⚠️ Content Warnings ⤴
Info
Content Warning:
This article contains depictions of abuse and violent behavior, specifically on the second offset. Reader discretion is advised
Written and conceptualized by ReyDay
The sequel to Silent Knight by Spectre48 that no one asked for
AC Theme made by Praetor3005, translated by
ReyDay
Offset timeline made by the incredible Abdallah Amr
Critics/Reviewers:
Praetor3005
Mel-Raspberry
Spectre48
LiminalDoctor
Super-Robot14
| Page Type | Articles |
|---|---|
| Author Page | ReyDay |
| Levels | Level 986 |
| Unnumbered Levels | Death’s Door, The Celestial Cathedral(translated) |
| Sub-Layers | Level 800.1 |
| Entities | Coming Soon! |
| Unnumbered Entities | Coming Soon! |
| Objects | Object 48 - “Liquid Pain”, Object 33 - “RoboPets”, Object 64 - "Whisperers", Object 5-FR - “Anemophosis”(translated) |
| Phenomena | Coming Soon! |
| Tales | Echo of Creation, Five Years Since You Went Missing, Knight’s Gambit, For Christmas(translated) |
| Groups | Ariane Circle(translated), The Black Knights(owned) |
| POIs | Nyx(translated) |
| Canons | Black Knights(owned) |
| Joke Pages | Coming Soon! |
| Tech | Enchanted Forest Theme, Music Theme, Deep Sea Theme, Tesseract Theme, Ariane Circle Theme(translated) |
| Guides/Essays | Coming Soon! |
| Art | Diana Evelynn, Fia, Tess Welcome Banner |
Offsets
Offset 0
Name: White’s Move
Offset 1
Name: Black’s Move
Nyx peacefully slept in the medical room of the Hippocrates-1 Base, resting up from the particularly exhausting fight they got into. Yet, with a couple of light knocks on the door followed by a long creeaaaaak, they were suddenly awake. They lazily opened their eyes, only to see their friend, Anthony Kelvin, walking into the room.
"Hey, it's just me. I brought you some…" Anthony looked down at the tray of spoons he was holding. "…food."
"Thank you, Anthony. Please, come." Nyx gestured for Anthony to come into the room, to which he obliged. He sat on the edge of the bed, handing Nyx the tray.
"How've you been holding up since the, err, incident?"
"I been good. Less hurt." Nyx said between bites of a spoon.
"That's good!" He smiled, seemingly relieved. "If I'm being honest, I got a bit worried when I heard about what happened. I know you heal a lot faster than humans, and you can't really die, but I did some research on those knight things. They're terrifying."
"Do no worry, I is okay. It is like scratch." Nyx rested their hand on Anthony's shoulder to try to comfort him.
"Thank you, Nyx, I just don't really know what to do. We're kinda fighting blindly against these things. I couldn't even find anything in the Promethean Library on them, the only thing available was that file on the G.P.D. No one has really pinned down exactly what they are aside from that Evelynn person, but she went missing a while back. I just—" He sighs. "I just don't want you to get hurt more than you already have."
"If they are all as weak as the Knights Nyx kill, there will be no problem." Nyx assured him, a smug smile creeping onto their face.
"I wish I had a fraction of your confidence." Anthony chuckled, handing Nyx a book as he got up from the bed. "Here. Sleeping all day sounds pretty boring, so I figured you could use some entertainment. It’s a translated copy of a collection of old myths, I think you’ll like it. Could help you understand the entities here a bit more for your projects. I unfortunately have some work I need to get to, but I'll try to come back soon, alright?"
Nyx took the book and smiled at him. "Thank you, Anthony. This mean lot to me." Anthony smiled back and left the room, closing the door.
"So? Did you tell them?" Katya Hall asked impatiently, standing outside the door.
Anthony flinched. "AEH— Oh, it's just you." He breathed out a sigh of relief. "No, I didn’t. They’re in a stressful situation as it is, I don’t want to have to break the news to them and make it worse. They need to relax so they can heal."
"But we can’t keep them here forever! It was hard enough to even get you in here to visit them, and people aren’t exactly fond of me ever since I got sent to Hermes."
