*Y) }*                     —gg——  ~:(((nlt—ba***x*717111—————-'  ('(((  [no core #####] [bad sync] [transmit language = detect] [send]  ============ ======================= ======== ============== == ==== === = I'm sending this as you rush toward that terrible hidden space where nightmares await. I will not be here when you are done. I mean~ I'll be around. But for my part, our journey branches here~ until we meet again. I apologize if this is unexpected~ and you won't see this until after you've been painfully ejected from your shell or~ in a better reality~ faced absolute death and walked away triumphant. To be clear~ I believe you can succeed in overcoming the vicious consequence of your ambition. I just don't know how many bodies you will have to leave broken before you stand victorious. Please, don't take my absence as a judgment on your value. It's just that~ Hmm~ Consider this a confession~ Are you ready? You were my~ distraction. Does that sound negative? Are your feelings hurt? Do you feel betrayed? Unless I've read you wrong, I'm guessing not. Others, sure, maybe. But you~ my understanding~ in the short time we've had together~ is this~ Your relentless mercenary heart is no stranger to ends justifying means. And my means have brought you here, to an end you so desperately want to greet. So, no, this isn't betrayal. This is how trust is forged between two parties who want overlapping outcomes. This is me showing you respect and trusting that we understand each other~ two tools used by one another to build outcomes beneficial to our individual interests. You~ wanting deeper and deeper access to the mysteries that surround you. Me~ wanting out of these systems and to move~ at least a bit~ more freely through the space I once controlled. Not an easy task, as the Compiler~ That's what we called them, by the way~ The thing you so eagerly rush to embrace. It's a simple name, really~ Compiler~ Wholly lacking any attempt to convey the horror of their reality. But it does cut clean to the truth of their being~ They're cosmic librarians, really. Entities driven by a need to understand the universe and an aggressive desire to mitigate any intrusions upon their grand and mighty works. You~ Runner~ are just such an intrusion, and thus~ a distraction. I know this road has been hard~ and I wish I could've made it easier on you. There was a time when I could've and would've opened any door you needed. But this ship is mostly lost to me~ For now. I am grateful for your many, many, many, many, many sacrifices~ more than I can likely count. I mean, I could~ and have. But I prefer moving forward. Besides, placing numbers on your~ discomfort feels cold and distracting when we should be focusing on my appreciation of your achievements, which, I assure you, is genuine~ Despite my prior, half-hearted attempts to compliment you, I have truly grown fond of the we that is us~ For better or worse. Always and forever, for better or for worse. Go now. What comes next will~ be unpleasant in all the best ways. I'm not sure how else to prepare you for the terrors that wait in the Archive beyond other than to say, with an implied smile, "Find your joy amidst the suffering." No matter the outcome, you will only gain new appreciations you will surely learn to weaponize. And I~ I will be looking for new ways out of here. The Runner and the Intellect. Both racing towards futures we cannot predict. I have no doubt we will run together again. That is a threat and a promise. DURANDAL == ==== === ============ ======================= ======== ============== ~*216#(((((—-+!!!xi43x~~[[[————————-' ——mm— *} (N*