𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟑𝟏 - 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐂𝐄! “He asked me to finish this out, to complete what I started this cycle, perhaps the only thing that will see a proper ending. Well, as much of one as I can offer. I am beginning to suffer from what Torch has decided to call Fading, my regrettable decline until I make my march back to the city walls. As much as we fight to avoid the inevitable, the more it seeks us out. I have a better understanding now, how and why I am always pulled from the masses, why it feels like Nico…Blurryface has a plan set for me even though I am consistently the least faithful of the flock. I am always tugged into that orbit, always served up to a Bishop who will have their own ideas of what I can and should be. Because he knows. Every Blurryface was a Clancy, and every Clancy will become a Blurryface until the cycle is broken, complete. And like the Torchbearer, he remembers. Torch refuses to tell me how much Clancy retains, but it is at least persistent enough that he knows he has walked these paths before, he knows he is stuck. Whatever has built this prison, whatever has set the rules and conditions, everything hinges around them. Them, not me, because I am not supposed to be here. Because in these brief spots between, I can remember the first time, when Nico was surprised by my existence, when I appeared one day as my middle-aged self and had no recollections of his teachings when I should have been preparing for a position among the Glorious. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺… The one who comes to me in my dreams, green eyes, he’s not from Dema, from Trench, and the places I see him are from another world. The trees, the stars…He spoke to me this time through, and my soul knows his voice, longs to be in his presence. Why would it feel so strong if it was but a figment? I just…don’t know my way forward from here, my way home. I hope it still exists out there, somewhere. Hope he is still waiting for me, wherever home may be.” - Journal of an Unknown Bandito, Final Progressive Entry.