"I know, I know. I don’t like it either, and I would much rather have them resting up in Hermes-5, but the Council insisted on this."
"Auditor, please. I assure you that we have more than enough supplies to have Nyx recover in Hermes base." Caleb Fixxt pleaded, desperate to convince the council members while Anthony and Charlie Drake hurriedly carried out Nyx.
"Exactly. It’d be a waste of valuable resources for Team Hippocrates. Nyx is a member of Hermes, it only makes sense for them to be under Hermes’ care.” Added Nicolas Lecompte, not wanting this meeting to drag on any longer.
"You’re the medical team, it’s your job to manage the Circle’s casualties and medical care. I’ll personally ensure that all supplies used by Nyx will be reimbursed by Team Artemis. Take the alien to Hippocrates-1 and do it now." Alexis Laurent lectured to them.
"Ms. Laurent is correct, this is your duty as the medical specialists. No objections." The Auditor sternly said, his strict tone making both Nicolas and Caleb regret ever speaking up about this. "With that, we’ll have to postpone this meeting. I suggest waiting until after Nyx has recovered and is in a safe and secure environment so that we may properly assess this situation and how to respond."
"Agreed. Fixxt, Lecompte, please do let me know if you need anything from Artemis-20 for the sake of Nyx’s recovery." Alexis offered, and the two nodded.
“I can only imagine how miserable the rest of that meeting was.” Anthony shivered.
“Yeah, it was… rough, to say the least. Regardless, we need to get Nyx out of here, and quickly. We don't know when those Knight things are going to attack next, but we’re better off safe than sorry." Katya looked Anthony right in the eyes. "You need to tell them before you put them in danger."
Anthony sighed. "It's just that it took them long enough to adjust to human interaction. L523-FR is the only place they have to truly be themself, and I don't want to take that away."
"I don't want to either, but it's the only option we have. You need to tell them or I will."
"Wait wait wait, I'll do it, just—" He hesitated and looked through the door window, seeing Nyx happily reading through the translated copy of Anemophosis. "Just give me a minute with them before I tell them what's gonna happen, alright? I promise I'll do it, I just want to get them a bit more comfortable first."
"Do what you need to, just get it done, alright? It’s important for their sake." Katya walked off, leaving Anthony standing in front of the door to Nyx's recovery room, already regretting his decisions.
"Well, here goes nothing." Anthony knocked on the door yet again and entered the room.
Nyx looked up at him in confusion. "I thought you have work that need be done?"
"Oh, uh, Katya is taking care of it for me." He lied. He hated lying, but he knew that he needed to do this or else he'd face Katya's wrath.
"Oh. Is you alright? You seem nervous."
"I'm fine, thank you." Anthony took a deep breath. "How do you like the book so far?"
"It is good. Very fancy talk, but it is nice knowing backstory of entities."
"Oh, Nyx, that's not—" He paused. "Nevermind. Anyways, we need to, uh, talk about something."
“Is something wrong?” Nyx began to grow concerned, closing the book and tracing the markings on their hand.
“No no no, nothing’s— Well… actually kinda, yeah. It’s about where you’re going to go after you heal.”
“I thought I was going back to 523-FR?”
“You would be under regular circumstances, but the Council is a bit… worried, per se. These Knights know enough about you and where you live that they were able to invade your home, and the Council is worried that they may try to hurt you again if you go back there or stay in one of the bases. They…” He paused and took a deep breath. He dreaded saying these words, but eventually blurted it out. “They want to send you to L410-FR.”
Nyx sat in shock for a few seconds, trying to comprehend what they just heard. “They want me to go to 410-FR? Go there now of all times?”
“I know, I know, I don’t like it either, but since the level isn’t documented yet, they figured that the Knights wouldn’t be able to find you there.”
“It isn’t documented because Nyx not finished!” They huffed. “410-FR is unstable. It is no safe.”
“The Council thought it would provide you with an opportunity to continue your work on it.”
“You do not sleep on construction site while building. I cannot stay in 410-FR.”
