Rise and shine, Mr. Wayne. Rise and shine…

I can't help it. I have to.

It's always the same, every day, since I came here. When the sun rises over the horizon in New York City, this little world that is the Wayne wakes up, and comes to life.

The people here, they don't understand What this place really is. But still, they come out to play every day.

As sure as the pigeons fly around every day, they come out to play their roles as well.

And I see them all.

Play… like the children in the wide open. Run wild between the stones. Climb the pyramid up to the top, where the monster opens its mouth.

They go in and out, opening, closing, holding doors. Living their lives as if nothing else is going on…

Everybody knows something else is going on in here.

They just have learned to live with it. They have absorbed it. Like those animals absorb the spectral gas. They take in everything. What is in plain sight, and also that other something. WhAt they can't put their finger on.

This place is like a museum. Every five steps you run into one of these... Wayne oddities. They are around every corner, in the middle of the rooms, hanging from the walls, sitting in little pillars in the hallways.

Have you ever been at a real museum? Have you found any of those exhibits you can't finish to figure out what they are? They usually don't have any description with them. They're all alone, separated from any collection, and they seem to be more like a decoration than anything else. You walk around the thing for a moment, and then just move on to the more important stuff, with an idea of what it was, but in the end… you don't really know.

But that's fine. It doesn't bother you. Because, you know that it must be… something right? Or actually, you assume it must be something. You don't consider the possibility that a genuine unknown object just appeared there out of nowhere, and nobody is alarmed by it. No. Somebody must have placed this thing here for a reason, and that somebody knows exactly what it is. They have total control of it, and that's why everything around you looks so normal and peaceful. This is what you believe in. It's what you choose to believe in, and because of it, You are content with not knowing all the truth.

It's the same here in the Wayne. Some of these weird artifacts look like machinery from the past, or from the future, while others look like they are literally alive. And others could not seem to be more out of place.

Every day, people come out, and pass them by, giving them just a look, if not completely ignoring them. They don't ask any questions about them, because nobody else is asking questions. There isn't a shocked crowd around them. Everybody has gotten used to it, because despite these strange things being here, life is just normal and peaceful.

And that's the same response they have for the rest of what they can't explain here. The sounds, the shadows, the mist, the rumors… the legends. People don't question any of this, because even when they can't understand it, understand this place, it is all part of their life now. They can't explain it, yet they just live with it. Because that's what life is like in the Wayne.

Because that's what the Wayne is… what you can't explain.

And so, every day the pigeons fly around the Wayne, and the residents take care of their own business. And that's the whole story.

If it wasn't for the others.

The others. The exceptions. The minimal percentage. The ones who didn't stay quiet.

They think they can understand this place. They do everything to understand it. To explain it. Or properly speaking, they try to.

Like that man, the bishop. I can't decide if his name suits better his intentions to be some kind of guardian of the Wayne's secrets, or his ability to squeeze into every important matter in the game.

Explore what you can't explain. He believes he is gonna understand it in time. He could actually come really close to it, the way he has been working until now. He lacks of something important, however.

Protect, they told them. Protect what you can't explain.

Is it really that surprising that the ones that are closer are the children? It's just like a bleeding Japanese animation.

These two, especially, they are like a queen in the board. They go up and down, in and out. They swing all along the hallways. Fly around like the pigeons. They even go inside the beast, finding more beasts in their way.

It's in the family, I guess. That could be it. But you wouldn't expect less when you are exactly what the other one needs you to be, both ways. It's always the same, when you see a pair like that. There is always a Pine Tree and a Shooting Star.

Yeah, I've been at many places. And I've seen several of them. But these two remind me the most of the real thing.

And now that they have a third one, who knows how far they could get.

That third child. The new boy. The "power of the god". At least, that's what I like to call him. The one who likes to be around that girl, she who takes care of that abomination.

Together, the three have taken huge steps in the game. They came to the heart of the beast. They entered the domains of the old bookworm, and became friends with the mist. Even the pigeons seem to like them. They have crossed paths with the bishop, and none of them knows who is in the higher ground here. I wonder how many more friends they can make before this place starts to mess with them. Clearly, they have no idea of how far they have come, but that might be the key to it.

Protect what you can't explain.

She, on the other hand, wants to control it. Because she knows how powerful it is. But she just caN't finally do it. She doesn't understand it. She's still a little girl with golden locks, crying and running down the hallways of the Wayne.

What is a calliope anyway? They looked way back in history for it. In the European fields, they played the thing, and fire rained over the poor Germans.

And so, almost all the pieces have been placed on the board. The bookworm lady has started the engines of the game. And the pigeons fly once again. Soon the people living here will start to play the game of being afraid. And life in the Wayne won't be so normal and peaceful.

I was never good at chess. I don't even like it. But waiting my turn to make a move, and then wait for the others to make their own… I suppose I can say that now we are playing indeed.

Ignore. Explore. Protect. Hide. Fear… So many factions formed around one thing. So many roles to play. If I didn't remember all, it doesn't matter.

I'm here to destoy it.

That's right. Because only the ones who have come close enough to what you really can't Explain, know what it does to people. How it consumes them, enslaves them, makes them lie to each other, and turns brothers against sisters. And that's why I'm here, playing this part in the story. Because that's what the power of the gods does to people. The unknown obsesses them and destroys them. The unexplainable separates them from the world. And that all is what this place is and does.

Because that's what the Wayne is… WhAt You caN't Explain

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And you, what are you going to play?