Winkle

Winkle's office is known as the North Star of Mythag University. It remains perpetually illuminated, with every corner where a shadow might lurk driven away by an array of lights, from lanterns and kerosene lamps to tungsten bulbs and candles.

Her fear of darkness even causes her to avoid sleep. Thus, day and night, she can always be found huddled beneath the largest lamp, scrawling indecipherable symbols upon the draft papers scattered all over the floor.

Unlocks at: Awakener Level 1

Time: @1@2, A.F. 299

Location: Lab UG-C03, @2@1, @4, Londinium.

Participants: @1, @2, @4, @3

Test Subject: W

Subject Profile:

The subject's biological form is that of an adult human female, born on June 18, A.F. 280; origin unknown. While en route to her studies at @2 University, the original host succumbed to an illness and passed away. Subsequently, the extraterrestrial spiritual entity known as @1 occupied and reanimated the vessel, resuming the host's former life.

@1 possesses the abilities of spiritual migration and replacement and can visually perceive Dissolution. Although human bodies cannot perceive Dissolution, the inherent abilities of @1's species allowed the subject to perceive its presence on a spiritual level. Therefore, when the subject first observed Dissolution 2 years and 8 months ago, she attempted spiritual migration to avoid further degradation.

While @1 retains the capacity to perceive Dissolution, the subject remains unable to sever its influence, and all attempts at spiritual migration have failed. After multiple futile attempts, the subject proactively contacted @3 University, requesting to be converted into an Awakener, which directly led to this experiment.

Excerpt from <Italic:Experiment Record: The Feasibility of In-Vivo Silver Core Extraction>

Unlocks at: Affinity Level 3

Hannah: How did you know that Mythag University could help you? You see, the general perception of us has always been "an obscure, unremarkable university." Was it Ramona who told you?

Winkle: Oh no, no, it wasn't. She did lead me in, but Ramona and I never really talk. My species, @1, has the ability of trans-spatial-temporal spiritual migration, so we know many things... Knowledge about Mythag is just one of them.

Hannah: So it was through that "knowledge" that you knew how to navigate the mist and find your way straight to the gate?

Winkle: I must admit, I didn't know about the mist. I just kept walking, and before I knew it, I was here. Speaking of the mist, do you know how terrifying that stretch of road by the entrance is? There are no streetlights, and when the mist rolls in, even the sunlight dims. And all those dark shadows...

Hannah: Is that why you avoid leaving your office? A fear of shadows?

Winkle: Shadows? No, no, you don't understand. It's not just the shadows, there's so much blackness, so many places where it could be hiding...

Hannah: It?

Winkle: Shh! Keep your voice down! You'll bring it here, no, it's not intelligent, but why, why is it that even after I reached here, @2@3@1

Hannah: Miss Winkle, are you okay?

Winkle: @2@3@1...

Hannah: Miss Winkle?

Winkle: Enough, get out! I'm done with this interview! Your shadow, your recorder, your notes, they're all black, black, black, black! Out, out, OUT!

Hannah: Miss Winkle...

Transcribed from Hannah Peaslee's recording titled "<Italic:0810, Winkle Interview (Failed Attempt 1)>"

Unlocks at: Affinity Level 5

Winkle once had a name of her own.

A name once steeped in her parents' tender love,

Once written over and over by friends, woven into memories,

And marked upon the calendar alongside her birthday.

Winkle once had a face of her own.

A face that once grew under her parents' watchful gaze,

That once beamed with joy and softened with sorrow in the company of friends,

And was captured in photographs alongside those memories.

Winkle once had a home of her own,

Vastly distant from Kadath, and bearing no resemblance to it.

In the end, it perished alongside her parents' very existence...

Swallowed by the blackness of @2, then utterly annihilated.

Winkle had a profound and heavy fear.

It is pitch-black, horrific, all-consuming, and utterly irrational.

It dissolves and erodes everything, wearing it down to nothing;

Once tainted, one's very existence turns to ash.

Winkle is left with only a name that once belonged to her.

A name the human tongue cannot utter, nor even mimic.

She can only close her eyes in moments of absolute exhaustion,

Praying for a dreamland where she might hear that familiar calling once more.

Unlocks at: Affinity Level 7

Survival is both an instinct and an unshakeable burden. In the face of a death that erases even memory, she alone is the proof that they ever existed, her parents, her friends, everything from her homeland.

So, she fled. She fled to an untainted world, to this ocean-covered planet, finding new life in the body of a deceased human girl.

But the black death has infinite patience.

Human eyes cannot see Dissolution, but she knew precisely what the chill at the edge of consciousness meant, what the darkness creeping through her mind signified, what humans call Dissolution has caught up, and without her knowing, had pinned her spirit and body together.

Again and again she tried to flee, and again and again she failed. Ultimately, utterly spent and with her mind pushed to its absolute limit, she could only drag her body toward the one place that might offer her salvation.

No matter the cost, she only wishes to live.

Unlocks at: Affinity Level 9