[SCP] 5 – The Nightmares

Just as I promised, I opened a portal to my Demi-plane a few hours later and left my cell since I was still having trouble falling asleep. Finding myself in the same grove I created on instinct hours ago, I looked around the area, finally finding the first soul to be welcomed to my afterlife.

The man was sitting on the ground in the distance, just before the small pond, looking down at the waters and his reflection in deep thought.

Walking up to him, in my mortal form, I greeted him, "Welcome to my realm, Sean Wilson, I hope you enjoy your stay in my afterlife."

He jumped just a bit, but quickly calmed down when he heard my voice, not even turning to look at me, he asked, "So I am dead?"

"You are, your time came, and I just happened to be nearby to save you from a worse fate," I informed him.

"What do you mean worse?" He asked with disbelief.

"Well, let's see if I remember correctly there was a memetic afterlife that forces you to experience everything that happens to your body after you die, from your body being consumed by animals to watching as maggots are born from your corpse," Seeing his growing horror and disgust, I decided to stop there and move on to a different afterlife, "I recall that the Biblical Heaven and Hell may exist as well, but if the bible is anything to go by, you would likely end up in hell, no offense, of course."

"I...I understand...I have spent decades in the Foundation, there are many things I regret and do not regret," The man solemnly replied.

"What now?" The Man asked.

"You have a few options," I commented before continuing, "The first, is that you can stay here, I know my realm is a bit sparse, but that will change with time as I save more souls, I want my realm to be a paradise, one where souls can pursue whatever passions they have, and if they prove themselves worthy, may join me in the mortal world once more."

"And the others?" The man asked.

"If that option is not appealing to you, I can send you down the path of reincarnation, everything that was once you, will be cleansed and your soul will be born anew, pure. From there, your soul will be sent back to the mortal realm, where you will begin life again, without knowing of your past lives."

"However...if you are still unsatisfied, the last option..." I hesitated.

"What?"

"The last option is for you to take upon the mantle of a Totem Bearer," I continued.

"What does that entail?" He asked, confused.

"To be honest, I do not know. In practice, your soul will be used as a way to guide others to my realm, my afterlife. However, I do not know what will happen to you once that happens. I do not know if your mind would remain intact, or go dormant as the Totem guides other lost souls to my afterlife," I explained.

"So...there's a possibility if I became this 'Totem Bearer' as you called it, I could very well just go to sleep, for all eternity, or I may be awake, watching the souls drawn by the Totom escape to the paradise you intend to make?" I nod in response.

"Can...Can I get some time to process this?" The man asked.

"Yes, I will come back tomorrow, in the meantime, I will head back to the real world, I am betting the Foundation will have some questions for me due to my actions," I chuckled.

"Oh, and before I forget," I stated before waving my hand and changing the area around us once again.

The Grove expanded, as did the pond and forest around it.

The pond expanded to become a beautiful blue lake, and the forest was expanded by several dozen kilometers, (a kilometer is less than a mile, sitting at 0.62 Miles per kilometer), I'd even add life, but that wasn't possible outside of basic plant life.

I then raised my hand towards a clearing in the grove, and a cabin began to rise from the ground.

I then left my demi-plane, finding myself back in my cell, where I fell onto the bed, and went back to trying to sleep.

It was around 3 AM and I wanted to see if I could get sleep, as hard as it was.

Eventually, before I even knew it, I fell asleep.

...

When I slept, I peacefully dreamed of my old world, of my family, friends, and loved ones.

That's when everything went....wrong.

Stepping into my old home, a smile on my face, I was just about to greet my family, when I froze in place. Nightmarish creatures with constantly shifting forms, bloody maws filled with serrated teeth covered in strips of bloody flesh.

Hearing the door open, the creatures froze and slowly turned to me.

Wide and crazed red eyes stared back at me.

I felt only madness and insanity from their gazes as they honed on my figure. Then they let out an awful shriek that sounded like an even worse version of nails scraping a chalkboard.

As they charged me, I heard banging, as if bombs were going off in the far distance, and with a start, I woke up, finding that it was the sound of knocking that I heard.

Groaning, I got up from the bed. The metal door of my containment chamber slid open, revealing the same woman who interrogated me yesterday, along with two other older men. Behind the scientists, were...wow...that's a lot of guards.

By my count, I could see at least eight guards through the door and could hear more.

I had no doubt I would be classed as 'Keter' due to my stunt last night which revealed that I could, in fact, walk through walls due to the spiritual nature of my Grim Reaper form.

Walking up to the table, I sat down.

Two more chairs were brought into the room, and the three scientists sat across from me while two Guards stood behind the doctors in the corners of the room.

"Greetings, who may you two be?" I asked, curious while placing my hands on the table.

The three doctors looked between one another before the two older men spoke up.

The man to the left of the woman sitting at the center seemed to be around the age of 60. His hair was graying and his body was clearly frail due to his old age.

Meanwhile, the man to the right of the woman was yet another old man with gray hair and a thick beard, however, what made this old man different from the other old man, was the fact that he was still in shape, I could see the muscles hidden under his coat that hugged his skin, though he was noticeably younger than the other man.

The man on the left introduced himself first, "My name is Jackson Conway, a Scientist here at the Foundation."

"And my name is Zac Saunders, I am also a Scientist here at the Foundation," The other man introduced himself.

All three looked at me for a few moments, as if expecting a question, before the woman spoke up, "Do you...know of the SCP Foundation?" She asks.

"What makes you think that?" I asked, curious after realizing my blunder.

"Your lack of reaction for one," Dr. Conway informed me.

"And, the fact that you didn't immediately inquire more about the Foundation after we mentioned it," Dr. Saunders continued after Conway.

