RPPR Illustrated: Labyrinth of Lost Futures - The Bleak

EXCERPT FROM A BOOK FOUND ON A CORPSE AT [REDACTED]

No one knows where this photo was taken. It was found in the subway. Several people recognized the figure in the corner as the Good Soldier, a notorious Bleak who wanders the subway and bunker, attacking any explorers it finds. Some explorers swear they’ve killed the Good Soldier, but it seems death isn’t permanent for it. It shows how little we know about the Bleak and what they can do.

The Bleak are named after a famous explorer who saw a horde of monsters in the distance and said “Ah, it’s fucking bleak, innit?” After that, other explorers started using the term Bleak to refer to a specific kind of unnatural and hostile monster. They are universally hostile to living creatures, never fight each other, and seemingly do not need to eat, sleep, or breathe. Most Bleak are little more than zombies but they have basic human intelligence. They can talk, reason, and plan. Some have unnatural powers, like inhuman strength or the ability to dim light sources. A few are known and named as extremely dangerous entities to avoid at all cost. The Good Soldier, for example, is armed with a rifle that never seems to run out of ammunition and seems to be able to regenerate after its body is destroyed. We just don’t know much about the Bleak, even after decades of dealing with them. Most explorers believe that the Bleak come from a source far below, although no one agrees what that source is.

EXCERPT FROM DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE INTEL BRIEFING

The style of furniture and furnishings indicate an origin from the late 19th century, but the uniform can be dated to U.S. Army Infantry from 1952. Research from records of that year indicate that several defense contractors were loaned soldiers to guard top secret facilities built at ‘undisclosed locations’ but many of these soldiers died in ‘training accidents’. The records detailing these facilities and their actual location have been destroyed or lost.

I believe that some elements of the US government were aware of this extra-dimensional region and actively utilized it, but withheld their knowledge from the rest of us. Secrets within secrets. In other words, our discoveries and research are not groundbreaking. We are merely following the footsteps of other elements within the government who have gone before but kept it secret from us. At some point, the defense contractors were expelled from this dimension, but by who? What happened to that soldier? I have found references to a project codenamed CORNUCOPIA. I will continue to research. I think they didn’t get rid of all the evidence in the records. Someone still knows.