I would give this topic a better name, but it's the first topic in this place. (Forcie/Invite)

New Delhi; 573 square miles of monsoon plagued subtropical land located in India. A land rich in history and culture. A blended cosmopolitan city that was home to over 250,000 people who lived different lives from the other places Spirit had been. From the crammed homes in the dirt streets to the various temples and businesses of a modern era. A place where one could actually see a rather intense distinction between the rich and the common man. It was here, in this place, untouched by the troubles of the world around them where Spirit found himself drawn. More specifically it was here that he found himself washed over, baptized in the emotions of sorrow and grief. For the first time, Spirit felt despair, hopelessness and pain. It was here that he learned these emotions were a flame to him, the little moth that would dance it's way around the light. The dance was aimless, confusing and utterly pointless to those who were like him.

Looking upon the masses that congregated before the improvised shrine. The shrines were as a ziggurat was, a multi-layered box construct with over twenty pictures on it. Between each picture was a candle that flickered and danced in the darkness, perfect symbolism that Spirit likely missed. Flowers and little wooden carvings adorned any free space as men and woman were grieving for the latest "extraordinary" event. The event that had ultimately drawn Spirit here. The event struck the news almost globally, because for every picture on that shrine...every picture on that alter was suddenly gone. The locals called them "spirited away" because all of the children vanished from a hospital after it caught fire. The only lead officials had were the parents all claiming that their children spoke of "hearing voices" and seeing things that would almost instantly vanish. Cameras didn't pick up on anything, and there was talk that soon authorities would give up the search for living and begin looking for corpses.

Spirit could not deny the activity of spirits in this world, many of them were ones he expected to find. The Spirits of the culture, the spirits of others whom had passed. All of them wandering. Some lost and some simply not wanting to move on quite yet. But there was something strange in the going ons of this mass disappearance. There were not traces or feelings of spirit interference, but this was far beyond the secular and mundane ability. This was something that Spirit was compelled to do, so solve this mystery and confront whatever supernatural creature was behind this nefarious act. Thought it were against his better judgment he allowed himself to seen, he removed his own imperceptibility, and removed his own isolation and his only means of total defense from the mortal realm around him.

Spirit let out a breath. Breathing was still so strange to "him", how it was such an necessity to inhabit this world. Spirit stood at a distance and watched the crowd as it closed its eyes and tried to feel the world around him, preparing himself as best as he possibly could. Its very presence flooded the area, no doubt becoming a beacon of sorts to all things as it always had. To the humans around he were perhaps no different than one of them, another young man in the crowd. But to the metaphysical he had become the flame, and to him the moths would soon begin to flock. If he were lucky that is what would happen, and he could indeed draw out any dark spirits that may have been involved in the goings on that had transpired. The thought hadn't even occurred to it yet that it should perhaps relocate to preserve the life of those around as it began its investigation.

Somewhere in the state of Utah, Sarah Milosi had been sitting by a lakebed at sunset just watching the sun disappear beneath the horizon. She had taken her shoes off and was soaking her feet in the cool waters. She was comfortable right now, and was able to relax. Until a ripple in the water occurred mere feet from her. She pulled her feet out and pushed herself back away from the water's edge. It was probably unwise to have been doing that in the first place, but whatever. At least her feet weren't currently covered in leeches.

Another ripple occurred and Sarah stared at it expecting a crocodile to emerge from the water to try and grab her. Not interested in becoming some animal's next meal, Sarah brought forth the spiritual energy that flowed through her to protect herself. there was another ripple and something emerged from the lake. An otter popped out of the lake and was staring right at her with an expression that seemed to be more than just typical for an animal. It looked shrewd and joyous, then it flashed a grin and in an instant, Sarah felt a pulling motion around her as she felt like she was being dragged somewhere. The skies around her dissolved into nothingness.

It felt like she was conscious and unconscious at the same time. Sarah's head felt like it wanted to explode. There was nothing but darkness visible around her, then light started to reappear. For some reason the city of New Delhi came to her mind. Was that what she was starting to see beneath her. The lights were starting to form a city, and she was approaching it. Really fast that is. Her vision went blank again as she felt herself touch the ground. She staggered due to her sudden arrival and nearly fell over. Sarah found herself on a sidewalk in some city in the middle of the night. "I take it this is New Delhi." she said aloud to herself. The signs on the buildings were in a language she did not recognize.

She heard the sounds of children laughing nearby, but could not see where they were coming from. Sarah decided to follow the laughter to see where it would lead her since she didn't know where to go anyways. She didn't find any children though. Just a shrine in the distance. There were some men nearby, and they noticed her. One of them addressed her.

"Arē mahilā. Āpa kyā kara rahē haiṁ?" one of them said. Sarah had no clue what any of that even mean't. She looked over at them curiously and tried to figure out what to say.

"Tuma amērikī?" another of them said, and the first responded to him. "Vaha mērē li'ē hispainika laga rahā hai."

Sarah really wished she could understand what they were saying. The sounds of the laughter of children came to her again, this time they were closer. They seemed to be coming from the direction of the shrine. Sarah decided to follow them once again.

