Day 48,

The bravado of sound, the electric damning of noise, ever so loud in the bellows of the Narrow. The gradient light shot through the scattered skylight beaming down upon us. The emission procured a singeing cacophony of pain. The yawping screeches vaulted against each other while rooting in the old stone work. The crevices screamed. We walked slowly.
The decrepit sunder of another time stood around us. Engulfs us in the grand scheme of the moment. Anthony stared at me and withered, his hand trembling against the steel of the trigger. I try to give him a reassuring glance, but I knew I was lying.
It always seemed so dark when it was talked about by our elders. The great mother spoke gravely of the men and women before us that wander far into the unknown. Called them worse than cowards, that they were scared of humanity so they joined the dead. 
The Narrow was not small instead it only swallowed space. Once being a civilization of tribals they had as legend states, awoke a great evil. A monster. This monster could very well not exist. There is no definition of the monster. He is a presence, a feeling that all is lost. We had found his hole.
The old mall lead us fully about until it’s forgotten end. The dark edge was large, a grand spectacle of destruction that the beast had carved into the land. I looked into the void and tried to gasp for air. Barmy held his idol to his mouth only drawing breathe to recite that short prayer. I knew we would die in this pit as sad legends meant to kill a child’s wide eyes.

Day 1,
There was a new light in the Foundation. With it came a new tone. The firestorm of color was seen across the burnt down homes and walls that used to border us. The screams of the damned sounded against the walls of my home. The color will forever be attached to my memory. A deep piercing orange emitted within the flames with red clinging for prominence. Collectively the people of Foundation watched the end of Kankura. No one moved or thought to help. We were idle in the awe of  death. The beast had come and gone once more. With Kankura gone we had lost our biggest rival and our last hope that there could be an end to the madness.
I’ve decided to keep this journal as a way of completing my last entry on time as the Foundation’s senior historian. As each day passes so does the hope that there be will much left to look back upon.  I will finally do something worth my title and thus I will have fulfilled my role, however small it may be.

Day 4,
I hadn’t thought much about what my place was up to this point. For the most part I had meandered throughout my life looking for my crevice to call home. From a young age I was intelligent and was allowed to become educated. Pushed to do so. I was hailed as a king because I could think past the trigger. As the Foundation’s prized scholar I’m in charge of recording history, or at the very least the inventory of our settlement, our numerous “political” meetings that then lead to the numerous wars I will have to chronicle.
The most notable of these being the idiot’s war(working title) where in which the Foundation bravely slaughtered a small village consisting of pacifist people who didn’t convert to the Endless’ teachings. Men and women of our many Foundation warriors came to me proudly exclaiming how they scalped every man, woman and child. Then proceeded to burn the homes and their eyes gleamed when they spoke of watching these individuals burn within the windows of the home. The warriors would play a game with the people who would escape their burning homes, they called it retardant retard, quite a charming name. They would bet on how long a villager can survive while slowly burning to death and flailing uncontrollably. I have logged this story and sadly many like them overtime and they have become the volumes outlying Foundation’s war epics series. As brutal as they are to the surrounding settlements none of them were lining up to fight the beast that had finished the ongoing conflict between settlements.
For the most part, the people of Foundation have taken to avoiding the subject of the attacks. The elders who used to give incite for the many to follow in times of crisis have no words of encouragement for better or for worse. They have only said that the Endless will show the way soon enough. Bulls***. All of it bulls***. The elders know little and do little.

Day 6,
Today the Grand captain came to me. He burst through the door and he was cold.
The grand captain is a formidable monarch having taken the role from his father three years prior. He had a surprising amount of interest in me and my knowledge of anything before the week. He always used to come in the same way, breaking into my small office with a childish enthusiasm carrying a stack of charred and discarded papers. The same ignorant feeling, gleeful tone that they will actually give insight into the formation of Foundation.  I stand at attention as is mandatory,
“Hello, sir, thank you for gracing me with your presence, sir,” I said getting sick between words.
“Adese, Marlo, ” he said while sifting through the work on my desk.
“What is the nature of your surprise evaluation?” I said.
“No evaluation Marlo. I’m simply here to hear a story of a better time,” he said.
“What kind of story sir?” I said trying not to sound disappointed.
“A good one. A pure one. “
Then every time I would spin a fake tale about the origin of our little Foundation. To get himself fully into the mood of receiving such an epic, Grand Captain would cast himself upon my leather arm chair and would crank it till it clicked into the back position. Then to fully immerse himself he closed his eyes and tells me to begin.
The stories I tell are meant to teach something to the Captain whether it be to give his numerous funds to the poor or to allow me more time sleep in the mornings before my long day of chronicling time.
Today, today was different though. He came in with no enthusiasm, no smile and when I thanked him for his grace he sighed in disgust.
“Grand Captain?” I asked hoping to break him out his trance.
“Marlo….” He murmured.
“yes sir.”
“Marlo, I’ve known you since I was a child, I grew up on your stories and they always filled me with such joy. I understand their validity is to be questioned, but I also understand they were not meant to be.” He stopped for a moment, looking at his hands. I tried to speak, but he wouldn’t allow me to.
“Your stories can’t save us now. There is no need for history when there won’t be a future. The monster is at our heels and I,  like my father before me have done nothing. I knew we were dead, but I stayed idle allowing our people to die a slow death. I have failed.” He was defeated.
“You and I know we have no real ability to fight this thing, this creature. You can’t believe you caused this nor can you believe you could have been the one to fix it. We are all just human, even you Grand Captain.” He looked up for a moment, his face stark. I heard the clocking of a pistol.
“You always knew how to twist a tale.” A gunshot sounded. A body fell to the ground. The red made me sick, I couldn’t help myself from crying.

