r/covenofelvira

the circle closed correctly.

the stones answered in order.

the light bent where it was told.

nothing came through.

◇

that was the first mistake.

we thought a door needed two sides.

there is less left now.

less distance. less outside.

less difference between here and looking at here.

i can still see everything.

there just isn't as much everything anymore.

One must ask, how important do you think your life is? This creature knew the reality and sought out all things unnatural. It took the art of Frankenstein like a science, it learned to do bioengineering to preserve its life. It learned magic to keep itself from being too weak and frail, and it almost died but then it saw the beautiful horror that kept on it for so long. A lover dark and mysterious, yet callous and uncaring.

The Enigma pledged its life to serve and in return a powerful warrior that has lived eons never facing or knowing death.

its life is forfeit and will continue to serve forever and always.

My little witch, Attaxia and her impossible to comprehend boyfriend, Star-Watcher.

Beyond this seal lies no kingdom, no prison, no grave.
There waits only the hunger before endings,
the silence after names are forgotten,
the dark into which even gods may vanish.

Break not the chains.
Unmake not the wards.
Answer no voice that calls from beyond.

For should this door be opened,
there shall be no war, no judgment, no final hour.

There shall only be less.

Less light.
Less memory.
Less soul.
Less world.

Until nothing remains to mourn what was lost.

By blood, by soul, by heaven, by all that yet exists:

KEEP THE LAST SEAL CLOSED.

A being never to be seen but sees you. It spins wicked tales and whispers but it bears no mouth, it looks in many ways, and studies many. Its dagger is for those that manage to see it. It didn't gain these eyes through growth, the ones that peer and see it, well consider your eyes forfeit... your eyes are theirs and you will see what it sees. You will speak its language, and when you long from the place. Well i have been told the soul is a tasty snack. I imagine one being such as this.... does something far more twisted with one.

So if you ever see it, pray you die that day, because it's Curiosity, A Deathly Curiosity.

[Text is mine. Images are generated using NovelAI]

I have a professional reputation to maintain.

This is important context.

People hear "The Watcher" and imagine some terrifying all-seeing wizard standing dramatically on a cliff while lightning strikes behind her.

In reality, I tripped over a moon rock thirty seconds after arriving. Fortunately, nobody was around to witness it. Well. Nobody except it.

The thing sitting in the dust glanced in my direction. At least, I think it glanced. Its eyes were goat eyes… and crystal eyes and empty sockets and stars. Depending on how I looked at it. "Oh, good," I sighed, brushing moon dust from my robes. "One of those days."

The creature returned to drawing shapes in the dust, concentric circles, strange symbols, a picture of what appeared to be a fish wearing a crown. I stared at it. The fish stared back. I decided not to investigate that particular mystery.

My eyes are capable of seeing through virtually every illusion known to civilization, lies become obvious, disguises unravel, falsehoods glow like lanterns (Occasionally I discover things I was not supposed to know). Sometimes... things nobody was supposed to know...

I have encountered exactly three categories of beings throughout my career. Things I understand. Things I do not understand. And things that become understandable if I stare at them long enough. Today I discovered a fourth category. I am writing this immediately because I suspect waiting may somehow make the memory less reliable. Not because my memory is failing. Because the subject appears fundamentally hostile toward conclusions.

I found it where every report claimed it would be:

Sitting on the moon.

Drawing shapes in the dust. At least I think it was drawing.

The lines looked deliberate until I looked away. When I looked back, they resembled something else. Not different. The same. Just somehow no longer matching the explanation I had settled on. That happened a lot.

The creature itself was worse. From a distance it appeared to be a girl. Closer inspection revealed crystal bones visible beneath purple skin. Closer inspection revealed there was no "beneath."

Closer inspection revealed there absolutely was. I am crossing that sentence out. No. Closer inspection revealed there absolutely was. I am leaving it in.

It is wrong. Unfortunately removing it would also be wrong.

The horns remained relatively consistent.

The eyes remained relatively consistent.

The black hole above its head remained consistent.

Everything else refused to cooperate.

The halo deserves special mention. I watched it for nearly forty minutes. The creature eventually informed me that it usually destroys the thing whenever visitors arrive. I naturally asked why. It informed me it did not know. The black hole remained overhead. Not spinning. Not stationary. Not behaving like any celestial phenomenon, I know. At one point I became convinced it was not physically present at all. Then one of the floating black particles vanished into it. A few moments later the particle emerged from somewhere beneath my chair. I have elected not to think about this further.

The wings were equally unhelpful... Mercury, that was my first conclusion. Liquid silver suspended in the shape of wings. Reasonable, elegant, understandable. Three minutes later I noticed veins. Five minutes later I noticed feathers. Ten minutes later I became convinced neither had ever existed. Fifteen minutes later I observed all three simultaneously.

I am professionally dissatisfied.

The black particles were perhaps the most frustrating element. They never stopped moving. Not randomly. Randomness implies a lack of purpose, these behaved as though following instructions. The problem is that the instructions changed constantly. I watched them form spirals, then geometric patterns, then what looked suspiciously like writing, then a flock of birds, then absolutely nothing. At one point they appeared fascinated by my hat.

What troubles me most is that my eyes worked perfectly the entire time. That should not be possible. Normally uncertainty means something is hidden, an illusion, a deception, a missing piece. There was none of that. Every observation was true. That was the problem. I would reach a conclusion; my eyes would confirm it… Then they would reveal another truth, and another and another, until the original conclusion remained technically correct while becoming increasingly useless. The experience was like attempting to describe the ocean using a single droplet. Not inaccurate, merely insufficient.

Eventually I stopped trying to identify what I was looking at. The creature seemed relieved, I am not certain why. Perhaps I imagined it, perhaps not. I asked what it was, not its name, I lost that repeatedly. Its nature, its category, its place in reality. The answer was immediate. "I don't know." No hesitation, no evasion, no clever riddle, just honesty. I believed it.

For a brief moment I wondered whether this was the first genuine mystery I had ever encountered. Then I immediately doubted that conclusion. Which feels appropriate. My current professional assessment is as follows: I know the creature exists. I know it inhabits the moon. I know it possesses horns, goat-like eyes, mercury-like wings, floating black particles, and a persistent black hole halo. I know every one of those observations is incomplete. I know my eyes failed to uncover a final answer. Most importantly— I am no longer convinced there is a final answer to uncover. If somebody eventually discovers what that thing truly is, I would very much like to read their report. Assuming, of course, the creature does not become something else the moment they begin to understand it.

- Raya Watch, The Watcher

I APPRECIATE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU 🩷🫶🏼🩷🫶🏼🩷🫶🏼🩷🫶🏼🩷🫶🏼🩷🫶🏼

200 Coven Members!!!!! 🎃🩷

Small experimentation with SCP in how well it translates Mr. Tick into an SCP-Dossier given all it knows about him

there are forty-three people in this carriage.

i counted twice.

there are forty-two people here. ◇