PROLOGUE: The Swimming Teddy Bear Incident
January 1st, 2040
Los Angeles, California's residential areas
The United States government was warned of this day. It had been warned throughout several graffiti messages left around by cultists. "2040 would be the year." "2040 marks the end of humanity." "Deliver us: 2040." The death and destruction would not be immediate, but it will definitely arrive. Like a savage animal that prefers to play with its food for a very, very long time before finally giving its prey the sweet release of death. Only the catch here is: Even Death may die, and it is Death in particular of whom the enemy seeks to kill first.
Los Angeles, California is where the first disaster, "The Swimming Teddy Bear Incident," began. The media calls it this because the multitude of deaths and broken windows all appeared within what was clearly a radius. Within this radius is a swimming pool with a little teddy bear swimming around. The bear was slightly burned, and an eyeball was missing. Nobody knows whose bear it was, or how it got damaged. And nobody ever will, for all the residents within this area of Los Angeles are deceased. It is hard to describe the full details, but authorities confirm mangled bodies, self-mutilation, and in extreme cases serial murder, presumably from whomever was still alive. One of America's Anti-Occult Agency (AOA) members described the scene simply as "a sneak-peak into Hell itself."
Desperate for answers, America and the rest of the world have resorted to a "stepping up efforts to control occult activity," but all of their proposed ideas seem like thinly veiled excuses to save their public image. In reality they do have a plan, but it really depends on the shadow organization called Mainicksto, which is admittedly better-suited for handling these incidents than any other currently known. Mainicksto has sent out private messages to the individuals and organizations they consider most trustworthy of assisting them with the grueling tasks of which are about to unfold. They'll need to move quickly though, for they only have one year to defeat the enemies of humanity.
CHAPTER 1: Hell Begins
January 6th, 2040
Mainicksto Headquarters, somewhere in Madison County, Ohio
Four individuals from Fondheart, Whitney Whiskey, Stan Emerald, Ricardo Lotus, and Magenta Magistrate all arrive to the meeting location. Whitney Whiskey was the only person called upon to join, but for her own protection and guidance the religious and political leaders of Fondheart deemed it appropriate to send a small entourage to accompany her. The other three are professionals in their own rights. Stan is a soldier who has already tasted some of what Hell has to offer the world. Ricardo is a childhood friend of Whitney and a bookworm. Magenta may be the least qualified, but she has better social skills than the others, along with a score to settle with Trevisani should the rumors regarding Trace and the occult activities be true.
As the four walk inside they are greeted to the guards and members of Mainicksto Society. The overwhelming majority of the people here happen to be Caucasian men, particularly either British or New England folk. This is probably due to the fact a lot of Mainicksto's beliefs originally started around the study of Lovecraftian horrors being discovered as not just works of fiction, but reality. In fact the name Mainicksto is really just "Miskatonic" re-arranged into a completely different spelling. The Miskatonic of course is the name of a university from HP Lovecraft's fictional works, which happens to have a secret organization of its own bent around the study of occult activities.
As the four Fondheartians walk into the meeting room, they are presented with a room not too different in appearance from the war room featured in Dr. Strangelove, albeit with more welcoming lighting, wooden walls and bookshelves, and a lot more wooden upholstery. In fact the mansion itself feels more of just a big home that than a meeting place for the world's most secretive societies. The current president of Mainicksto, Mister Bradley Graves, speaks up. He is a large, fat man with a very short temper and a strict sense of traditionalism. The fact he his organization has recently begun hiring women, minorities and other whites is not at all due to multicultural norms spreading their ways into Mainicksto, but out of a growing awareness and a realization they will need all the help they can get to defeat their enemies.
"You were told to come alone."
"The Holy Red State deemed it would be an unwise choice to send me alone. I have also brought their resumes so you may--"
Graves snatches the papers from Whitney and browses through them very, very quickly and decisively, before tearing them up.
"You were told to come alone! I had made myself perfectly clear on this. Not only that, but any violation of this rule will result in--"
The enraged president is interrupted by a bald-headed lackey with a goatee, who whispers something into his ear. He quickly calms himself down. He sits down for an awkward period of silence, playing around a little with a pencil. He then looks up at the Fondheartians.