"Lagāna. , Pāgala aurata āpa bhūla jātē haiṁ." one of the men shouted after her as she left them behind. Sarah didn't care what that even mean't and just kept on moving forward.

There were a bunch of people gathered at the shrine. The scene resembled that of a funeral. Is that what this was? The sounds of laughter grew louder and the spirits of children manifested before her. They ran through the crowd towards the shrine and started hovering around it. "So this is a funeral." she thought. Sarah took a moment to mourn them before asking herself why she was here. Was it because of that otter? What was the deal with that thing anyways? She looked around expecting to see it watching her, but instead saw something else. A figure that kept altering back and forth from human to other things entirely.

Sarah felt distrustful of this figure for reasons she couldn't quite explain. It was standing among the people gathered at the shrine, but was not there to mourn the dead. It was there for some other reason, one she did not know. Sarah could feel its energy and sent forth some of her own to get its attention. She waited until it noticed her before turning around to walk away, hoping it would follow her.

Children everywhere, an uneasy feeling. Spirit stood with closed eyes and let out shallow breaths as it focused as hard as it possibly could. The laughs, the whispers. Whatever event was the cause of this pain was not here. But this is where the pain was. Spirit's hands rose to it's ears and placed its hands over them, the corporeal auditory canals becoming covered, as if Spirit anticipated that silencing the sorrow or the pain crying out from the nearby humans. So many voices, so many whispers. Itanā chōṭā-Mērā baccā-Kēvala ēka kula nirāśā isa pāṭha raṅga kā prayōga karēṅgē-Kyā vē kamala mandira kē bārē mēṁ sīkhā hai?

The words filled its head, they continued to echo and if that weren't enough there were thousands of memories. Women holding their children after birth. Men reading the child a story or trying to teach the young man about respect. The bonds, the unity between the family that grew over several years...and in minutes it disappears. Spirit was not to linger in these thoughts as it suddenly felt a pulsation of different energy. Energy akin to his, though perhaps not entirely the same. This energy was not the energy of a Daemon. The energy was pure...like a Daemon's was pure...but the energy was different. It was almost impossible to describe, like explaining he difference between two forms of silences, or to describe the shades of green to a person who had never had eyes. You could tell both were green, but in the end no manner of words could do justice the thing in which you tried to describe. This energy was a hunter green and Spirit was a lime green if you were wondering.

Pulling his hands from his ears (because let's face it that wasn't exactly helping) he turned to look for the source of the hunter green feeling energy. His eyes fixated upon one particular thing. Spirit's head tilted to the side in confusion as the other "spirit" turned to walk away from him. This was obviously an attempt to lure him away. He should ignore her and circumvent what is an obvious trap. Unfortunately he is both too ignorant and too trusting in the good graces of others to have either of those thoughts even cross his mind.

Spirit would follow this other spiritual entity as it tried to identify what kind of spirit she was. Ghost perhaps? Once living made dead and now wandering like the rest? No that was not right, she was a true spirit, her presence in this place no more so his concern than Liberace dancing the chicken dance in a mausoleum. Actually that would be Spirit's business...it would disturb the other spirits and it would need to deal with the situation. Bad analogy. Regardless this spirit was a "suspect" of sorts and it could not be allowed to go about spiriting children away or cutting their lives short. That is why Spirit followed her...until she acted again or addressed it.

Due to not knowing one building in the city of New Delhi from another, Sarah had no clue where she was heading right now. She was basically looking to get some distance from the shrine where the funeral was taking place so they wouldn't notice her all while that one individual was following her since she had gotten its attention. Perhaps some place a bit secluded. If there was one. Nothing was presenting itself as a good option.

Sarah groaned as the thought of how she would ever get out of here came to her. Could she do that same thing that caused her to be here? While it was true she can suddenly be somewhere else in an instant, she had never done it across really long distances before. She was still learning how to utilize that power to begin with. Maybe that otter was around and would help. She knew it wasn't an ordinary animal, just not what it was.

A slight turn of her head let her know that this spiritual being was still following her. He hadn't stopped for nothing, but wasn't really doing anything else. This thing resembled a young man, mostly. Then again, it was starting to look less and less human in appearance. Hmm, how peculiar. They were far away enough from the site of the funeral. Sarah slowed down a tiny bit to allow the spirit to get closer before sharply turning around to face it.

"Alright, what are you? Why were you at that funeral? I know you're not one of the ones that died that were being mourned." She asked the thing, practically interrogating it. She called it a thing because not only could she tell it wasn't human, it was looking far less human than before. It looked like it had gotten shorter and growing whiskers. Now what was the deal with this?

This other spirit seemed to lead him a little ways, bringing them out of public eye. Anyone else see an obvious ambush? No? Just me? Okay then. Spirit was still trusting entirely of this other entity as she seemed to adrees him, asking him why he had been at the funeral. She somehow seemed to know he wasn't part of the fire for some magical reason. Granted he didn't much feel like playing coy with the situation or witholding information. His primary concern was that this spirit he was having pleasentries ith would turn hostile if she were in fact the one "spiriting" children away. Though honestly she didn't seem like she belonged here. Spirit's odd observation and thought process at work caused it to soon speak though not before it rose a hand and began to scratch atit's upper lip.