Day 12,
I was arrested for the murder of the Grand Captain. Tossed in a cell. Told I was a traitor.
As soon as the Grand Captain body smashed against the ground, his loyal guards broke into my dwelling and paused, watching him on the ground. It was silent for a moment. Then the beating began. They lashed with their night sticks and makeshift bats. I’ve never been touched by the guards up until this moment. I was since childhood put under protection by the Grand Captain, but now I was there to crushed. I cried in agony as they took turns beating me mercilessly. At some point I lost consciousness. I regained my senses as I was being dragged through the streets.
The people of Foundation found it a sport to use me as a the brunt of their frustration and fears. They screamed and cried at me as my legs dangled behind me. The guards take great lengths to make sure I was never comfortable throughout my journey to my cell.

Day 17,
I could see from my humble hole the celebration of the Grand Captain below. They had his face immortalized on large banners that had an array of colorful fabrics cascading down the signs. They played drums and they played with color, the fire they lit upon his body in the grand pit raged in deep blue. They had laced the bonfire with the best wines and alcohol to honor his oh so great endurance. The drums grew loud as the young men viciously beat the leather sewn box. 
The banner holders had reached the end of the street and they rooted the speared ends deep into the ground. The men began chanting vehemently in unison. The sound rang in my ears and made me feel small. The noise had hit a peak when even the chanters could feel the uncomfortable ringing.
It stopped. Everything stopped. The Great mother’s tent opened and all eyes looked into the shadowed space. She walked out slowly, her frail frame swayed against the wind.
She was a god to them. The closest thing to a great being. Since birth we were made to love and cherish her presence and words. Her swollen face began to speak as she reached the center of the crowd.
“We are all in great sorrow with the murder of our Grand Captain. He was robbed of his life and we were robbed a great man. With no heir, his death will kill the reign of Grand Captain…We...We will all heal. The Great mother commands it!”
The chanting began again as to agree with her words. Savages.
“This is not a time mourn but to look to the great expanse. The Endless tells us that we are always a moment from succumbing to the small spaces of corruption. We are all waiting for time to go small and unkind, but we must hold strong. Must know that we are people of a great kind, a better kind.”
She knew how to avoid the real problems. Never admitting that there could ever be a problem in such a large space called Foundation.
“I plead with you all that we stay together stay open minded, stay lucid. The narrow will not swallow us. We will expand.”
With that she walked to a alter at the base of the fire. The dark marble stand before her held a small white urn. She lifted the lid and reached in to grab a handful of a black sand. She held it high into the air. The chanting sounded with raising of her arm. She threw the ash into the flames and with that came orange haze.

Day 21,
In the early morning they opened my chamber. My eyes screamed as they adjusted to the influx of light.
“Marlo,” they barked. “Get up, the Great Mother wants you.”
“What could she want with a killer?” I said. They were silent as they trudged into my cell then lifting me from the ground. My body ached as I was suspended.
They brought me to her dwelling in the center of the settlement. Gaudy guards stood in red, blue, and yellow silk that represented their place in Foundation. They did not speak a word simply just motioned towards her hole. I walked slowly holding my side.
The large canopy building’s interior was only lit with ceremonial candles. They burned a deep purple. The color was transformative. Made me ache.
The great mother stand at the end of the immediate long, chasm like hallway. There was no one around, just us.
I was upon her. Her silk robe stretched out ragged on the steps leading up to her. She looked from her engulfing fabric. Face was swollen and worn.
“Marlo,” she spoke. “Oh, Marlo, my dear. I apologize for your predicament.” My face became red as she spoke down to me. “You and I both know the Grand Captain took his own life.” She looked me in the eye as she spoke. Her gaze moved through you and made you want to believe.  “Though your imprisonment and our current meeting was no mistake.”
“You bring me hear, without chains nor a reason not to harm you. You know my freedom and yet you bring me before like a criminal,” I shouted. I could feel my muscles tightening and my eyes go sour.
“You won’t touch me. You are a criminal, you cannot forget that. I am not your executor. I'm simply the vessel, the mouthpiece of the dulled man with a cleaver. You touch me, you are simply teaching a lesson already known.  If you leave and try to speak those words I know you want to scream, you will meet be met with the chant. Now lessen your grip on the air.”
She was right. It hurt me to write that. I breathed in for a moment before exhaling my pride. The tension in my arm remained but I made no move to assault.
“Good.” A smile grew into her leather like face. “You have a chance for redemption. A chance to be cemented in time, to be remembered.” She had me. “Tomorrow I will come before Foundation and I will announce your journey into the Narrow.” My blood went cold. “Under the Great Expanses’ guide you shall vanquish the evil that lurks deep in the small spaces of the Narrow.”
“You expect me to kill that thing?”
“No. I expect you to sacrifice for us. I know you will do what is needed and heed Kankura’s warning.” I stay silent simply staring. “I understand your hesitation but you shall not die a coward's death if you may not return.”
“May not return, may not return!? You know I’ll die. Kankura wasn’t a warning, it was a death sentence. Sending me there is not going to save us. You can’t hide behind your petty belief and you know it.”
“Guards!”She commanded. There metal clad boots snapped against