"I'll have you all know this is a critical matter of the utmost importance. We need to operate around the world and quietly as possible. Our actions must be kept private, much so that not even your governments may know the full stories of what goes on with our operations. The situation about to unfold is much bigger than the world. Unfortunately, we may have to wait a little before actually revealing more information. You four are quite early compared to everyone else, who seems to be running quite late according do my watch."
"With due respect, Sir, do we really need to go through this meeting?" inquires Magenta. "Just give us the weapons and the locations we need to visit, and we will be on our merry way. We've already been informed by our government about the demons and the eldritch horrors, and how Trace may be involved with helping them spread. What are these artifacts you need us to go out and collect anyways?"
"A woman who not only dresses like a man, but eager to conduct business like one." Graves turns his attention to the Fondheartian men instead, out of open insult for the mafia girl. "If the enemy wins, then Death will die. This is bad because with death no longer existing in this universe, everyone here is doomed to eternal life, and consequentially eternal suffering. Assuming the worst comes to life and you four are still standing, then you will all be subject to countless millennia of infinite torture and suffering. This is the will of the Eldritch abominations, and the Devil seeks to carry this out for he believes this is the quickest way to crush the faith of all who believe in God."
"Hold up," Ricardo interrupts, "Aren't you people primarily atheists?"
"In this world, all Gods technically exist, but the more powerful Gods have a much greater say in the actual affairs of the real world. And regardless of whether or not we are Christians, faith alone will not prevent Saint Lucifer from allying with the Eldritch deities. Not if it means destroying Christianity and finally winning his own holy war against the Lord."
"So why don't you believe in God, President Graves?"
"I grew up in an orphanage; all of the nuns were bitches.
"Onto a more important topic: There are a total of 48 artifacts around the world I need you to fetch. The first two are right here in the United States of America. One in Los Angeles, the teddy bear, and the other in Manhattan. I recommend reaching the teddy bear first, as I'm not entirely sure what the American government has in mind for that toy."
"You're having us fetch a toy?"
"In fact I very much hope I am, and this bear is not some doomsday device waiting to go off in December of this year."
"And what if Manhattan then?"
"The Statue of Liberty is currently closed off from the general public. Our agents have confirmed rumors within the government that there is a secret "organ" of some sort inside the statue that was not there before. Our data most indicates it is most likely a demon heart. If this is true, then it makes sense why the authorities are not attempting to remove it: Doing so will cause a wave of demonic energy to burst forth and unleash demons across New York City."
"And you want us to... Pop it?"
"... Well there will definitely be a demon artifact inside of it. Besides, it's New York City! That shithole is crawling around with monsters anyway!"
"Let's go to Manhattan," excitedly claims Stan Emerald. "I've popped plenty of demon hearts in the past. It won't be a big problem for us!"
"No way," Whitney interjects. "We will not be the source of an occult incident, especially not in a country that got attacked so recently by similar horrors."
"Typical liberals. Fine, don't go to Manhattan. I'll find someone less concerned of minorities to handle the threat, and you better hope I do because I guarantee you that heart will pop eventually. Just a question of who did it and if Mainicksto will be there to reclaim the artifact."
"Anything else to share with us," asks Ricardo, "or are we done with this meeting?"
"Why yes, in fact, and the reason I even called for people to come here" Graves pulls out a box with a total of twenty red crystals. He hands only four of them to the Fondheartians, one for each. "Since you'll be going through quite an adventure of chaos, destruction and death, assuming Death is still alive, you will need these crystals. So long as a single one of these crystals is in your possession, you can revive from the dead. It only works once though, so don't get careless."
"Where did you get these crystals?" asks Whitney.
"That is for Mainicksto to know, and for you four to hopefully not use up so quickly." A portal in the meeting room suddenly opens up. "Our agents are all over the world and has plenty of portals set up. Traveling will be the simplest part of our operation. Surviving and collecting the artifacts will not."
"If you have all this technology," Ricardo inquires once more, "If you have portal technology to guide your men around the world, why use foreign, non-Mainicksto operatives for this? What exactly is at stake here?"
There is a long pause of silence coming from the Mainicksto President. "I'm afraid that's classified information. Perhaps under more desirable circumstances I would reveal the truth behind that question. For now though, you'll just have to trust me. It would be a damn shame if you of all people were to die on us. I may have skimmed through your resume, but I did read enough of you to know of all the people in Fondheart, you have the most potential to provide for our organization."
