The night was quiet. Not the kind of quiet that brought peace, but the kind that warned predators were near. Asher crouched in a shallow ditch beneath a crooked oak, watching the flickering system interface projected faintly into his vision.
> [Replay Log – Entry #001 Recovered]
[Viewer Sync: Stable]
[Note: Hidden entity flagged – "Redacted Observer" → Identity Unlocked: SLENDER MAN]
He rewatched the log for the third time.
There—between the frames. Behind the dying cultists and the storm of corrupted glyphs. A tall, pale figure stood just past the ritual circle, featureless and still. Slender limbs stretched too long. A black suit without a wrinkle. No face. No words.
Yet Asher felt it. The pressure in the air. The wrongness. The awareness.
> [Entropy: 5.1%]
[Stealth Subsystem XP: 64%]
[Skill: Shadow Flicker – Proficiency 21%]
He leaned back, letting the replay fade from his sight.
"I didn't see you then," he muttered, his voice low beneath the mask. "But I know now. You were there. Watching. Since the beginning."
Not Zalgo. Not the cult.
Slender Man had witnessed his awakening—had let it happen.
And now? He was testing him.
---
The wind shifted.
Asher's head snapped up.
Shadow Flicker triggered instinctively—space folding as he vanished, reappearing ten feet to the right, behind cover. His knife already in hand.
A noise—grating, like teeth on glass—echoed through the underbrush.
Then silence.
Then:
Laughter.
It was broken, choked, more like a cough than humor.
A figure stepped from the trees. Pale skin. A carved smile. Wild eyes that flicked over Asher with something like curiosity.
Jeff the Killer.
Another urban legend. Another predator.
Asher's fingers twitched, ready to Flick again.
But Jeff didn't attack. He grinned wider.
"You're the one Slender's been watching, huh?" he said. "You killed a whole circle. Left a mess even I respect."
Asher said nothing.
Jeff tilted his head. "You're quiet. Good. Talk's cheap."
> [New Task – Survive the Encounter]
[Bonus Objective: Win Without Fatal Blow – Reward Multiplied]
[Task Timer: Active]
[Entropy Increase Rate: Elevated]
Asher moved first.
Shadow Flicker—twist, dash, strike.
Jeff met it with a laugh and a jagged blade. Steel shrieked as it deflected. He spun with insane agility, landing a shallow slash along Asher's ribs.
Pain flared, but Asher gritted his teeth and vanished again.
He reappeared above, dropped from a tree, and kicked Jeff full in the chest.
They both hit the ground.
Asher rolled up. Jeff wiped blood from his mouth, still grinning.
"Fun," he rasped. "Guess you're not just some proxy-in-training."
Asher paused.
Proxy?
Was that what Slender Man wanted?
He didn't have time to dwell on it. Jeff charged again.
---
Minutes passed. Blades clashed. Skills blurred. Both of them breathing hard.
But Asher never struck to kill. The system's bonus objective echoed in his mind. He needed KP. He needed answers more than another corpse.
Then Jeff stopped.
Raised both hands.
"Alright," he said, laughing. "You pass. Slender wanted to know what you were made of. Now I do."
He stepped back into the mist.
Gone.
> [Task Complete – Survive the Encounter]
[Bonus Objective Achieved – KP +130, Entropy +0.3%]
[Total KP: 275]
[Entropy: 5.4%]
Asher stood alone.
The forest watched.
And somewhere deeper in the dark, Slender Man waited.