"I see, and what if I was simply remaining quiet to gather more information before I revealed anything?" I asked in response.

Dr. Conway was the first to reply, "While they may be a possibility, this conversation we are having is leaning more towards the fact that you already knew of the Foundation."

"Hmm...I do know the Foundation, and what most of your organization represents, and how you all wish to 'Contain' and 'Protect' me or the world from me," I answered, admitting that I knew of them before they 'captured' me.

"You know of us? What else do you know?" Dr. Curie finally spoke, which surprised me a bit, I expected to be only questioned by the older scientists.

"Let's see, I know of the Chaos Insurgency, the Serpent's Hand, The children of the Scarlet King, The Church of the Broken God, The Global O Coalition, Marshall, Carter, and Dark, the Sarkic Cults, Doctor Wondertainment, and a great many more," I answered, rapidly firing off many groups of interest in the SCP Universe.

I noticed that the two older Scientists seemed to become more serious, more than they were already, while Doctor Curie looked somewhat confused.

"Dr. Curie, can you please leave the room?" Dr. Conway politely asked their younger female colleague.

She momentarily glanced at me before getting up and leaving the room, though the Guards remained.

Once she left the room, I focused back on the Doctors.

Looking at them, I spoke, "Let's move on, we can continue that line of questioning later, I know you have a different set of questions you want to ask me after last night."

Although they looked a bit annoyed or mad about my supposed control of the conversation, they relented, though I do not know why.

I figured by now they'd start hurling demands and threats at me by now due to my attitude and actions, perhaps they want to know more first before they start using different methods?

"What are you?" One of them asked.

"Haven't I already told you? I am an O̴̹̪̽̀͗̃̀͋̀̊͛́̅̕̕͝ů̷̗̭͙͍͚t̶̡̨̧̤̼͕͙͕̮̮͙͈̯͇͈̀̓s̵̮͎̘̘̳̪̯̳̄̈́̾̀͠͝ï̴̡̛͚̦̥̘̖͍̗̣̦̦̟̱̓͆́̏̿͘͜͝͝͝d̷̟̹̬͔̻̓͜͜è̵̢̿̇̂̿͝ṙ̵̨̥̼̣̣̝̬̘̞͉̣̽̾̋̆͋̅͋̄͋͘͝͝͠ͅ."

They winced, but otherwise continued.

"What happened last night? What did you do to Dr. Wilson?" One of them asked me.

Leaning back in the chair, I thought for a few moments, and eventually came to a conclusion, I wasn't going to bother lying, it doesn't feel as fun as scaring them with the truth.

"Are you sure you want to know?" I asked with a smile on my face, curious.

They just stared at me.

"Fine, what happened last night and to Dr. Wilson was that I ferried his soul to the afterlife, my Afterlife," I bluntly informed them.

They just blinked and stared at me, clearly confused before one of them spoke up.

"What?" Dr. Saunders asked.

"I am a Grim Reaper if you want to be specific. I felt Sean Wilson's death from my containment room and decided to ferry his soul to my afterlife. Where he will choose to either live out the rest of his eternity, be reincarnated, or take upon a duty that will save others," I explained to them.

"Can you bring him back? Alive? With his mind intact?" Dr. Conway asked, serious.

Raising my eyebrow, I could already see that they would want to make use of me if I revealed I could technically resurrect souls, so long as I had a body for the soul to inhabit. Though I could use it to my advantage.

"I can, on some conditions," I informed them.

While I noticed a slight surprise in their postures, they didn't show any outward reactions from their expressions, it seemed they were regaining their professionalism.

"What are these...Conditions?" They asked at the same time.

"A functional and intact body or vessel that does not house a soul. As for if you want to use my...services, I have some demands."

They looked at one another before I suddenly heard a near-quiet voice come from one of them.

"Ask about the demands," A different voice commanded one of the Doctors.

Did they have comms in their ears?

"What are your demands?" Dr. Conway asked, revealing he was the one getting orders.

Glancing at him for only a few moments, I answered, "My demands are: First, I get to travel around the sites freely. Second, I get something I want whenever I bring back someone you request. Third, I will reject any souls that I deem unworthy of a second chance at life. Fourth, I want at least one soul a day, to be specific, the lowest of Humanity, murderers, rapists, and people that have no right to be among the living. When you bring me these dead men walking, I want all evidence that points towards them. If I find that they are innocent, then the Foundation and those involved will have to pay the price. Other than that, there are some entities you have 'contained' that I would like to meet," I listed out my demands.

They didn't outright reject my commands and instead seemed to whisper to themselves, while whichever doctor had the comm was also fed more questions and commands.

I listened in on their conversation but let them continue.

When they were finished with their conversation, Dr. Saunder spoke up.

"For your first demand, you can only roam the city with an armed escort, until the Foundation finds that an escort is no longer necessary. As for the Second, we may require testing to see and test what happens to those you can...bring back to see if there are any drawbacks are consequences, so, you must keep your requests reasonable. Your third and fourth requests are acceptable, however, we want to have a certain number of souls to be reincarnated every year, regardless of their crimes or actions," They told me.

"The Armed Escort is fine, the second as well, however, I will not resurrect no more than five chosen souls a year, however, I will warn you now. I can and will reject any of your chosen souls from being resurrected if they cross my lines, understand?" I threatened them, which after a few moments of thought was probably not smart.

Suddenly the radios on the Guards buzzed to life, and I froze.

I could feel that a few humans had perished, their souls called out.

"Code Black! Three unknown entities are attacking the East section of the Facility! Request backu-..." Suddenly the voice on the radio was cut off, as whoever was using it was killed, as only a scream and gurgle could be heard, before a familiar roar that resembled the sound of nails on a chalkboard echoed from the radios.

No...it can't be...can it?