  "I am here to investigate. There have been claims that children have been spirited away...then there was a fire which served as a distraction. I'm trying to find if there are truly spirits at work...and to stop them." Spirit said as it looked to Sarah eyes narrowing as if analyzing her a moment. "I would ask you to tell me now if you are the one who is responsible, and return the spirits of the children." it would sayto Sarah before it would scratch it's upper lip again. "Why my lip so itchy?" It grumbled as it began assaulting the lip, now just realizing the woman was...a bit taller than it was. Wasn't it taller than her just moments ago?

  "I'm not quite certain...what is happening to me..." It said as it looked around and began brushing it's hair nervously as he looked around, a perplexed and slightly worried look on it's face.

A slight feeling of relief came over her when she saw that this thing had been following her just as she had hoped. At least something went right here. Perhaps this thing was the reason she was essentially brought here. Or was associated with the reason. If it had answers to her queries, then she was determined to get them.

This ectoplasmic being that resembled a young man for the most part told her it was investigating something. Going on about how he heard about the spirits of children being captured, and something about a fire. Was it those same kids whose spirits she had seen? The ones whom that funeral was for? If it wasn't, it would be an odd coincidence. Tossing aside the thought of accepting a coincidence, Sarah decided to go with those things being linked. It was probably favorable for her to do so.

This thing that was starting to not resemble a young man anymore asked her if she was the one responsible for the thing it was investigating. "No, I just got here mere minutes ago. I was in Utah, sitting next to a lake when this otter, yes, an otter, came out and was smirking at me. Suddenly my senses almost go completely blank and then I'm here in what I believe to be New Delhi, India." she told the thing as bluntly as she could. 'Thing' was probably the best word for it. Considering the fact that it was starting to no longer look human.

"How am I supposed to know what's happening to you? Aren't you doing this to yourself?" she asked it as it slowly got smaller before her and grew hairier. Its joints were kind of changing to. It was starting to resemble a four legged animal trying to stand on two legs. Like a cat or something.

Regardless of whatever this thing was turning into for whatever reason, Sarah decided to peruse it for more information. "So what else do you know about this thing you're investigating? Perhaps I can help, but only if you tell me everything you know first."

"An otter? Why would an Otter bring you to this place? Did you tell it a joke? They tend to be playful creatures." The daemon commented to Sarah, using it's accumulated knowledge on otters, as little as it was, and could only devise that this otter was somehow a very fast and tricky otter that was attempting to play a game with this spirit-woman-thing. Next she proceeded to say that she didn't know how she was supposed to know what was happening to him, and then asked if he had not been doing this to himself. It didn't remember asking the woman to explain what was happening to it, nor did he expect her to know. He also was obviously not doing it himself or he wouldn't have stated he was not certain what was happening to him. Those thoughts aside as Spirit was now entirely a cat.

"I want to meet this otter. He will help me find fish. I'm not sure why I wish to encounter fish, but my stomach is moving in response to the thought." Spirit simply looked to Sarah. This would put a damper on any form of professionalism. Thankfully Spirit didn't care for such things. "No I did not do this to myself. All I know is that this creature is spiriting children away. It abducts them within a period of time after revealing itself to them. I believe it to be something similar to myself. A "Demon" is what they are called to us." Spirit informed as it began licking the back of it's hand and rubbing it on it's furry head.

 "It is my intentions to learn the fate of the children." It added in as it began to look around, the world seeming so big now.

"Yes, an otter, of all things. An otter brought me here. I don't why it did. Or how for that matter. I just know that it did." Sarah stated without a trace of emotion in her voice. At best it sounded sardonic and cynical. She kind of felt like she was being made fun of by this thing. Yes, getting dragged halfway around the world by an otter sounds absolutely ridiculous. It was also completely true and she didn't feel like getting mocked about it. Probably because she was focused on finding a way out of here.

Sarah gazed down at the thing that was now a cat for some reason. Probably a stupid one. She thought about what it said. Not much to go on other than what she already figured. Perhaps this cat wasn't the one she should be asking. The spirits of the children that had been killed were probably a better source of information. "Well then, I guess we should just ask them ourselves." she told the little critter. Sarah looked over at the shrine to see if the funeral was still going. Unfortunately, it was. "Dammit." she cursed under her breath. How long was this going to last? Well, if she can't just walk over to the shrine to talk to those spirits, then she would have to bring them to her.

Her energy became a guiding light for those that could see it. She stood there with her hands together almost like she was praying, and at first it was quiet. Then the distant sound of movement could be heard. It steadily grew louder as the sounds of laughter started. Was there something really there? It was hard to tell. It felt like it could be real, but one could still have their doubts. Nevertheless, she had brought them over here to talk to them about their deaths.

Sarah stopped concentrating and parted her hands. She looked around at what she could see. It was a sight that some would consider disturbing or terrifying. Sarah kneeled down to address them directly and spoke in a kind voice. "Hi. Can you please tell me what happened to you?"

