In a cluttered, compact, somewhat cozy room full of papers, books, and coffee, are two hardworking Seekers Kaya and Kevin. Most people don't even know this room exists above their favorite corner store coffee shop. Though the space is cramped and leaves a lot to be desired, it makes an excellent base for the Seekers. A quiet and hidden space with nearly unlimited access to coffee and pastries keep the two from moving out.
Most days are mundane but every once in a while, a discovery is made that sets up a chain reaction of information revelations that ultimately serve to update the archives with more factual and beneficial information.
“This one is a match.”
“Which one?”
“The A-Mi-Kuk.”
“What does it match?”
“The Falsemen from Shivergate.”
Kaya pulled up a multitude of A-Mi-Kuk pictures from the web, some of which were clear hoaxes, but others were plausible. She then pulled up the authentic photos of the Falsemen taken by Visionists in Shivergate. Most of the web photos were drastically different but a few were nearly identical to the Visionist photos.
“So, the Falsemen inspired the Inuit legends of the A-Mi-Kuk?” asked Kevin.
“It would appear that way,” responded Kaya.
That was the fun part of the job, now onto the hard and tedious part. Kaya updated the archives' info on the Falsemen with the new discovery. She then tried pinpointing the origin of the accurate web photos with no luck.
“I guess we can't find all the origins… not with the size of the internet,” responded Kevin.
“Good thing the A-Mi-Kuk are not exceedingly popular or dangerous. They only seem to be spotted in Alaska. If the Keepers of Shivergate do their job, we shouldn’t have to worry about any more sightings,” said Kaya.
“I would not want to be stuck up there in the snow every day watching the entrance to that cavern. I much prefer the warmth of the office!” said Kevin.
“Some people are better suited for those jobs. They work closer with the worlds beyond than we do. While I do dream of one day visiting one of those distant worlds, I am much better suited off the field on a computer,” responded Kaya.
This was an exciting day for the duo. Most days they spend their time searching online, through newspapers, and through underground rumors for anything that may have originated from a threshold or limspace. Most of the time, they are just hoaxes or easily explainable. The Keepers have been doing a good job keeping Baseline clear of outsider entities. On other days, they may receive first-hand reports from Visionists of new entities to be uploaded to the archives.
As Kaya was about to pack up for the day, she received a message on her computer. An image attachment and the start of a paragraph. Kaya pretended to ignore the message, but Kevin asked her about it.
“Sigh, please just be a memo or something simple,” pleaded Kaya.
Opening the message, Kaya immediately laughed uncontrollably. Looking over her shoulder, Kevin was puzzled over the image. It displayed a pair of thin ghost white legs and half a torso with two large black beady eyes. The funny-looking creature stood a solid meter away from the photographer as it stared directly into the camera.
“Kaya, what’s so funny about this?” asked Kevin.
Struggling to catch her breath, Kaya responded, “L-look at it!”
“I am and I don’t think it's funny looking.”
“It's a pair of legs with eyes!” laughed Kaya.
“This is the one to break you? Not the flesh balls, the walking houses, or even the Pizzageist?” asked Kevin.
After several minutes of Kaya laughing and Kevin asking questions, Kaya finally recovered her breath. She then read the paragraph and froze. She stared at the creature that once made her laugh but now in absolute terror.
“What's wrong?” asked Kevin.
“Read the message,” mumbled Kaya.
So, Kevin read the message.
This cute specimen is a Bleached Rover… perhaps the most dangerous entity in our field of work. They walk anywhere they please. Anywhere they want to walk, they walk. They defy gravity, break through indestructible walls, and obliterate anyone that impedes their walks. They are unstoppable walking destructive forces beyond nature. They are walking disasters.
We recently found that they can traverse between limspaces and thresholds on a whim. They can blink out of existence only to reappear in a distant system. At first, we thought they were just going to be rare destructive forces that may randomly interrupt our operations but we found that some have been walking into Baseline reality. In fact, a large pack of Bleached Rovers seems to be walking toward Baseline reality right now.
We are just warning you to evacuate somewhere safe and prepare for the worst. The destruction of Baseline reality is coming.
Visionist Panero J.
Kaya and Kevin stared at the message and the Bleached Rover and began to cry.
“I haven’t lived my life yet! I am too young to die!” cried Kevin.
“Well, I guess this is it,” mumbled Kaya.
The two began to call their families to say goodbye when a new message popped up after an hour.
GOTCHA!
We got you good didn’t we? I can only imagine the looks on your faces. I miss you two. Also, Joshua says hi. We appreciate your contributions back there in Baseline reality.
I was just reminded of you and thought a good way to show you that we are still alive was to make a short horror story as we did years ago before I left for the other worlds. I know the grammar is pretty bad and the story is a bit rushed. Though, the Bleached Rovers are actually real!
The Bleached Rovers are not walking disasters. They are actually pretty playful and intelligent creatures. Joshua is playing kickball with two of them right now! Anyways, here's what we got so far on them. So do your thing and make this look better on the documents!-Around 7’ tall
-Soft marshmallow-like skin
-Powerful legs
-Poor eyesight
-Beady black eyes
-Docile
-Playful
-Live in pairs
-No visible reproductive organsYour pals, Panero and Josh.
Attached at the bottom of the message was a picture of Panero taking an up-close selfie with a Pale Rover. The entity stared straight toward the camera with a soulless yet chipper gaze.
Kaya looked at the corner of her desktop to read the time. They had spent another all-nighter working.
“Oh.”
“O-oh at least it was just a story. How could he do that in this field of work?” Asked Kevin clearly still shaking.
“We need to get them back when they return. Something big,” Responded Kaya.
“Alright. Well, I am heading out. Somehow, I have to convince my folks that I am not crazy,” said Kevin.
“Good luck with that! They already think you are crazy. See you tomorrow. We can write the Pale Rover article then,” responded Kaya.
The two packed up quickly before shutting off the lights in their tiny office space that worked in the hidden room above their local coffee shop. As they came down into the shop they were stopped by the owner.
“I heard crying up there. You two must be working quite hard on that book! I can’t wait to read it,” said the owner.
“Sorry about that. We hit a bit of writer's block but figured it out. There are going to be these cute white leg monsters that the protag is going to encounter,” responded Kaya exhausted.
“Like the Fresno Nightcrawlers?”
Sigh, more work.