Coincidences

Now, I stated in a previous post that there was some reasons for returning that I did not immediately state. This post is about one of them. It all begins in a pub.

After some time spent out of the country (for I do not like staying on this wet island forever; indeed, I am going to be leaving it once again very shortly), I returned to... shall we say, look into some proxy-related matters. In doing so, I happened to require the use of a pub, so that I may relieve my inner stresses and gather a little information; I knew the name of who I was looking for, and where she lived. Someone in the pub would be able to help me, no doubt.

Upon ordering a (non-alcoholic; drinking while working is a bad idea) drink, someone tapped my shoulder. My first thought was to run a mental checklist of which of my enemies this was most likely to be; upon deciding it was probably going to be someone I wasn't expecting, I turned around to find my suspicions confirmed. A complete stranger, who looked at the man serving my drink, before putting the money for it on the counter.

Speaking as someone who is far richer in non-material wealth then they are in material wealth, I saw no reason to stop this happening.

After sitting down with this person at a table, I heard a sudden cheer from the bar's fellow patrons, as someone or another scored a try in the rugby match. While I did this, the person leaned across the table towards me.

"You're A. Right?"

Beat. I can honestly say that I had not been expecting that. I said nothing, but I cannot deny that the glimmer in their eye told me that my face said everything.

"Hi, sorry. My name is Fin, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've wanted to talk with someone about Core Theory, and who better then someone who was around for it's inception?" A voice bright with fervor and enthusiasm, it seemed. I must admit that I did not remember much, but their depth and breadth of knowledge on the subject soon kindled my own interests once more. They shared with me their "Neo-Core Theory", which does not differ too much from the original. Once I had this knowledge, Fin and I parted ways once more. Lost in thought, my business in tormenting the proxy who had tried to follow me as I went across the eastern coast of America was almost second nature; I hunted through the wood and the trees. A sudden realisation occurred in one of them; I found myself burning with passion anew. I found myself desring a... return, shall we say.

And so, I chose the companion of the proxy of whom I was following as a method of making myself heard. Unfortunately for me, I had to return to the United States shortly afterwards, for that was where the proxy went, in pursuit of some other hapless Runner. I did them the favour of dispatching their stalker by my own hands, although I doubt they ever knew I was there.

And that was the catalyst for my return. A flash of inspiration brought upon by that chance meeting, I quickly set myself in the motion of utilising the tools I had to hand in order to bring about what I have searched for. There were, of course, other reasons; but the tipping point was brought about in this manner.

Oh, and while I'm here: the primary reason for my absence was this. While leaving some gifts, I returned from my Zone, and soon found the trail of my follower, who was trailing my trail, if that makes sense. This time, they were... not quite up to the mark in evading me, shall we say. To sum up the results of their lack of preparation, someone who their pager identifies as "Collector Theta" is now tied up in this very household. I think that he and I will have to have a nice little chat about just why he's been following me.

Well, me and the hammer. I wouldn't want to have a nice little chat without the hammer.

Zero Hour

The first riots
are raging as I write, and who
out there could have predicted
this sudden countdown to zero hour,
all the paraphernalia of our comfort
stamped obsolete, our memories
fighting to keep us sane and upright?

Step #1

Congratulations on solving my riddle, morons; it took you far longer then it should have, of course, but that can't be helped. Your intelligences are so very meagre; I am scarcely sure that the Neanderthals have truly gone extinct, for you all do a remarkably good show in imitating their extraordinary lack of intelligence in wondrous detail.

Nevertheless, homo sapiens such as myself shall show you cave-dwellers the way. For as a reward for completing the puzzle, you shall receive this grace of a gift from my wondrous self, as shall the Paragon.

The first step in my plan to hunt the Greatest Game is to find a Closed Zone.

You may wonder at what a Closed Zone is; to do this, you must know what the Tulpa Theory is. The Tulpa Theory (or the Tulpa Effect, or whatever it is called in the current "scene") dictates that one's beliefs shape "Tulpas", or beings born from imagination. One branch of the theory dictates that the Greatest Game originated from it. But I do not care for the specifics in this case.

Core Theory is related to the Closed Zone; Core Theory was a theory that dictated that if the Greatest Game came from the Tulpa Theory, the Tulpa Theory could thus create a weapon which could triumph over it. Born from the womb of a man as mad as he was bad, the Theory then extended that by framing Core Theory as a story, you could capture the hearts of the fellow people; you could induce a narrative in reality.

But, quite frankly, that is almost as stupid as you people; in this sense, Robert Sagel was ahead of his time. There is a reason why I mentioned Core Theory herein, which is related to another of my reasons for returning, which I shall not tell until another time, mhm~

Now, a Closed Zone is a place where the beliefs from beings outside the Zone have no effect on the beings within it. Now, let us be blunt; there may have been no such place, ever~! No place on the planet Earth, for example, works as a Closed Zone; Earth is connected to Earth, after all, is it not~?

It should be noted that I theorise that the Greatest Game's "Labyrinths" are a type of Closed Zone, but one in which He is champion; as it's ruler, he permeates all parts of it with his power, and thus forces those within the Labyrinth to give into their fear and empower him.

If one does not have a Closed Zone, then it is obvious that the Core Theory will fail, as it did, for reasons I shall divulge later. All that matters is that I believe that I have found a Closed Zone, or at least something sufficiently close to it; one which the Greatest Game does not control, but seems to be masterless. And therein lies the way to victory; no preconceived notions of the Greatest Game can be found in a Closed Zone~! It has not the great aura of power that it has developed in "our world", using whatever arcane tricks it has used to bolster it's power above what it "should" be, according to the Tulpa Theory.