"I do not mean to offend you I am simply-what is that!?" Spirit asked suddenly shocked as it slapped itself with it's tail. It sat there glaring at it intently before batting it with a paw. It watched it's own tail twitch before hissing at it and then looking around for Sarah, who seemed to have gone off to ask a spirit what had happened. Apparently these were the children then? So much for the theory of them still being alive. This caused Spirit to pause a moment. Spirit approached Sarah and with a feline leap it managed to gracefully land upon her shoulder, cocking it's little cat head to the side to look at the spirit.

M̀͋̃̎̑ͨ̂̀ͫͤ̈ͯ͏̷̢̝͎̙̬̙̯͚̲͚͍̱͔͇̠͞a̵͇̜̗͚̺̝̪͔͈̘̯̰̺̥͉͙͙ͩ͂́ͧ͊͜ͅn̨͔̗͖̭̱̳͉͒̏̐̐̽̂ͬ̐ͥ̏̏̿̊̋̎̈́̚͞ ̢̢̫̹̺̞̦͔̾̋ͪ̇ͯ̔̈́̏ͪͪ̀͞b̡̑ͭ̈́̓͆̆ͬͩͩ̐ͧ͑̽̋͡҉̷̱͇͇̗͍͉̝̠̹̖̠͚͔͓̞l̷̶̪̜͖͉̬͖͔͎̦͖̳͇̹̑͊ͯ̈̌̊̎̅ͮ͗͊a̸ͯ̆ͥ͗ͣ͂͛҉͢҉͖̫̗̣̜͎͙͓͙̱̫c̡͓̼̳͓̳͈̘̠̤̺̲̹̦̜͍͓̙͔͒̍͊ͩ̅ͨͯ͜͠ͅk̢̧͈̫̘̱͇̍̆ͥ̆͒̍͒̊̌̓ͯͪ̊͘͘͠ ̵̘̬͚͓̝̭̱͔͓ͧ͗ͤͫͮ̉̍ͯ̿ͮ̈̇͢͟f̈̓ͤͧ́̋ͥ͌̓҉҉̢̹̮͕̭̲̰̼͔̪̝̀̀ą̛͔̯̟̦͎̜̠̙̺̬̙͔̼͕͈̻̟͎͌̋̈͊̒̓͗͛̇͌͂ͧͤͅc̶̶͎̼͕͇̯̘̭͕̭̮̣̟ͯ́͆ͧ͢͞e̓̄͋ͪ̋̑̋̋̉͛̓ͯ̎ͥ͑̊ͫ͗͏̵̣̣̫͔̞͙̞̰̪̤̠́͘ͅͅ ̼͚̰̲̱̠̝̼̤̘̹̯̜̮̂͂ͬ̐͊̍͋͜͝͡͝ḑ̴̛̠̣̗͉̝̞̘̺̠̞̘̓͌̓̌͌͋̂ͬ̒ͨ̑̚͝a̴̸̪͇̞̮̟̭̦̠͎̩͖̪͋ͤ̐ͫ͐̿ͤ͑ͫ̔̊͆̇̆͜r̡̠͈̞̳̗̜̪̬̫͈͚̹̋̅ͦ̌̋͐͒ͣ͋̊̑͌ͫ̚͠͝ͅḵ̶̢̡͔̞͙̗͓̎̅ͦ̃̅ͣ̈ͥ̈́̾̇ͮ͌ͤ͒̊͌ͯ̚͠n͚͉͓̖̤͖̲̲̼͊ͧ̓̌̋ͫ͗̎̏̓͘̕̕͝e̸̵̼̱͖̻̞̜̞̳͕͔̠̩̲̼̊ͥ̆̎̃̀͢͡ṣ̷̹͎̄̇̈ͪ̐̅̇ͭ̀͜s͈̩͍̜̜̪͖̮ͩ́͂ͥ̐ͯ̿ͩ͊̓̓͛̇̅̐͢͢ ̧̜̠͇̜̣̝͕̞̗̖̝͈͚͓̼̈́̉̐͌̑ͫ͑̃̓̍̏͘͢͡c̸̛͉͍̙̮̱̺͂͂ͤ̈̿ͪͮ͋ͬ̅̒̋͗̈́͑̋̅̾ͩ͝o̠͙̘͚͛ͧ́̿͘͝m̵̡͖̯̻̼̪̪͈̻̗̯͚̳̙̝͐ͦͫ̍̃̒͡e̸͍͍̗̬̱̣̲̭̗͉͈͇͍̝͐ͥ̅̆ͣͬ̀s̷̫̦̠̳̟̞͕͍̫̤̖͕̲̓ͤͬͥͩͨ͢͟͝ͅ.̴̴̸̯̖͍͍̥̦̭̲̜̘̮͉̳̙̮̩͍̩̓̿̇̉ͮͩ̂͊͆̅̇̑͒̒ͯ̓́̚͟ͅ ̢͚͉͇͈͙̘̤͔̞͕̫̅ͧ̏͌ͬ͑͑̇̓͊ͬ͊̅ͮ̅͢͞B̢͓͈̲̭̬̲̲̜͓͍̦͙͓̱͓͎̜̘̍̇̌͆̀̇͛ͬͧͤ̇̏ͭ͠ơ̢̠͉̞̜͈͖̙̜̳̮͉͉͙ͬͧ̑̎ͯ͂͐͊ͫ͗̀͆̅͜͡ͅx̶̴̸̰̙̗̣̩͎͚̦͐͗͛̇̾̀͞ ̸̢͔̻͉̲̜̦͚̬̖͕̬̖͔̘̰ͯ̈̑͌̄̓ͥ̈̿́͞ͅċ̷̷͇̳̟̜̫̫͔̯̼͖̺͓͗ͯͤͧ̀͠aͯ̓̄ͦ͛ͨ͂ͭ̓͋͊҉̢̖͓̖̮͈̦̥͉͔͙̥̣̠͎̤͈̲ṇ̴̡̣̗̻́̿͋ͭ̎̀͆̂͋̎̉̀̕n̷̝̞̫̺̩̟̭͖͎͙͖͓̯͈̬̊ͣ̑ͩͣ̏͛̓̀̚͢͞͞o͇͍̦̥͕̯̪͎̮̳̞͆̅̒͐̅ͧ́t͊ͥ̓ͬ̋̒̿ͭ̃̀͢͏̟͈̥̥͇̞̬̲͍͓͍͎͎͇ͅ ̶̜͔̯̫͉̦͍̥͈̟̲͈̮̍ͮ͐͌̕ͅs̡̮̬̜͎̞͂̽͋̏̒͂̀̽̌́ͅè̵̮͖̭̗̟̙̙̭͎̜͎̗̒͑́͑̿ͩ̌̕͜ę̣͇̠̺̱̭̙̼̙͇̤̝͇͉̠̜̙̞̫͂̊͋̿ͣ̍̑ͭ͆͡!̸̧ͬ͒̈̑́̀̀͜͏̣͈͖̮̺̝̬͔̮͚͈͓̗͓ The child's spirit said. The spirit's words were contorts, the voice did not belong to a child, which utterly baffled Spirit as it attempted to rationalize what had happened to turn the child spirit's voice like this.