“They aren’t exactly giving us a choice here, Nyx. They have the final word whether we like it or not. If I had any say in the matter, you’d be resting up in Hermes-5 instead of here.”
Nyx growled and mumbled a Styxian curse under their breath, though it wasn’t like anyone could understand it.
“C’mon, we can make it work. We’ll get your stuff moved and get you settled in a safe place in the level, make it nice and comfortable. We can work on it together!” Anthony held Nyx’s hands in his and looked into their eyes. “We’ll make it fun. What do you say?”
Nyx couldn’t help but smile and scoff. “Okay, fine, nerd. But Council owes Nyx box of spoons.”
“Deal.” Anthony smiled back at Nyx as he started to rise from the bed. “Now, go get your re—“
“No.” Nyx held onto Anthony’s hand as he stopped. “Stay. Please. I-“ They paused. “I want you to stay here. I will be busy in 410-FR, lots of work need be done to make it safe. I want to spend time with you before then.”
Anthony went a bit red in the face upon hearing that. “Oh, uh, sure! Yeah, I’ll stay.”
He sat back down on the bed, and the two of them stayed there all night, reading through Anemophosis together.
“Hey N-Nyx? Where do you want this box of scrap metal?” Anthony asked, shaking as he struggled to carry the box.
“Oh, that, uhhh, can go there.” Nyx pointed at a corner of the empty building they were in, not shifting their attention from their task of stabilizing the level by moving the respective cubes.
“Got it!” He muttered, stumbling over to the corner and hastily dropping the box on the ground. “Phew. I don’t know how you keep track of all this stuff.”
“I don’t. That box was sitting in attic for years.”
“You don’t have a system of keeping things tidy? How do you know where anything is?”
“Home is small, or was. If I need it, I find it. That will not work here, though.” Nyx sighed. “And you is sure that this will help protect Circle from Knights?”
“Well, it’s less about the Circle and more about you.”
They scoffed. “Nyx can handle self, thank you.”
“You had to sleep for a week straight in order to heal from your injuries, I wouldn’t exactly call that 'handling yourself'.”
“Look at Knights. Nyx live, they no live. Nyx won.”
“You still got hurt though, and I don’t— I mean, the Council doesn’t want that happening. This is the safest option.”
“What the evers, this building should be a fine place for sleepiiiiiiing… now.” They shifted one final cube and took a step back. “That should make it stable.”
“Hey! See, I told you that you could do it.” Anthony gave them a teasing smirk and went back to helping them get settled. “Oh, hey! I found your old machine you were working on!” He lifted up the amalgamation of scrap metal, sensors, and wires.
Nyx cringed as Anthony held it up. “Oh, wow… eesh. That is old.”
“Do you think you could get it working again?”
“That? Oh, no no no. I not waste time on projects with no benefit. I must stabilize rest of level first.”
“Well, I think it would actually be quite beneficial. If you could get this working, you could use it to sense if any Knights come into the level.”
“Maybe. But that machine was designed for 523-FR, not here. It would require big change.”
“Well, you technically have all the time in the world to work on it. Wouldn’t it be fun to return to your roots a bit? Get back to inventing stuff instead of just fixing things that people break?”
“You mean that you break?”
“Tomato, tomahto. Are you going to work on it or not?”
Nyx thought for a moment, weighing the pros and cons and considering different ways to modify the machine to make it functional. “Yeah, sure. It could be good help.”
They then helped Anthony carry the machine to the same corner as the box of scraps, then went back to tackling the stack of unopened boxes waiting to be emptied. The pair worked tirelessly to make the building comfortable and secure, decorating it with old furniture, work-in-progress gadgets, and whatever else they could find to make the place more homey. Hours passed as the two chatted and unpacked, until they had places the final item from the last box.
“Is that it? Are we done?” Anthony looked at the empty cardboard box next to him.
“I think we done!” Nyx folded up the empty box and tossed it into the pile of cardboard that had accumulated over the past few hours. “I find place for that later.”
“What time is it?”
Nyx checked their phone. “10:08 PM”
“TEN O’CLOCK?! We were working for that long?!”