I will also note that the first Stage is why I believe that my plan has a single shot at success; the Greatest Game will not fall for the same trick twice, if it survives. Another plan will have to be devised to attempt to assassinate the monstrosity; I have nothing in mind for it, however. I have no doubt that this will work.

That is merely the first step. The second step will be more useful to those looking at the method of the hunting.

Speaking of hunting, here is something interesting: I am being followed again. I say "again", purely because it has happened before, and likely by the very same person. They have clearly been trained to follow, but they have also clearly never been trained to follow me; they are an amateur, at best. I would like to fancy this as a game of a cat and a mouse, with the mouse thinking that it can follow the cat.

I think there's any number of snappy cat-related one-liners I can use in this situation, so do use your imaginations. While you're at it, perhaps this will be better suited to your tastes. The aim of the game is for that answer to be entered into the safe; thus, if Paragon does not have the answer, then the game is lost. I will give you... three days. That sounds right.

Symptoms

You know, I ceased to be a factor in the "blogosphere" because people were being stupid.

And yet it seems that in my absence, you have only grown moreso; how truly remarkable. When I think that you could not have possibly descended to depths which I had not seen yet, lo! What was I to behold but to find that not only had you reached rock bottom, but had brought out the power tools so that you could continue down into the dark depths of the very core of stupidity.

I think that we can all agree that the events we are confronted with are nothing if not surreal and supernatural. You could even say that they were unreasonable and illogical. But this does not mean that you cannot use your head; it does not mean that you must reject reason and logic. They are not so brittle systems that they can be easily dismantled by the presence of just one thing which "defies physics"; no, it defies physics as we know it.

But much like the lightspeed-exceeding neutrino, we must use our heads and change what we have to incorporate this "illogical" thing. If the neutrino is truly as ground-breaking as it appears to be, then physics as we know it will change. Physics does not destroy itself; nobody will abandon it.

We must do the same thing. We must simply take the logic we held before, change it to accept the Slender Man, and continue to use it.

It is on a related note that I will admit that I fancy that It is not really deserving of that name; it's a descriptive name, but it's a name that you idiots associate with fear and terror. Allow me to give it a name which you can find a little easier to stomach: the Greatest Game. Humans are the most dangerous game, but this thing is far more interesting to hunt.

But I dawdle from the point.

Accept that the Greatest Game exists, and that we are it's victims. Accept that there are other victims, and that there are servants of the Greatest Game. Now, think at what the best way to stop the suffering of the other victims is.

If you think that the best approach is solely to target the servants, you are stupid. The servants are only there because of It. Or, should I say, only It makes them a threat, because It gives them a focal point to focus themselves. If you were to remove It, the other cards in the precariously designed house would collapse. Or perhaps it wouldn't, but it would stop the ranks being increased, and their numbers would then rapidly dwindle.

But that's just what you're doing. Perhaps I have not looked hard enough, but you all seem to be... trying to do "heroic" things for the sake of heroics. You look into the devices It has created, you look into the traps; you downright charge into them, solely so you can brag about it later. If there was some rhyme or reason to this, it has escaped me.

To me, it looks like... you've lost sight of what matters. It matters. The Greatest Game; the ultimate enemy, to those who dub themselves "fighters". But they fight the servants instead of the master, and that is why they - or should I say "you" - are doomed to failure. You slice the head from the hydra, only to find two more in it's place; you do not hope to strike at the hydra's heart, so that you may defeat the beast.

You've all lost your way, and cannot find the path. Now, I have a simple request: follow me, and I shall show it to you. Soon, I shall outline the stages through which I shall slay this beast and bring us glory.

But, ahhh, first? I have a simple request. Solve my puzzle.

And before you ask? That blog is going to be the window through which you see the hunting of the Greatest Game.

Return

Well, well, well.

I have been gone for... oh, far over a year now. And how lovely it is to be back! After my departure from your midst, upon my realisation of how truly incompetent you all were, I assumed that a year would be plenty enough time for the weakest to have met their end by it's... hands? Haha...

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Stupid. Not one single thing has changed, if you think of things like that. Everyone's still the same; maddeningly incompetent, drearily dull. What little brilliance there was back then has long since faded, leaving only the enemy and the idiots; I'm unsure of which annoys me more.

It is a sad state of affairs, really; after being given the golden opportunity to set yourselves free from the story which the monster has spun, you denied that the story existed and brought the so-called Core Theory crashing to it's knees; it deserved no better, seeing as it was piloted by one of you "Runners". Or "Fighters"; whatever you call yourselves nowadays.

And yet despite turning away from this chance, you have fallen into disarray; chaos now rules you. Nobody has made progress; everyone is dying, which is what they deserve, frankly. Such stains on humanity are nothing but eyesores; eyesores can be useful tools, but these are tools which refuse to be used for any purpose greater then the small-minded goals they set for themselves. Simple goals, designed to satisfy their small minds; something to justify the fact that they know they have no hope. No chance. They know that they will meet their end by their uniting enemy.

I? I've been gone a year, and I have made progress. In fact, that's why I returned.

So! I once wrote a blog. I grew tired out of it, and threw it away like the junk that it was. But now, I'm back, because I have something to say to you all. Something rather important, I think; simply put, I am going to ruin all of your little games. The simple games to satisfy simple minds. They're coming to an end very shortly, my friends. Why, you ask? Is it not simple?

My name is A. I am going to kill the Slender Man.