I͌ͯͤͪͨ́̂̋ͭ̽͂͂͒̚͜҉͎͍̲͍ ̴̸͈͖̥̖͉̯̯ͨ́ͥͧą̷̴̝͔͕̗̰̝̦̥͈̘̮ͬ̍ͬ̂̔̈̚w̴̴̨̜̙̟̼̦̹̭̯͖̻̭̠̳̠͈͚̰̫ͯͯ̃ͨͯ̿ͩ̊̐̑̎͆̑ͧ̇͟s̵͈̦̤̰̘̹̟͓̥͎͚̜ͦ̈́ͯͦͩ̕͠ ̻̗͙̮̳̀̋̌͒̋ͩ̍̐͋͂ͬͥ͞ô̧͕͙̤̺͛͋͌̊́n͍̠̫͚͈̗̹̤͇̳̱͎͖ͯͤ̿͊ͪ̔̆͂̽ͬ́͗̈́͜͡t̵̛̛̩̪̹͇͆ͫ̈̿̏ͤ̓̏̏̈́̀́̚ ̸̡͈̻̯͇͕͙̹̪̫̥̠̺̱̝̤̤͍̺̠ͣ͐̽͋͊ͭ̓̔̾͑̎ͫ̆̉̂̿̚͢͡e̛̝̲̤͚̜ͧ̎̏͌̽͊̌̍̂̏͆̌́̅̕͝͠ņ̡̬̱̝̌̔ͧͣ͋ͣ̕͟ơ̵̜̻̜̗̾ͥ̓̆ͫ͐̌͋̾͊͛ͤͥ̔̇ͨ͟͞͝!̵̝̮̗̘͖͚̰͉͇̖̘̑ͪ̂̆ͯ̂̽͊̍̐͗͋̅͐͡ ̛̙̯̻͓͔̣̩̹͍̓͗ͤ̈́ͩͯͣͦ̈͐ͭ́̔̓̏͌ͣ͐͟͟͡ͅB̡ͤͯͬͬ̀̀͋͛̍̋͛́͞͏̬̞̪̟͇̺͎̱̮͇͕͞ͅt̶̨ͬ̐͊ͥͥ͑̅ͩ̂ͮͫ̈́̔̚͏̖͎̹̣̻͉̰͕̘̦̙̤̮͕̙͕̱̬u̺̱̱̯ͥ̑͋̓ͥ̉̈́ͥͥͩͭͨ́̀ ̵̨̢̦̣̳̩̪̲͕̥̭̪͓͓̰̮̤̼̝̥ͤͪͫ̂̊ͬͦ́w̸̨̛͇̻̰̖̠͈͎̤̜͉̤̍̍ͨͥ̓͡e̶̡̠͚̤̳̰̙̪̘͍̳̩̝̹̼͖̞̟͚̮ͫ̃ͦ͊͐ͨ̆̒̓̔̏ͭ͞ ̷ͧ͑̽̇͆ͣ̆ͭ͋ͪ̕҉̻͔̥̟͓̭͇͓̫̹̦͞ṣ̴͚̞͇̫̥̯͈͎͎̋ͨ͂ͨͤ̋̿̿̒ą̹̩̠͈̮̯̗̘̤͍̦̤̺͍͎̖͔ͥ̊ͮ̉̔ͥ̉ͨ̆͗̃̉͆ͥ́̚̕͝w̵̴̵̨̋̎̃̍͆̊͋͏̫̙̹̪̮̞̬̠̮̦͎͍̗͇!̡̮͎̰͇̖̬̲͇̔̏̒̊̎ͬ͆̆ͯ͞͠ͅ ̃̑͋͒̅͌̍ͬ̐̐ͩ́̈͛ͥ҉̶̫̭̼̝͕̣̻̜̘͢͡͠ͅḦ̵̡͇͎̩̱̲̠́͛͌ͫ̏͒ͮ̆̆͐̚͠͝͡e̗̩̱̩̱̳̣͈̥͋̈̀̍ͮͧ̅ͨ̊ͪ͋͢͠ͅ ̸̷͇͈̱̤͔̪͖̖͔̲̝̮̘̹̜͓͈͉̫͛̐ͤ͊̌͗̿͋̈̋ͯ̂͡͝m̴̷͚̣̠̯̝̖̠̃͛̆ͩ̚͜͟ô̈́ͤ͋ͦ̂̀̂̂ͦͪ̕҉̨͖̥̳͉͎̤͍͕c̬̯͓̜͙̮͖̩̦̐͗͑͒ͫ̌̄̑͑̃ͩ̏̆͂̐ͬ́͜ȩ̸̗̙̟̳̬̲̟̺̬̞͇̈́̄ͪ̆ͮ̍ś̷̢̢̤͔̣̹̯͙͔̰̻̜̘̝̟͓͍͚̲̝͕̃̽̔̈ͣ͜͢!̏͌̆̊̃̉ͩͮ̂̄̽̄ͮ͌̆̚͝͏̢͕̟͠ͅ Another child spoke up. It was odd that these spirits could not convey a meaning to them. Generally one might chalk it up to the fact that sometimes, on occassions spirits seemed to "flip" what they were saying, akin to a translation error when trying to commune through worlds.

