Lost in the Fog

The Path Less Travelled

It was then that he found the courage to ask the question that had been nagging him since he arrived, "Who... who are you?"
"Hm... I am the... Observer. I watch you all, yet your world is entirely new to me."
Seeing the boy's distress, he clarified. "This library holds the memories of every survivor and killer lost within the fog. As soon as you arrived, I found this..." He held up a book, Its green cover new and unworn. "Your one sacrifice has stolen a memory from you."

"Memory?"
The man gravely explained: "It is true the Entity steals a portion of you every time you are sacrificed. You might forget, you might not. If you read this, then you should be able to access it."
The Observer offered the book, but the boy declined, "What is that?" Izuku pointed at the spinning device.
He seemed amused, or excited, almost, "Ah, can you sense its power?"
"I... no... but it looks like magic, almost."
"Hm... well, it can look like those who are unaware..." He held it forward. "This is the Auris. It is a device that shapes reality by use of your thoughts and emotions. It is immensely powerful... and the reason this tower exists in the first place. I am from Terra Primus, the original, while you are..." He narrowed his eyes, examining Izuku, almost peering into his soul. "From Terra 512... but there's something different about that Terra. It seems to have... fractured... as if the Auris broke your world into timelines."

"Uh..." Is that what I'm like when I mutter?
He laughed, breaking the tension, "Sorry, I think aloud about things. It's a habit from isolation."

The greenette stuttered in embarrassment, accepting his apology. "I... I do something similar..."
"Really?" He stroked his beard with his free hand, before setting the Auris on the nearby table, picking up his glass. It was empty, but a brown liquid filled it up to halfway. Swirling the glass, he took a drink, before saying: "You are much like me. Intelligent. Resourceful. Undervalued by those outside... I have decided. If something were to happen to me, I need someone to continue protecting this place. The Auris is the most powerful device in this realm, and the Entity cannot use it. In my world's final hour, I tried to convince the government, the Council... to let us use it, but they were too afraid. Now, the Entity continues to grow, and it has already consumed many other worlds as well."
That caught Izuku off guard. "Wait, consume worlds?!"
The man was just as subdued, no, grave as before. "Of course. When it is strong enough, with enough tragedies on a Terra, then it will consume it entirely. There are many, many pockets of survivors & killers, you cannot possibly meet them in your lifetime."
However, the greenette asked, hearing of all of this for the first time. "Can... can the Auris save them?"
He stroked his beard in thought, "Hm... I'm not sure. It is possible, but I have yet to find the method. It does not help that it knows. It often sends... envoys... to disrupt my work."

Only imagining what kind of horrors the Entity would send, he gulped, "H-How do you deal with them?"
The older man grinned, the mustache quivering slightly as he gestured to a golf club resting against the wall. "Well, my favorite 9 iron can certainly put them down with enough strength put into it."

"Um... Are they...?"

The Observer explained, "Just like the killers... but that's fine. It can't take me as long as I continue to use the Auris... and I have no need of sleep... unlike the poor Quinten fellow."

"Ok..." Izuku felt his eyes grow heavy. "Why do you not need sleep?"
He was thoughtful... until he saw the signs of tiredness from Izuku. "Nobody needs to sleep, but it does pass the time... you're tired? That could mean... you're being selected for a trial."

"Oh..." The greenette's eyes closed against my wishes, as he was sent to the next trial.