It's All Part Of a Grand Scheme, And Us, Pawns in This Endless Play

Chapter 2: A Monk and His Brother, And What Does a Clone Dream of?

(Nobody's POV, focusing on Monk and Survivor, so things will be described from how they would perceive it)

The brother's first reaction upon seeing each other through the fog they were in, was to tightly embrace each other in a hug. A heartwarming scene cut short by a howl that chilled them to the bone, followed by multiple dragging footsteps, instincts causing them to look for somewhere to hide. They found a hole under a tree large enough for the both of them to hide in and wait for the noises and footsteps to fade away.

Monk, ever the brave and empathetic one, peeked out....face to face with a bug eyed creature with a long tube-like mouth. Monk froze, the creature seemed blind as it breathed raspily and oddly muffled and turned away and shambled to a group of mutilated creatures of similar shape. It baffled and sickened Monk, seeing such wounded creatures march on regardless of their mortal injuries.

Survivor was trying to pull Monk back into hiding, not wanting the chance to lose his brother so soon after their reunion. They don't have to wait long as the fog moves rapidly and the mutilated monsters rush off making a plethora of horrid noises. What chilled the brothers was that it was words, activating their marks of communication.

After exiting their hiding spot, and regaining their bearings. They notice they're in a forest of sorts, and they can see off in the distance another slugcat.
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(Vacuity's dream, Narrator's POV, with some author interruptions)

Vacuity 'woke up' in a familiar place, the top of a skyscraper at night, below is an overgrown city and stream where the highway once was...he would very much like to visit it again someday. What isn't familiar is the blue robotic figure sitting, knees to chest, arms around legs....this robot is the iterator Looks To The Moon. Moon looks up at Vacuity with a tilted head, before speaking up with a feminine voice, telepathically of course.

"Hello, are you an iterator?" Moon said with a friendly tone, mistaking Vacuity's exosuit for a robotic body.

Vacuity paused, then snorted, this isn't the first time he's been mistaken for a robot. He 'spoke' up not too long after Moon's question.

"No, I mean sure I'm an artificial knock off of a human, but not any sort of ai, robot, or android." His tone was amused, and he kept talking. "I'm guessing you're an iterator."

Moon tilted her head, before continuing the conversation.

"Yes I am, but what are you, armored creature?" She was genuinely curious.

"I'm a Series Seven Clone, Serial Number Nine Thousand and Fifty-eight, you can just call me Vacuity." The way he says it is practiced, like he's said this sentence a lot.

"My name is Looks to the Moon, Moon is just fine," It's only fair to introduce herself as well. "Could you tell me where I am?"

Vacuity sighs and looks to the sky. This is gonna be weird to answer, this is a place from his memories, in a dream.

"Broadly? This is my dreamscape, this location specifically? This is the ruins of the city Murmuring Hollow." Stated with a matter of factly tone.

Moon was lost in thought, how could she be in someone else's dream, this wasn't like the dream she and Pebbles shared with that little saint, what's different though? Clones aren't unheard of, as purposed organisms are a thing, but the way Vacuity spoke made it seem like these clones were mass produced on a huge scale, for what purpose? And naming a city? That seemed odd to her...

"This may sound odd to ask but is life and death without a true end?" Moon asked this to confirm if she was in a new 'world' or not.

"Yes and no, I'm gonna take a guess and assume you're not from 'around here' and give you a barebones rundown of what I know. The natural cycle of life and death is being perverted by entities for their own amusement. They decide who is mortal and who is undying, the more suffering the better....it disgusts me.... also this isn't common knowledge. Forgot to mention the world may be dying, and lots of things are springing up due to the new...rewritten rules of nature. Stopping it is a....work in progress for me." Vacuity said this with a concerningly normal tone.

"Oh....that's, worse than the repeating spiral that my, um, home is dealing with." Moon noticed that if everything is being controlled, why is Vacuity telling her this? "Are you free from being controlled?"

"Yes, I tore their strings out, and with it my heart....please don't ask how I'm alive, I honestly don't know." Vacuity obviously didn't want to think about the flaming hole in his chest.

The two continue chatting, slowly forming a sort of friendly bond, and making theories about how to help each other with their respective problems. Sadly though, Vacuity starts to wake up. He does something that surprises Moon by giving her a quick hug and telling her to take care of herself.
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Lore stuff

What lurks in the fog: These shambling figures have many names, Fog Walkers, Pawns of War, Ghost Soldiers, etc. Where there's fog and air raid sirens...there's these mutilated shambling soldiers, ranging from civil war era to modern but always masked, they're trapped in their last moments forever.

Barking out orders that are never received, screaming in fear, calling thingss out that aren't there, crying, making battle cries, yelling tauntingly at unseen enemies....a garbled, staticky mess of nonsense.

If they're aggroed they burst into action, those with still working firearms provide cover for those without as they flank. Their bodies may be weakened and clumsy...but their training is still very much there. Good news is they cannot leave the fog.