shortly after. Then another hand is thrown over your mouth, the force was almost enough to knock you off the table "Oh, shut up, you're fine."

You look down at where the cast was and under the broken fiberglass you see ripped jeans with huge scares running up your thigh. You go to set it down on the floor to see if you can walk… and you cannot; falling to the floor, the female grabs you and puts you back on the table.

"You're not fully healed, your skin is, but your bone needs about… " checks her clock "Ten minutes minimum to heal properly."

"What do you mean by ten minutes? That isn't how human anatomy works!" You say in a frantic panic.

She sounds pissed at this point, "Just shut up and wait, you impatient brat. How about this, I answer your questions and you sit there and be quiet. Sounds good?"

You reply in a forced calm voice, but you can hear the concern, "Yeah sure, whatever."

She walks over to another table, this time connected to the wall; lined with tools and dust. She grabbed an old chair, dragged it over to the table you were at and sat down.

"Ask away, three questions." She said

"Three questions-" *What are you, a Genie?* you think but obviously don't say.

"That will be enough time for your leg to be fine, so ask away, I will cut it to two if you keep waiting."

"Okay, okay." you take a second to think. "Who are you?"

"Very broad question, smart. My name is Balastine and I am what you people call a human, I am from Urth… our version of Earth-" You interrupt her. "Wait, What do you mean by your version of Earth?"

She takes a deep breath, she clearly has anger issues… *I wonder if it's because she's short, that's what my friends tell me at least-* Her speaking breaks your train of thought, "Second question?"

"No, that was a rhetorical question."

"Ok, let me continue then." She stares at you and you start to feel a physical pain in your chest, almost as if someone has their hand there and pressing even harder. "Urth is very similar to Earth, we have more mass and gravity than here, and our languages are completely different, I have to use this translator to talk to you." She points to her throat and you see a black box there. "I am in a group called the WokrZ where we hunt things like the Nightmares. Two more questions."

"What exactly are the 'Nightmares' you are so afraid of?"

When she starts to speak, she starts as a mudder, "We aren't particularly 'afraid' of them, the Nightmares is an AI programming, we don't know exactly how they got their power to travel through worlds. We also have a very small amount of information on them in general, we only know that they need a living thing to grow, we don't understand why." When she spoke, her face was blank, but she looked nervous, like she was lying. But what was she lying about?

"OK, now for my main question. Why am I important in whatever you're doing?"

"I don't know why you are important, you were called by The Creator and The Orical. They told me you would be here, they told me you were home and in danger, so I came. Every single one of us enrolled into the WokrZ association is to fight the Nightmares and protect the people of every being who is attacked. We have sadly lost so many worlds to them and we can't keep up with the thousands more Nightmares coming in. We need your help to protect them." Balastine sits there for a minute then takes a deep breath. "OK, now stand up, you should be fine."

"Umm, ok." - *I don't know why I am trusting you, but I am.* You finish the line in your head. You hesitate to put your foot down, when you eventually do set it on the ground, only shaking a little bit from your anxiety rising prior to it. Now that you are standing with your legs stowing their shake, you lift your head and look up at Balastine; now seeing her in full. She looks young, a little older than you. Her Black hair was in a tight bun, but the strands that fell out, led down to her elbow area. Her eyes like the galaxy; dark gray clothing and a golden sigil on her chest. Black pants with the same sigil on the knees, and a black cloak that covers most of her body. She looks at you and you say in a confused tone "How am I able to stand right now, I sprained my leg less than…" you count your fingers, "4 hours ago?"

"I don't understand it either, but your father was the same way, now try and walk around and see if it has improved at all." She replied with a scowl, like she was jealous.

You walk around the workshop; quickly increasing to a jog, then a skip to a jump, as you continue to move around, you look at Balastine and shout "This is amazing, I feel like I can do this all-'' While you are in the middle of speaking, you slip on a piece of sheet metal that blended into the floor and fall straight to the ground. When you hit the ground, it makes a loud bang that echoes through the rooms.

Balastine chuckles to herself and then asks, "Are you okay? I swear, if you died from that-."

"Oh shut up, I'm alive." You preach back 

When you get back up, you walk back to the table, sit down and see the door still there. You look over at Balastine and her expression when blank and serious again. *What is behind that door if she's like this again?*

You get up and creep your way over to it, but Balastine touches your shoulder. "I wouldn't go in there if I were you, it's not a smart idea."

You slide through her grip and keep walking, promoting, "I came here to find any clues on my father's disappearance, the only place the cops never checked was here- his office." You look just above the door, and see a sign that's been faded reading 'Employees only'.

While you open the door it creaks loudly, the cold stagnant air enters your nostrils and you can't help but gag. You look into the room and release a scream that scares even you. In the room before you is an unruly mess of chains bolted to the walls, blood dripping from every corner. That wasn't the thing that scared you however, it was the mass of flesh and bone in the center of it all looking uncannily like your father's face had been plastered upon it. As your eyes trail to the monstrosity, your breathing quickens and you trip over your own feet, trying to leave. You land in a puddle of hot, wet, blood, unable to escape the sight of his face. Until you see a piece of clothing soaked in blood with a name tag. All it says is "Christopher Becker