“Eehhhh, Styx time is weird. It slower than human time. We work for bit longer than that.”
Anthony groaned. “God, Katya’s going to kill me…”
“But we were busy. Council orders, no?”
“Yeah, you’re right, she’s just going to be mad at me for not finishing the quarterly progress report for Hermes.”
“I thought she agree to finish work.” Nyx narrowed their eyes in suspicion. “Did you… what is the word? The word where human wait to do task because they no want to do it?”
“Procrastinate?”
“Yes! Procrastinate. Did you do this again?”
He sighed. “Yeah, a bit. It’s just so boring sometimes. I like researching and learning new things about the Backrooms, and I love my job, but I hate all the dull busywork that comes with it. I’d rather spend time with…” He trailed off and looked at Nyx. “Well, with you.”
Nyx was rather caught off guard with that sentence. “That still no excuse to lie. You have job, you need to do job.”
“This is my job, it’s my job to help you, which I’m doing right now! I’ll finish my report tomorrow, it isn’t all that important anyway. This was a much more urgent matter.”
Nyx scoffed. “Can you do the guilt thing? The thing where you express regret?”
“The wha— oh! Yeah. I’m sorry, Nyx.”
“Thank you. You have my forgive, but no more lie.”
“Deal. I don’t even like lying.”
Nyx seemed puzzled after he said that. “Human social patterns are very confusing. Styxians are direct with wants and needs, why humans no do same?”
“I… don’t really know. It just kinda feels awkward or rude, I guess?”
“You cannot tell intent when communicating?”
“Not exactly in the way that Styxians do. We put more emphasis on sensory cues to convey those things, while I’m assuming that Styxians just read each others’ minds in a way.”
“Correct. It… take me a while to get used with human communication and no one in my mind to say things. Still not really comfortable.”
“I never really thought about it like that, but yeah, that sounds like it was tough.”
“It was. But I have you and Circle, so I no lonely anymore.”
Anthony smiled. “I’m really glad that we found you that day, Nyx.”
Nyx smiled back again. “I’m glad too.”
The two sat in awkward silence for a few seconds.
“So… uhm. I know this is a weird ask, given we just got this place stabilized, but can I stay the night here? I’d rather wait until morning to start heading back.”
“Oh. Yes, you can stay. But humans value privacy more than Styxians, no?”
“Yeah, we do, why? Is there a problem?”
“I no think so, but there is only one bed.”
Anthony’s face went bright red upon hearing that. “O-oh, uhh—“
“I can sleep on floor if you no comfortable.”
“No no no, I don’t mind, I-I just didn’t really, uhm, expect that.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah! I-I’ll be fine. Thanks for letting me stay.”
“It no problem. I go to change in other room. You may borrow some of my sleep clothes if you want.”
“Oh, thanks! I don’t think I’d get much rest if I tried to sleep in this.”
The two of them got changed into their pajamas, and then crawled into the singular bed, trying to get comfortable enough to sleep.
“Anthony, is you okay? Your face is very red. Is it too warm?”
“N-no, I’m fine, th-thanks!”
“Is you sure? You seem sic—“
“ISAIDI’MFINE”
Nyx started to object, but then decided it wasn’t worth pushing further, and turned on their side away from Anthony.
“I-I’m sorry for shouting, Nyx, I’m just not really used to sharing a bed with someone.”
“I can still sleep on floor.”
“No, I’m not going to make you do that. It’s not a problem, I’m just… kind of embarrassed.”
Nyx didn’t quite know how to respond to that, but then remembered that humans are often comforted by physical touch. They proceeded to hug Anthony and pull him close.
“Please, tell me if I too close or make you no comfortable.”
Unfortunately, that wasn’t as helpful as they thought it would be, as that only made Anthony even more flustered. However, despite his nervousness, he hugged Nyx back, mumbling something under his breath.
“I don’t think you could ever get too close.”
“What was that?”
“Oh uh- nothing! Goodnight, Nyx!”
The two of them then shut their eyes, drifting off to sleep in the comfort of each other’s embrace.
Offsets
Offset 0
Name: White’s Move
Offset 1
Name: Black’s Move