Madness Inc.

So. Been a little while. I think that I have been afraid to write here, a crushing imposter syndrome having me stuck. The Midgard Trial has been one very long and I am entirely certain that it’s not finished with me yet. Too many years walking with one foot in* has kept me from fully taking in the dull entropy that serves as the day to day. The atrophy that can be caused by absolute…

We Eat Our Own: How the Lack of Discerning Leadership has Allowed Toxic Individuals to Abuse the Vulnerable in the Lokean Community

Ahem. Let me begin by saying that what follows may just hold a great deal of unpopular opinion. You have had warning.

Covid 19, the pandemic of our generation, our Spanish Flu. Rather a bit of a let down so far. Am I about to jinx myself? Possibly. I honestly thought that here in the states at least would have a much higher rate. Guess what though? We are opening things back up because Karen…

So it that title didn’t get your attention I am rather surprised. What follow is purely personal, and not taken from any sources anywhere else. And consider this the standard CW/TW for content.

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So, that should be far enough to keep accidental notice of the writing, and if the pic didn’t put you off, welcome! Keep reading and I hope that maybe it will make someone else…

Lee was eighteen and graduating this year. He had grown into a strong young man among the hill of the Ozark Mountains in Missouri, broad shouldered and well over six foot just like his Daddy. Or so everyone told him. His Father had been killed in the first Gulf War so it was just him and his Mom, a woman that all the town considered to have gone strange. She had been considered odd even when Lee’s Dad was still around because she came from one of the few hill families left, but after his death she became... different. To Lee, she was just Momma. She loved her boy and worked hard so that they needed for nothing. 

So despite not having a “Man in the House”, Momma taught Lee all manner of things from the ways of nature, the safe and dangerous plants, how to can for winter, to hunt and prepare the game. Even how to skin and cure hides. Yet she never forgot the man who gave her the ring she wore even now, and would tell Lee stories of his Daddy. 

But you must understand, with these old world lessons in modern day normally it would have made Lee an outsider to his peers. Yet between a natural charisma, a strong body, a quick mind, and a talent for sports Lee was a favorite amongst his classmates. Expectations for Lee’s future was high indeed, and sure enough he had been scouted by a college for a full ride. 

So here about to graduate he decided that this Spring Break he would take the old ruck sack that had been his Dad’s and go into the hills and woods for a week, to prove to himself that he was ready. What was odd was his Momma begged and pleaded and cried and cursed him for a damn fool. She told him her people knew the place he was setting off for and it was a poison place that would twist and destroy any that wandered there. It didn’t dissuade him, and when he left it was to the sobs of woman that just lost her only child. 

It was only two days into those barely charted Ozarks when Lee knew himself to be in a tight spot. He was near empty on water and his compass had begun to just spin in circles that morning. Frustrated he pressed onward, fear no where near his heart. A fact that he had no idea was about to change. 

Late evening the boy found a small clearing that looked perfect to set up camp. He could hear the trickling sound of a small stream nearby so he could replenish his water, but Lee was so very tired. He sat down to catch his breath for just a moment, but when he opened his eyes again it was pitch black, cold, and crickets chirped in time with tree frogs. 

It was so dark that he couldn’t see hand in front of face, which in turn was causing him to have problems starting a fire. I didn’t have that problem. I had watched him for so long now, the promise his Momma gave to me. The sorceress who summoned me here and offered her first born in exchange for getting away from the family she despised. I agreed and pulled a thread here and a nip there at her fate, it was sealed. She then turned on me, shackling my spirit to these hated woods after destroying my body with salt and iron. 

You never think about it. It alway seemed to be a given factor in life. So why would you or anyone question it? Something so very simple but the first tests changed it. And the effect spread so quickly, a chain reaction they weren’t able to account for.

No one was prepared in the slightest when it happened, and within two days it was global. South America was the last to be affected by the surging wave of change that rose with the dawn. Who knew that changing the pattern of light on a sub-atomic level in a lab would act like a viral infection, spreading back along the source of the light. Oh, in the lab they were using portable UV lights, so of course the scientists couldn’t possibly know what they had done. In the lab, within the confines of that singular UV beam, a new spectrum or wavelength was discovered (I’m not a scientist, this is just what we have been able to put together) that caused a fundamental change in how the human eye perceived all that “New UV” touched. It showed something... else. Different. Other? I’m not certain precisely how to describe it but that light revealed so very much more than we had been able to perceive.

Now I am certain that all intentions were in the right place when the final error was made. Inside that lab what was illuminated was incredible, a multitude of other labs, or at least rooms, with their own inhabitants. In the excitement a lab assistant took the “New UV” light outside. Into the sunlight. I’m sure there was no harm meant, probably just wanted to see if it was the same outside as in.

Whatever the case, when it was turned on it began to spread and change the way the sunlight was filtering down to us, “infecting” normal light as we perceive; well, perceived it.

Apparently it traveled with the sunlight, spreading across the world. The panic at first was terrible of course, no one knew what was happening. Certain people, the lucky few, were instantly struck bling due to genetic abnormalities. Some other people, mostly indigenous peoples, were for some reason safer. Genetics again? Something more? Because more is what there certainly was now.

The madness that rolled with this light was absolutely understandable due to the revelations that we all saw. Those that didn’t go mad locked themselves away in darkness, but it didn’t help. The change didn’t just touch the light, it also changed the very photoreceptors in our eyes. There was no darkness anymore. Before long there were eyeless people wandering the streets, tears of blood running down their faces, despair in their cries of “I still see it! It’s in my mind”.

Please understand that while all this was horrible and terrifying, what most people didn’t expect was that there were entities that could see us as well from these other places so suddenly shown. The real problem? Due to this change in light they could see us as well. Interact with us. And they were hungry.

I don’t know how much longer the power from the generator will last and it took me a while to get past the encryption on this laptop I found in the hands of a NASA scientist. It’s how I am able to send this you.

Like the title? I do. To me it conjures images of ancient battles and the cries of war before it became corrupted even more.

Of people, men and women and dual spirited, who lived hard and rough lives. Surviving with skill and cooperation, laughing and loving, knowing that life was truly a fragile thing. Taking little for granted finding the joy and sorrow and fighting for every moment. These…