Aiden Caldwell

He/Him hello! I am- well was a pilgrim. now I just hang around in villedor with my partners, Lawan and Hakon. I try to post often but surviving is more of a priority, obviously. "Sometimes, you have to become a monster to Stay Human."

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Went to castor woods and met Kyle Crane. What a nice dude.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

[OUT OF CHARACTER POST. IMPORTANT.]

Hello everyone, I'm TheAnomaly762. If you play dying light 2, you may have played with my visual mods.

It has just come to my attention that I have the most unique downloads out of any visual modder for dying light 2.

68,000 people have downloaded my mods. In terms of unique downloads, which doesn't account for redownload, only the first install.

MORE PEOPLE HAVE DOWNLOADED MY MODS THAN THE MAXIMUM CAPACITY OF THE RAYMOND JAMES STADIUM.

Thank you all for your support, you mean the world to me, truly. I know this is right out of left field, but I want those of you who might find this to know that I'm very thankful. I'm so happy to share my ideas and creations with you all.

As for the blog, it's gonna keep going, I am just having trouble trying to tie the story together.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Hey guys! I made something cool! I call it the Scorpio, named after the fighter from Harran. She must have been so badass.

It's a harpoon launcher, but also a mace if you turn it around.

I am a bit scared to test it. Haha. I've never crafted my own weapon from scratch like this, usually I'm making them out of other weapons.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Again, sorry for the long hiatus. (I think that's the right word?)

Hakon, Lawan and I are trying something new. We are a polycule now. The bastard has too much charm for me to resist and Lawan says she could give him another chance. It's complicated but.. fun. I love them both very much.

As for the nightrunner training, the cadets are making real progress!

I just hope I can give them better building blocks for survival than I got when I was younger.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I'm getting the hang of being a leader. It's confusing, overwhelming sure but... I think I can make a good team. The new kid has been acting.. disengaged. I've been trying to talk to him but he's just... Not there.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

I've started training my first recruit. He's a good kid, strong and quick, too.

If anyone is cut out to be a nightrunner, it's someone as caring as him.

But I can tell something's... Off. He seems like he's fighting something internally.

I hope he knows I'm available to help. I'll let him know I am always here.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Hakon is awake now. Frank, Lawan and I are recruiting new Nightrunners for finding more about this facility and figuring out how a cure might be possible. It's never too late to try.

I'm not sure I'm ready to be a mentor or a trainer. I am better at fighting and running than I am teaching others to do the same.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm cut out for this. If I can be a nightrunner. Why am I in charge of recruits? Why am I the one who is the role model? I don't know what I'm doing and I'm worried.

I'm sorry for ranting.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Tonight was.. something else.

I was helping a nightrunner escort with bringing a truck into the city. A woman was in labor and needed immediate safety so we were all protecting the truck. We slaughtered viral after viral, sticking to the UV light coming from the sides of the truck.

Volatiles were creeping around, and staying far enough that all we could see was their glowing eyes.

Then, one of my cadets fell out of line. She fell over, tripped and rolled her ankle. Enshrouded in darkness a volatile pounced within seconds, the others looking behind, watching. Waiting.

I didn't think. I ran out into the darkness, throwing UV bars towards the other volatiles, while shooting. Sure, now that we have guns fending off the volatiles is easier but this... This wasn't that. I kept them away and kicked the pouncing volatile in the side, knocking it off her.

Suddenly, this anger overtook me. She ran back to the truck but I just watched the volatile get back up...

And then I jumped onto it. I rode on its back with a knife lodged in its neck, broke off one of it's mandibles and stabbed it in the eye with it, and pulled my knife down the back of it, and kept stabbing until it was gone.

Then the UV bars shut off.

The other volatiles ran at me faster than I've ever seen them.

Thankfully Lawan managed to pull me back with a grapple hook. I'm surprised she didn't cut me with it or stab me.

I've been calling her cowgirl since, she hates it.

As for the whole AI situation... It's still going on, hakon is still out like a light, and Frank is starting to get worried. The cure is still possible but we need to figure out that system and find the missing data.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Hakon is ok, he's in a coma but he's stable, doc says he'll wake up soon.