"I cannot decipher what they are trying to tell us... but I do not believe it to be an error on our part, nor theirs. Something is warping their ability to communicate with us." Spirit said as it leapt from Sarah's shoulder and passed through a child spirit, only to find itself landing in a puddle of water and letting out the most god awful "REWR!" and hissing at the puddle. That was overly dramatic and not needed, why did it do that? Suddenly, it began to itch. It started to claw at it's own neck like a little animal possessed. "...I wish I were a bird" it grumbled.

Sarah would likely be annoyed, but that really didn't matter. Spirit was annoyed too, but for different reasons. Sarah would likely feel a light ping through the air, literally feeling like a small gust of wind hit her in the mid-section. The od part about it was that it hit her in ONLY the mid section and the wind left an "aftertaste" of sorts. It was obviously something else, something that felt quite a bit more malicious than Spirit's energy. "Can you feel that?" Spirit asked. "This is intolerable, What is this?!" The cat asked, obviously not picking up on the gust of wind. Was that because he was too short, or some other reason? Either way, Sarah would have an energy...a presence to follow. The unusual gravity accumulating in the burned down section of the building not too far off.

The rather unsettling sight of a group of children's ghosts stood before Sarah and the cat thingy. Sarah had knelt down to try and make them feel comfortable so that they would be more willing to answer her questions. Additionally, speaking in a soft and kind voice would help. She asked them about their deaths and while she waited for any of them to reply, she felt something hit her shoulder. Sarah expressed some disgruntlement at this, but allowed it for the time being. Talking to these spirits was more important.

The spirits of the children spoke, but hardly a word of it could she understand. Their speech was distorted, like a radio with poor reception. "Could you say that again?" she asked them, but no matter what, the speech was still nearly impossible to understand. All that she could gather was something about a man and darkness. The man was probably referring to the person responsible for what happened to them. The darkness could mean a variety of things though. Like what they experienced when they died, for instance. Or what they saw accompanying the man they mentioned.

The cat being finally got off of her shoulder as it speculated that there must be a reason they couldn't understand what the spirits of the children were saying. Sarah was relieved to have her shoulder free again, and looked at the kids sadly. She felt bad for them. They died too young, and too tragically. It was just cruel. She was trying to figure out what was keeping them from being able to properly communicate with the spirits, but nothing in particular was coming to mind. Nothing besides the supposed man responsible for their deaths.

"You're not a bird? Can't you control what you turn in to?" she asked the thing a bit impatiently. It would probably be more useful if it were a bird instead of a cat. Something that could fly on the wind. The wind that blew through the air, that didn't actually fly by. The air was still. Eerily still, except she felt it hit her in the stomach, and only there. No, that wasn't wind. That was something else. Her vision blurred for a second before she saw something. Some kind of energy leaving a trail.

