====== Emergence ======

**Emergence** is a [[tale]] written by Tung.

===== Content =====

//This is a collection of accounts scraped from interoffice communication documents. Any audio logs have been automatically transcribed into text. Dates and names of personnel have been redacted in order to protect the source. Other information has been redacted due to unexplained effects on those who have read this document in the time prior to publishing. Any attempts to locate our source will be met with appropriate force.//

On October 16th, ██████ at approximately 900 hours, operatives in Sakha were informed via phone call of an anomaly approximately 114 kilometers outside of Yakutsk. An immediate order was sent out to close local airspace under the guise of inclement weather; local officials were cooperative after it was explained as a burst pipeline. Bribery has proven effective with many assets in the region.

On October 17th the emergent threat was successfully obfuscated via Wilzen Yamada Noospheric Mirror, generously donated in rapid response by ██████ for the purposes of testing the prototype. Containment efforts were redoubled by the construction of physical barriers in the surrounding forest. All roads or trails within ██████ of the entity are slated to be demolished. Foreman ██████ places an estimated 1 month for these efforts to conclude if outside contractors can be relied upon. 

The anomaly is described as a flaming humanoid figure floating ██████ above the forest outside of Yakutsk, Russia. Efforts to determine the appearance by electronic means have met with abject failure; Camera equipment fails to capture its appearance outside of the vaguest details or meets with internal electronic failure. Thermal imagery determined before its failure that the figure burns at temperatures typical of ignition with an accelerant. The flames surrounding the entity are not visible unless looking directly at the entity. 
Personnel report a sense of dread when looking directly at the entity, even through barriers or obstacles. 

Personnel report loss of faith following examination of the creature.

After the failure of several pieces of equipment, an artist was flown in from Japan to depict the creature in charcoal sketches. Artistic renditions of the creature have been securely contained following ██████ involving staff who were tasked with their transport and care.

A transcription is given secondhand through their translator on their deathbed. Date of recording places the time of death seven days after the artist began their task. Due to the advancing state of the body, it was promptly incinerated.

"It is human in shape, but it is not human. Its skin is black but not burned. I used binoculars to see it more closely. It is like dried fruit, full of fissures and pits. It hurts to look at. The creature floats in the air as if asleep. One arm is raised to point in that way. It is not a thing—it is not alive. It is a place. It is a hole."

Following this report, the entity was observed to now be pointing, as the translator had explained. Prior to this translation, no personnel observed any change in the prone creature's position. Staff reports a sense of nauseous disorientation. Measurements taken report the entity gesturing 168 degrees south-southeast of its location.

The artist's husband, ██████, joined them during this trip as a requirement for their cooperation. Our translator was able to extract more information detailing the artist's final days through the husband. The following excerpt has been taken from their full statement pending review of hazardous effects caused by the full transcript. Review is ongoing but slow; staff becomes combative on being asked to review audio recordings at this time.

"My wife. Never before has she spoken those words. The thing in the sky has eaten who she was and who she could have been. She told me that deep within its pitted flesh, she saw other things. Heard red voices that were not voices. I will tell you what they said."

The translator requested immediate leave in the morning afterwards. They were quarantined following a violent outburst and ██████ of both the artist and their spouse. The translator repeated "It's all I can see" in escalating volume until they were gagged, as staff nearby urgently reported nosebleeds and intracardial pain. After decontamination, all on-site staff were ordered to be replaced by autonomous drones that could not be biologically affected by any nearby phenomena.
Our own investigation has found records of some staff involved in the operation, but the paper trail ends at the operation. They have either been given new lives or had their lives taken.

We have been unable to identify the person who originally tipped us off to the emergence of the emergent threat. The call came from within the city of Yakutsk, but from an out-of-order payphone.

UPDATE: We found the artist's husband.

{{tag>tales lore}}