u/N1k0-Gl109

[Recording]

He is in a room sitting on the bed next to a laptop and a can of almond water. Out the window you can see a bit of a snowy landscape, with violet lights illuminating several houses in the distance.

He clears his throat, but unintentionally ends up coughing.

"Shit" he recomposes himself "Okay, that wasn't the best to start this recording," he says between his teeth as he looks at his laptop, a serious, tired look, eyes passing from side to side.

"Well today I'm on a special level discovered by the explorer harland (u/Artysmartsy)" he says with a small smile looking at the camera. "I have come to help her with one of the entities that reside in this place and that someone had supposedly already taken of"

He gets up from the bed and brings the laptop closer to the drone's camera, and turns it around where it can be seen a map in wich several dots are moving.

"With some help from her and some of my little toys we've managed to get that thing away from the house where I am right now" points to a red dot moving around the map. "This thing for what I know, looks similar to a smiler, but looks more aggressive and twisted. My theory is a mutation, the question is what is the reason for it to appear." he explains with some indecision in his voice, his fingers following the map carefully.

"For now she's sleeping on the sofa in the main room, I think, next to the smiler hybrids she's raising with her mother. I don't know when I'll wake up, but hey, I'm not in a hurry." He says just to close his laptop in a moment and store it in his backpack.

A visible sigh is caught by the camera. He looks out the window, clenching his fist, only to let go shortly after.

"I'd really love to be able to go out and hunt that thing, but not if I don't know what I'm up against, that's why I wish I could explore this level a little bit that I can find," he sighs. "There are never many quiet days in this place, if it's not new people coming into here by accident, it's the levels becoming unstable, or the entities going crazy or mutating."

He puts his hands to his face, and scratches his neck a little.

"I wish I had never agreed to play that stupid game" there is a moment of silence "I wish i would never have been so naive to enter this place"

[End of recording]

[Recording]

A figure with dark skin and white hair sat on the edge of the ruins of an old fortress, swinging his legs over the ledge as he gazed up at the artificial sky above him. An old notebook clutched his hands, its pages seemingly on the verge of turning to dust.

"Uh," the boy sighed, carefully closing the notebook. "These old field notes bring back so many memories." He casually lowered himself, digging his fingers into the structure to slow his descent.

"Ugh, I need to find a better way to get down. My hands can only handle a few wobbles," he grunted through gritted teeth, before taking a sip of almond water.¡

The camera zoomed in on him, revealing the old structure in great detail; the landscape tinged with bluish hues and shrouded in clouds. It positioned itself in front of the boy, who was scratching the small black scales on his skin.

"Okay. It feels weird looking directly at the camera, but here goes." - He sighs. "I don't know who sees or reads this, but here it is, my name is [Censored]." He lowers his head in frustration at the strange recording effect.

"I'd forgotten that, I hate having agreed to that damn condition," he muttered under his breath. "Anyway, call me N1K0, it's the closest thing to my name. Like many of you, I'm wandering around this place aimlessly, but unlike you, I don't have a way out, because of... issues." **As he says these words, the recording breaks down slightly.** "Right now I'm on level 28, catching some lightning in bottles and reliving old memories." The camera zooms out a bit, showing part of the horizon, where a lightning bolt can be seen striking.

"This is a small warning. As some of you may know, I usually reside on level 11, among other secure levels, but for some reason, I've suffered supply losses at several of my bases. So, I wanted to inform you that anyone who enters those areas without my permission is in for an explosive surprise."

**He throws a knife into the air, which is quickly struck by a second beam of light.**

"With that, I bid you farewell. I'm always willing to talk to other people or bring them here, especially newcomers to this place."

[End of recording]

Log IV