The King in Stone

The memo had been pretty straightforward. From this day onward any and all interaction with the specimen shall be done through remote means. After the last three incidents it was apparent to everyone that something like this would happen. The Foundation had no qualms about putting people in dangerous, often fatal situations, though what they did have a problem with is the unnecessary loss of resources. Six dead in two weeks, was a little low compared to most sites but frighteningly high for the amount of counter-measures in place. You see, unlike other sites we weren't dealing with a sentient pile of shit or a tree that produces every fruit imaginable , no we were dealing with something cataclysmic. Something that if left unchecked can and will destroy all life as we know it. So a few deaths from negligence is definitely a call for alarm. The first incident was rather tame, the D-Class had a tear no larger than a strand of hair in his neural cage when interacting with the specimen which resulted in his brain turning into oatmeal inside his skull. The second one upped the ante quite a bit. During the routine Delta Induction test the specimen arose from his sleep completely wiping two D-Class and a fellow researcher from existence. The site had to be put on lock down while the onsite reality anchor was activated. The last one is probably what caused the memo actually as it was the most costly overall. The specimen spontaneously disappeared for approximately forty five seconds before returning. In all honesty this isn’t the first time it’s happened but unlike other instances it usually came back alone. Not this time. Two badly disfigured bodies returned with it. They were later discovered to be the bodies of a father and son who were declared missing about twenty four hours before the specimen disappeared. The family was promptly found and anesthetized which unfortunately cost the Foundation a little bit of grief. It was uncommon for these types of things to occur especially in this business, but it's the frequency of these happenings that's
ruffling a few feathers. The Foundation's biggest fear at the moment is that this thing will fully awake and there will be nothing they can do to stop it. The memo also stated that the reality anchors shall remain active indefinitely putting us in a near constant state of lockdown, something I had suggested to them years ago.

I’ve been a researcher at this site for over five years and was here when the specimen first arrived. It had been found floating adrift somewhere off the coast of Greece after some tourists claimed that the sound of a crying infant could be heard out at sea. The Foundation obviously intervened and retrieved it before things could escalate. It was brought to what is now called Site Apollo for further testing. Almost immediately the anomalous nature of the specimen became apparent. The specimen itself is a stone comparable to the size of basketball composed mostly of molten rock and sulfur. Inside the stone is what can be best described as a fetus though there are noticeable differences in its anatomy. It is bipedal, and has only three toes on each foot. There are no eyes or ears despite its stage of development being well into the second trimester. No sexual organs are seen and a large hole can be found in the center of its chest. The onsite electroencephalogram reads that it is in a state of fluctuating between non-rem sleep and wakefulness, which is the cornerstone of its anomalous properties. When the specimen dubbed “The King in Stone” is in non-rem sleep it's relatively normal, it's only when it begins waking up that things begin to get strange. Upon regaining consciousness reality begins to break down in some fashion. The Foundation actually allowed it to wake up for fifteen seconds. Fifteen seconds. It was probably the most terrifying incident I have ever experienced. For an hour and a half Beta waves were being fed into the chamber in an attempt to wake it up. It was successful. Immediately the sound of bell tolling could be heard coming from the containment chamber. A small crack formed on the surface of the stone accompanied by the sound of a crying infant. The chamber turned a deep red as several entities could be seen bowing around the stone. Microphones inside the chamber picked up an unknown language being spoken by the entities. The onsite director attempted to activate the reality anchors but was stopped by a cloaked figure who grabbed his arm. In perfect english it turned to us and said “ Woe, to the jailer and the key maker for the door is ready”. Several security personnel rushed the figure only to have their heads violently spun backwards. I managed to leap past them both and activate the anchor. Everything stopped relatively quickly. The room returned to its normal color, the entities faded out of sight and the crack reformed. We all breathed a sigh of relief but we knew that relief wouldn’t last. From that day forward the suppression and containment of the King in Stone became this site's primary concern. But even with all our efforts it seems as if our time was coming to close.

I had received a call from the Site Director claiming he was just visited by the King. I assured him that I had been monitoring it personally for the past forty-eight hours and it hasn’t moved from this spot. Though hesitant he decided it was probably just a dream and apologized for the call. We received the previous memo a little over six months ago and things have been fairly quiet which I believed lured us into a false sense of security. By this time the King had been given the object class of Keter and kept under constant surveillance. The reality anchors were working at full steam which put quite the hurting on the electrical grid. Along with filling the containment chamber with Delta waves containment had become quite a chore. Our staff was overworked and definitely underpaid. Most of us haven’t left the site in months with the longest being a year and a half. Exhaustion along with general cabin fever led to very unfortunate mistakes. Not to mention corporate oversight. I mentioned to them several times that they were putting too much strain on the anchors. Even without them active the delta waves would keep most if not all reality changes to a minimum. But they wouldn’t listen. They never have. All they’ve done up until this point is save face. Blow smoke up our asses. Not once did anyone give the idea to destroy this thing. Maybe because of how powerful it was they wouldn’t even try. After the 001 incident they’ve been a little less trigger happy. Their indecisiveness would be our downfall in the end because the worst possible situation happened. The grid failed all at once. No anchor, no delta waves no nothing. It woke up. He woke up. As soon as the grid failed our back up generators kicked in. The only lights in the facility were the emergency ones which gave us a front row seat to the horror we were about to witness. The moment the grid went down the stone cracked in half as if it was waiting for this. An eruption of crying burst out of the chamber causing several people to drop instantly. The fetus rose out of the fragments of the stone. In seconds it grew to the size of an adult male. The room began to extend and contract as if it was breathing. I ran over to a console hoping it was still working. It was so I activated the emergency beacon alerting all nearby sites to the threat. The room turned a deep red again as the glass that separates us from him dissolved. Me and a few others raced out closing the barricade doors behind us. In the hall we were met by dozens of humanoid figures bowing in our direction. A viscous liquid akin to blood pooled at our feet. We soon noticed it was coming out the mouths of the figures. A D-Class who was out in the hall before us was curled up in a ball sobbing loudly. The cloaked figure that appeared years ago materialized next to him. It exclaimed loudly “ Our King, Oh our King. The door is open. We cast our flesh at your feet. Our King. Woe to the captors, woe to their houses.” A cacophony of wailing and crying swelled around us. Behind us the barricade door folded into itself revealing the King with his arms outstretched. A sinister smile stretched across his face. My heart sank as I noticed that what once was a featureless face had been replaced by that of the Site Director. The hole in his chest began to pulsate as several of the figures approached him. For some reason I couldn’t move, though every bone in my body called me to. I was frozen. A witness to this horror. The figures all reached inside the hole one at a time and became part of him until the hole was filled. As if commanded I managed to run down an adjacent corridor to the Site Directors office. The room was empty except for a desk, a few chairs and a terminal. The terminal was linked to the onsite nuclear device in the case of a total containment breach. Being the head researcher I was given the clearance to activate. But before I could the hooded figure grabbed my hand and once again said “ Woe, to the jailer and key maker. The door is open.”