Zerosword

Nothing can ever go simply, can it?  Walk in, grab the sword, walk out.  That was the plan.  But plans, as I quickly am learning, are tricky things that hate working in a straightforward manner.

Yesterday, Rhodes gave me an irresistible pitch: He knew the exact location of the famous Zero's lost sword, deep in the forest where he fought the Bleeding Tree for the last time.  How he knew, he again refused to say.  All he told me was "it's my job to know things."  It sounded suspicious...But he made a good case.  He had told me because I was also an admirer of Zero, who was fit to inherit that blade, a great symbol of hope for many of the stalked.  He claimed that he "wasn't very good at fighting," so it would be of more use in my hands.

He charged me twenty dollars for that info. (only just realized why- ha ha ha, very funny)  He explained a bit about himself, that he had been an information broker, but was now attempting to make a bit of money off our situation.  He stays under the radar because he's kind of afraid of being stalked himself.  Fair enough.  Apparently he gives good info to us for cheap, and while he does deal with proxies, he refuses to sell information on our whereabouts, and vice versa.  So in short, he's pretty neutral.

I hopped on the first plane to Indianapolis this morning, and ended up in a town about five miles away from the forest via train.  It was a bit of a walk, but the countryside was nice enough.  Soon enough, I saw the trees.  Forests.  I hate forests.  Take a wild guess why.  But there was something really strange about this one, I could tell.  Maybe it was something in the air, but just looking at it gave me a weird feeling in the pit of my gut.  Course, that could've just been cause of what this forest WAS.  The site of a twisted but heroic figure's last stand.  It took a bit of courage, but I walked in.

It was unnaturally dark.  And more than that, it was so...quiet.  Most forests have animals everywhere, making some kind of racket, birds chirping, bugs buzzing.  But I didn't see ANYTHING besides plants and trees.  It was eerie, and gave me one hell of a bad feeling.  I pushed forward, and soon I came to a clearing.  It was like a death scene- trees were knocked over, cut off at the stump, some were burnt to ash.  Like a tree graveyard.

That was when I saw it.  A pale figure, sitting on a stump.  He was hunched over and silent.  When I tried to approach, I blinked, and he was gone.  I don't know if I imagined it or not, but...Well.  Kind of weird being skeptical about ghosts when Slenderman is real, right?

Unfortunately, that was tame compared to what happened next.  That was when the singing started.  You heard me- singing.  I couldn't determine the words, or language, hell, I don't even know how many people it was.  But there was a strange chant, whispered over the wind, as I made my way further in.  It was coming from everywhere at once...and just hearing it made me cringe.  There was no doubt about it- this place was haunted.  Well...maybe "Tainted" would be a better term.

That was when I saw his body.  Yeah.  It wasn't a pretty sight after a month up there.  Still, I stayed and inclined my head in respect to him.  The tree he was attached to...well, in the Messenger's report the scouts said that the tree was big enough that it SHOULD have been visible from outside the woods, even though it wasn't.  So I was a bit apprehensive going in.  But it was now just...a big tree.  I guess the Bleeding one moved on.  I climbed it and cut him down, which was easy, the branches were burnt and snappy.  I didn't have anything to bury him with, but I set him up against the tree.  It just seemed more...respectful, then letting him hang.

A lot of feelings were running through me while I handled Zero's corpse.  Dunno if I can really put them into words.  I'll just move on.  About two minutes later, I reached the spot.  The sword was stuck firmly into the ground.  How symbolic.  It came out easily enough, and surprisingly it didn't look much worse for the wear after a month in the ground.  So, mission successful, right?

Eeeh...never that easy.  I heard soft footsteps behind me.  I turned, and guess who it was?  Ridley.  Damn but this guy is persistent.  I was pretty surprised to see him here, gotta say.  As for how he found me, more on that later.  We started the usual back and forth- he mentioned how he was going to pay me back for the hell I had put him through, which I assume he means that weird maze Slendy stuck him in, and I told him his pants were dumb.

He did say he'd just cut me and then let me go if I handed over the sword, which I thought was pretty nice of him.  But I decided to take my chances.  We started towards each other, when a piercing voice shot out.  "Freeze!"

Cops.  What the fuck.  There were about ten police officers armed with handguns, who came out of the foliage.  "The two of you are under arrest for illegal drug trafficking."  Really?  Drugs?  Somebody had given them a fake tip-off, and I guess the fact that we were about to stab the shit out of each other didn't really help matters.  Anyways, I was about to drop the sword, when...something even weirder happened.

Three men and two women came out of the brush behind us.  They were all dressed in brown longcoats, and had white half-masks over the top of their faces.  Three of them had pistols and knives drawn, another was sporting a long, straight sword, and a fifth, well, she was packing a rifle.  I didn't like the looks of these guys, and neither did the cops, who demanded they drop their weapons.

I dove to the ground on a hunch, I heard Ridley do the same.  That was when the shooting started.

I didn't really give a shit who they were, but they didn't like us much.  I saw one aiming at me out of the corner of my eye as I bolted into the woods.  Luckily I managed to get a tree in between us and the bullet never reached me.  I just ran.  Ran as far as I could.  I could hear one of the girls pursuing me, and gaining.  I was about to turn around and make my stand when this weird mist appeared in front of me.  It slowly began to seep into the surroundings.  I had stopped, having no clue what this was.  My pursuer appeared behind me, out of breath, and saw it.  She cursed violently and aimed her gun, but there was...an inhuman snarl.  Next thing I knew, I was sitting outside of the forest, on the side I had entered.  Which was NOT the direction I had ran in, just so you know.

The sword was on the ground besides me.  I grabbed it and ran.

I have absolutely no idea what happened in there, except that Rhodes must have sold me out to Ridley.  But...why did he tip off the police, too?  And who the hell where the coated guys?  They weren't cops, hell, they shot at the cops.  Did Rhodes tip THEM off too?

All I know is, you shouldn't trust that guy.  Something's really fucked up about him.

And last of all- the sword.  You might wonder why I made this trip in the first place.  It was simple enough- the sword's a symbol to us.  Not of hope, necessarily, not even of darkness, despite Zero's misdeeds.  To me, this sword is a symbol of humanity.  It's a firm, constant reminder that there is always room for redemption- and that ANYONE can stray from their path.  I'd like to keep it with me for that reason.

Alright, I'm beat.  I need dinner.