"Thank you for talking to us. You can go now." she told the children kindly. They would depart to who knows where as Sarah concentrated on this energy. She saw it was flowing back and forth between where she was and some building nearby. That's exactly where she would go. "Hey, cat spirit thing, whatever your name is. This way." she told the cat and started running towards the building that the energy was leading her towards.

"I cannot control this myself. I believe my form is influenced depending upon how others perceive me, or choose to perceive me." Spirit said before the woman dismissed the spirits of the children.  As it followed this woman to God knows where, Spirit began to notice something about the world around them. The world around them sung with the echoes of what had happened in the past. It wasn't until they reached the center of the gravity that he noticed the entirety of the burned down hospital wing. Spirit watched as a couple officers nearby were talking, they weren't being overly loud, but it seems as though they had not noticed Sarah and Spirit yet. They were speaking in their weird language, but finally Spirit could be of some use. Closing it's eyes it began to translate, slipping into a trance of sorts.

  "Yeah it's the damndest thing. You look back over the video from the cameras and there's noting but static. At first we thought it was a shortage in the system, but then we found a pattern. The cameras only went to static around the same times that the children were claiming to see the spook. Whatever this guy did to those kids, they had access to our cameras. " Spirit said in a strange voice before it's eyes closed and it shook it's little cat head and looked around. "Something is not right here. I was not feeling it before but now we are closer. I have something I would like to try... I need closure on a subject relating to these children being spirited away. Please continue on your investigation. I must meditate on this." Spirit said as it seemed to walk through the ruins of the burned down hospital wing. It sat itself down and closed it's eyes before looking about and then frantically scampering to find something. It looked like a little bloodhound on a trail...except it was a cat. Who apparently wishes it was a bird.

   Sarah being as in tuned with the spirits as she was, would begin to feel that gravity increasing in its intensity. Whatever was causing this unusual gravity was close, probably watching her and this other spirit to see what they were doing. The ball was in Sarah's court.

Sarah had heard the cat creature speak, but didn't quite pick up what was said because she was in too much of a hurry. There was a trail of energy that needed to be followed. One she had to focus on despite everything going on around her. It was like she was being forced to witness the past crimes of the source of this energy. They were responsible for many evil deeds besides the deaths of those children. What a sick and twisted being this was sure to be.

She reached the building the energy led her to and saw that it was a hospital. The place didn't look like it was still functional though. A massive fire had swept through it. She could see at least one wing of it was completely devastated. Not surprisingly, that's where it led to. Sarah walked around the outside of the hospital looking for a safe way in. She looked back and saw that the cat creature had caught up and was watching a pair of police officers that she hadn't even noticed. Her surroundings had gone somewhat unnoticed due to focusing on the trail. The creature was talking about the cameras that were in this building and their technical problems. Problems that only occured when the children were in danger. They had been in here then, and their killer might still be here.

Sarah watched the cat spirit trying to concentrate on something. Perhaps overcoming the tension in the atmosphere. It was incredibly thick, and almost unbearable. Having gotten close to this building made that thing from earlier feel even stronger, and it felt like it was growing. Without another thought going through her head, Sarah quickly ran into the hospital and started looking around for the presence of someone or something. She knew there had to be something in here, but where?

"Everything is so... fragmented here." Spirit said to itself as it walked around, looking like a less crappily-animated Salem the cat. The Spirit looked about as it listened to the echoes of the past. The voices in his head offering the unadulterated truth behind the events that night. But there was something wrong here. Something oh so wrong. When it closed it's eyes and felt the fire, smelled the smoke and saw the lights of dancing combustion. It was all there. Children were not killed here, this wing appeared to be a mental ward of sorts. Many of nurses spoke in a language he couldn't quite understand. But he knew how to acknowledge the mind of one whom had been lost. This place was a Psyche ward. So if the fire was in the Psyche ward then why did all the children die and what were all of those spirits? It froze a moment as it felt an insatible feeling in the atmosphere. It was anger, yet not angry. It was a feeling unlike one it had ever felt before. It was not an emotion it was feeling upon it's own accord, rather a feeling coming from the same location as where he and Sarah had first arrived.

    There were cries and yelling, but by time Spirit heard them and looked through the partially burned window frame, all it saw were spider-like appendages through the officers. The bodies were dragged into the bushes, where the large appendages came from and Spirit looked around for Sarah. "It is here!" Spirit announced as it took off running, trying to find Sarah, whom probably had been led to the library, a place oh so conveniently left intact for the most part. Some burn marks and a couple destroyed shelves but everything else was fine. On the table was a book that would have been of particular interest. It was a book of creepy crawlies and supernatural superstitions. It was a book one definitely would not want in a psychiatric ward, but it was there...on the table almost as if placed there...inviting someone to take it, or open it. A book called "Folklore, Horror Stories, and the Slender Man: The Development of an Internet Mythology".  The Spirit leapt up onto the table to look at Sarah and then to the book before letting out a little mew as things finally began to make sense.