As for the AI shit.. that AI was at the final steps of the synthesis of the cure! It might be a bit late, but if we get enough people, enough resources and all work together...

We could rid this world of infection. We could rebuild!

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Nightfall came. Me and five Nightrunners went into the sublevel.

It was a nightmare.

We figured the infected usually clear out at night, so maybe it’d be less dangerous.

I've never been so wrong...

The second we stepped in, we could hear them... Fucking volatiles. I can't forget the sound of them breathing all around us. Our UV lights stayed on the whole time, they luckily didn't notice us as we walked through.

We followed the sound of Hakon’s voice. He was calling out, begging for help.

But then I found him, unconscious..

He was right in front of us, wrapped up in this nest. Tangled in bone and guts and rotting cloth like a fly in a web, and yet his voice still echoed from within that damn room.

Then came the sound I've never been more familiar with...

A Tyrant screamed from deep in the dark and the whole nest shifted. We were marked. I rushed in, trying to pull Hakon free while the others opened fire. Shotguns, rifles, whatever they had.

Just as I started to drag him out, it showed up.

A massive thing. Like a Demolisher stitched together from corpses. Layers of Volatiles fused into one hideous shape.

And it screamed at us in Hakon’s voice.

We didn’t ask questions. We just ran and fired everything we had. I don’t know what that thing was. I don’t want to know.

We got Hakon out. Barely. He’s alive, but unconscious. Broken bones, barely breathing. He might not run again.

If he wakes up.

This place feels cursed. “Witnesses to history,” Veronika would’ve said. Places like this aren't for the living anymore.

Then again, neither are the Volatiles.

I’m tired of all this. The rot, the death, the screaming. But it’s all I know. I never knew the world before the fall. I've never known true peace.

I’ll update when I can. Right now, it's all hands on deck.

Good night, and Good luck.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

We are reaching a head.

I've decided to crawl through the vents myself, I got closer to the lower level before chickening out. I've faced horrors before but never something like this.

But I heard his voice. I heard his pain. He needs help.

I need to go down there.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Aiden here. We managed to secure the upper level, there's a sublevel that is locked off, and the GRE key slots are broken. Someone didn't want those doors to ever open again.

We've been hearing tapping at night, clicking and sounds of metal moving from below. I don't know what to expect, but I know there's probably a few volatiles down there we will have to deal with.

Hakon is missing, he hasn't reported in and last I saw he was going to try and work on the ventilation system with Cillian. Cillian didn't come yet, so I think hakon was searching for the ventilation shafts.

I'm worried... Hakon is strong, really strong but... This flavor of silent treatment isn't him...

I feel we are waking up things we should never have touched. I feel dread at the hum of the AI core. I don't know what to do.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Found another GRE facility out in the wastes, unopened for decades. Walked inside after opening it, still has power somehow.

There's something wrong with this place, the walls aren't just holding up the ground above it, but seems to be holding secrets long lost by humanity.

There's a terminal, a fragmented image of an eye on the screen, and a round, spherical core with wires plugged into it, almost floating in the center of the main room.

It's... An AI. I heard of these things but never interacted with one before. The last prompt was compiling data for something, but everything is redacted. There must be more to this. Lawan and I are designating this place as a primary defense location. We can't risk losing this opportunity.

It's an underground command bunker, like X-13. This isn't X-13 though, judging by "X-17" written on the walls.. obviously.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Yeah.. sorry, your boyfriend is currently out past nightfall trying to challenge a volatile to an arm wrestling match... Yeahh he's not gonna survive the night.. sorry..

[deadkoneko]

[aidencaldwellofficial]

FACTUALLY CORRECT

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Uff, my head.. partied really hard last night.

I'm a nightrunner now though! Frank told me something I can't remember about responsibility... I'm sure I'll remember soon.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Okay so,, lot has happnd over th the last... Today...

IM A NIGHTRUNNER NOW

I'm Soo excited and wee been celerariting allll day.

Immm a bit drunk,, maybe.