Chapter 12: you must be new.
-Break the cycle-
Audrey opened her eyes, her head was spinning.
She felt…different. The world around her was even different, it was like someone sketched on the environment with a pen.
Audrey raised her hands to her meet here eyes.
"What’s wrong with my hands…?" She said to herself. The woman took another look at her hands, bathed in yellow light. One hand was completely drenched in ink.
"What’s wrong with my hands?!" Her hands quivered as she wheezed.
"Oh Audrey, what’s happened to you?" The girl muttered, she had a habit of talking to herself. The animator rose to her feet.
Everything around her looked uncanny, like art, even herself. She gazed around; taking in her environment.
There was a rather large pool of ink not too far away from the animator. Above that pool, words were written on the wall. They read
WELCOME HOME.
In thick black ink. Weeping could be heard in the distance by an unknown person.
Audrey shivered, and placed her hand onto a desk. She noticed a note, and picked it up to read.
"Every great story begins in mystery. Although things may be dark at the start, the truth illuminate your way. Don’t be afraid of who you are. Fear only what you may become, and banish it away."
-Your best pal
She completed reading the note aloud. Who was her best pal? She had no clue. She pushed herself to keep moving, and possibly find away out of here.
The woman inspected her environment once more, on the wall there was a poster of Wilson. The man who dragged her into this. She snatched it off the wall. It read
"All knowing, Wilson knows your purpose."
Audrey then remembered the last thing she heard from Wilson before being presumably drowned. He said he knew her purpose. Her head still dizzy.
What the hell is going on?
She thought, crumbling up the poster and tossing it into the pool of ink.
There was a ladder missing two pieces, it seemed to lead out of here. Audrey looked around for something to fix it. Even tho she didn’t really need to.
She opened the drawers on that desk she leaned on earlier, and found the ladder pieces.
The woman placed each piece to the ladder, pulling it to make sure it was secure. When finished, she ascended.
She walked through the halls, speakers above her rang white noise before a voice wheezed through; catching the animators attention.
"Attention! Children of the machine!" Wilson’s crusty voice wheezed within the speaker.
"This is Wilson. Your friend, your protector." He continued, Audrey however scrunched her face.
Friend? Protector?
He was far from it, he had quite literally drowned her.
"For two hundred and eleven days, you’ve lived without the Ink Demon and Weeper haunting your steps. I banished them away. I tore both their bodies in two."
The ink what now?
Audrey thought back to the poster she threw earlier. That claimed to have killed whatever…those were, she strongly doubts Wilson tore em into two.
"In return, I ask you a favor. Among you is a stranger, a young lady, bring her to me." Wilson continued, Audrey sighed.
Fantastic, now I’m wanted
She thought to herself, and continued down the hall. Nothing else wheezed through the speakers. Audrey deeply sighed once again.
However she moved forward.
Some kind of creature bursted out of the ceiling, Audrey gasped and jolted back harshly. It seemed to be dead.
Taking a few more turns, she approached a hallway. When exiting it, she entered some kind of toy factory?
HEAVENLY TOYS
Read above, posters of familiar faces laid in front of the bold sign.
Bendy, Boris, Alice, and Azael.
What a quartet, Audrey thought.
The woman wandered around more, taking in this new environment. She pulled a switch; but it broke.
There was a broken wall ahead, she could climb up. The girl approached the wall, and climbed, however when she looked up, a disgusting face stared back at her. It snarled and pushes Audrey off the wall, she yelped and fell to the floor.
The creature jumped down, and slammed in pipe on the floor. A loud thud followed. Audrey stumbled to her feet and dashed away.
She spotted a porta potty like closet and threw herself inside. It was quiet. Until the creature slammed itself into the place Audrey was hiding.
Until soft humming alerted the creature, it turned to audrey and snarled before walking away, or limping away.
Audrey sighed and exited the "miracle station" definitely did a miracle for her. She picked up a can, and drank it.
"I wouldn’t drink too much of that if I were you." A voice broke through the silence, Audrey gasped loud and whipped her head around to see an angel..? Alice angel, however she looked different. She looked like an explorer.
"It helps patch you up, but the after taste? It’s not so good." The angel continued, Audrey felt tense and confused. The angel took notice and attempted to calm down the artist.
"Easy now, I’m not gonna hurt you. Looked like you needed some help." The angel reassured Audrey. The toon gripped the woman’s ink drenched arm. However, Audrey yanked her arm away.
"Don’t touch me! What are you? Ugh, what is this horrible place?!" Audrey gasped out in frustration, though the angel laughed.
"Yeah…I remember my first day down here. I know, it’s really scary. But you’re actually pretty lucky. The machine could’ve turned you into a searcher." The angel explained, Audrey was so confused.
"Y-you mean that thing that attacked me?!" Audrey asked, the angel laughed again and shook her head.
"Nope, that’s a piper, and he’s apart of a gang so be careful." The angel replied, patting Audreys shoulder.
"I don’t understand any of this…I cant think, it hurts." Audrey sighed, the angels smile slightly faded.
"Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll catch up pretty quickly, if you can stay alive." The angel attempted to reassure Audrey again.
"Lesson one: searchers down have legs and tend to swarm." The angel explained, Audrey nodded.
"Look, it’s not good to stay in one place around here. Keep moving, and stay close to the shadows. Please, take my advice, head to the upper levels. It’s…safer there." The angel said, Audrey felt more comfortable realizing she’s not a threat.
"Can I come with you?" The animator asked, however the angel sighed and shook her head.
"You cant…I’m sorry. I uh, have a wolf. He doesn’t care for strangers." The angel sighed out, Audrey feeling rightfully confused gasped out.
"A- a wolf?!"
"Like I said, you’ll catch on. Good luck, hope we meet again." The angel laughed, she seemed in a rush. Like she was only here to check around but stumbled into Audrey.
The angel caught herself and turned back to Audrey.
"Oh! And…one more thing. Above everything else, stay away from the Ink Demon and Weeper." The angel warned, she seemed very serious about this. Audrey recalled what Wilson had said, about banishing whatever those were away. She still didn’t have a clear understanding of what they were, so she decided to ask.
"W-what are those?" Audrey asked, The angel carried a stern and worried expression before answering.
"Oh, you’ll know them when you see them. One likes to smile, the other frowns and cries. They both kill anything that crosses them. Just…promise me you’ll stay out of sight if you encounter them." The angel finished, Audrey nodded.
"Wait!" Audrey called out, the angel came to a halt and turned back.
"Um, what’s your name?" Audrey asked, she kinda just wanted to keep the conversation going.
"They call me Alice. I’m…not very fond of it." The angel replied, Audrey though the name was gorgeous however.
"Well, I’m Audrey." The angel nodded and they both shared a smile.
"Well, Audrey. Welcome to the studio." The toon said, a click made it self known to Audrey and she turned her head. When turning back to face Alice, she was gone.
"Ah, dang it" Audrey sighed to herself. No need to cry over spilled milk.
The animator continued forward, heading up. She’d follow Alice’s instructions.
Chapter 11 / Chapter 13