Re: [Melancholic - The Vault]
[While you certainly don't have enough time to read it...
The amount of papers in this folder is simply enormous. Some crumble at your touch, others you cannot read at all... Though here and there, there's a page that resolves into legibility.
The text here fades in and out of legibility....
"...at a mere 650 years since the retreat below the surface, the imbalance of the cycle of reuse of energy and 'plugging' of the souls of the planet is beginning to manifest. Perhaps like the body's cells attacks foreign invaders, the ground has swallowed up a single blank who had left their dorms over an unknown altercation.
The entire process as I had observed it took approximately five hours, beginning with submersion of the tips of the subject's fingers where she was resting them while sitting. The initial struggle, before engulfed up to the wrists both tore skin and broke one joint in the digits. Curiously, at about the halfway point, she slumped, apparently conscious but unwilling to fight any further. The process sped up exponentially and at the very end, she displayed emotions of contentment or peace.
The body remained, just below the surface, however the soul was dragged deep within in a pseudo state of death. Attempts to retrieve it has failed..."
Several pages later...
"... Having observed a number, there is certainly a link between idle or despondent states and an elevated risk of "listening" to the Old Man. Apparently, on some unconscious level most Blanks are capable of hearing, but is quite suppressed by the mind's own defense mechanisms..."
Several pages later...
"Of most curious interest is a Blank with alarming similarity to a soul, that I have discovered, is only partially entombed in the earth. This holds two particularly salient points of research. The first is that the Blank far outlasted the rest of her group. In fact, the entire South Block was deserted. Even leaving the safety of that area to travel back to the East Block - a survival mechanism, I assume, given that she only carried food, a change of clothes and a preferred weapon of what seems to be a hammer.
She has since disappeared, though I am unaware of any new energy gained by the Old Man. I have some suspicions so as of now, this shall remain separate of my reports to the King.
The second is the fact that such a near duplication can occur outside of this, admittedly closed system. I suspect though he may have formally stepped aside, the Gentleman is still working.
It vexes me that I may not simply ask to have my theory validated..."]