  "Spirited away children with no bodies found, static filled cameras and utter destruction in it's wake. I just watched two police get murdered brutally by what looked like spider legs..." The Spirit said as the hair on it's body stood up and it began to hiss as it looked all around, the energy almost sitting on top of them now. Spirit moved from the book and looked around a moment, still careful for what was going to happen next, sadly it didn't need to wait too long as an appendage flew out from it's own shadow and knocked the cat against a book case. Spirit tried to move itself but in it's small and frail form it was unfortunately going to take a moment to recuperate. It looked up to see the hallway it came from to warn Sarah. Wouldn't you freaking know it... black suit, blue tie, featureless face and no doubt over 10 foot tall.

"It's behind you, in the hallway!" Spirit tried to call out, unsure if Sarah was even listening to him. Spirit wasn't sure what was going on here, it wasn't aware of the fact that this internet myth was even a spirit. What in the Hell was going on here!? How was he supposed to help against a fabricated entity he knew nothing about?

Huh, there was something strange about the interior design of this hospital. Sarah didn't notice it at first because she had been walking around and looking for any sign of somebody in here, but this hospital was built a bit differently than what she expected. There were no rooms and a distinct lack of medical equipment. Just a bunch of beds crammed near each other. Way too close to be for holding sick people and preventing further contamination. There was just something not right about this room.

Sarah sat down on one of the beds and looked over at the library across the room. Why was there a library right there? She didn't even know hospitals had libraries. The energy in this room was thick and felt like a weight pulling down on her. If only she could find the source of it. There was no longer a trail to be followed. It was too close to leave a path, but not close enough to be seen. Sarah got back to her feet and resumed her search. She stepped on something that felt like cloth and looked down. At her feet lie a straitjacket. She picked it up as the realization that this was a mental ward came over her. The straitjacket was full of tears and burn marks. Through one of the holes she saw something happen in the distance. Something attacked those two police officers and they just disappeared. Sarah dropped the jacket and started walking back towards the entrance she used to get in. It was the thing she was searching for. It had made a move.

On her way out she nearly ran over the cat spirit that was running inside. "What's going on?" she asked it as she saw it head into the library. Sarah looked back outside in the direction where those cops were, but there was no longer any sign of either them or their attacker. Frustrated by this thing getting away, she turned around and followed the cat into the library. Once there she took a look around to try and figure out why the spirit had come in here. There was a single book lying on a table, kind of out of place. The cat noticed it too and starting talking about something it had realized before something emerged from seemingly out of nowhere and knocked it into one of the shelves. Sarah started rushing over to it before stopping dead in her tracks. She felt it. It was here. Her vision became blurred as she heard a voice tell her it was behind her.

The world blinked back into existence as Sarah turned around to face this thing that was behind her. What she turned around to see resembled a really tall and thin man without a face wearing a messy suit. "Okay, wow. Now what are you supposed to be?" she asked the thing without showing an ounce of fear. "Someone that spent too much time on the stretcher? Can you even talk? Is that your real face or just a mask?" she asked sounding almost like she was mocking it. "If you don't want to answer any of that, then how about answer this instead. Are you the one responsible for killing those children?" she asked it sounding serious at the end there.

The tall and slender figure said absolutely nothing. That was phenomenal. It just kept slowly walking down the hallway. It wasn't even running it was just walking. This made it both much creepier and somehow more stupid. All it did now was fix it's suit by tugging at the folds. Spirit closed it's eyes and began to try and hear the whispers of the past, hoping the perhaps someone had been through a similar situation. Of course he got nothing at all. Something was very wrong here. The slender creature just stood there Spider like tendrils exposed from it's back and Spirit wanting nothing more than to curl up and die. The aura this slender creature exudes was paranoia inducing, it made you ad, so sad that you really didn't WANT to live anymore. Of course Spirit didn't have a choice but to feel these. It just...stopped fighting. It was thinking, but otherwise unmoving.

   Tendrils flew out at Sarah, each one aimed at her directly, hoping to impale or pin her down in some fashion. Spirit closed it's eyes and listened to the echoes of the past. It had seen absolutely nothing in this room about the creature they were seeing. He DID see a nurse put this book down in front of a patient. The nurse encouraged him to read it and share information about it at the next story time. How bizarre to see an nurse encouraging such reading to a mentally unwell individual. What did the nurse hope to gain by inciting parano- A tendril lashed out as the creature continued to walk, it caused Spirit to flinch and look at the creature. Spirit quickly tried to stand and approached form Sarah's flank. "This thing does not wish to speak with us. Tell me do you know anything about this kind of spirit? Is there anything like this that you know of?" Spirit asked before avoiding a stray tendril lashed out at him.

  This wasn't adding up... at all. If Sarah knew anything it might help...if not Spirit or Sarah may need to play cat and mouse with this spirit while the other one solved the mystery of destroying the wretched thing. Unfortunately he didn't think he like the idea of playing cat and mouse...the reason rather obvious. "stupid cat. Should be a bird." it grumbled to itself.