Item #: SCP-5585
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: The estate SCP-5585 resides on has been purchased by the Foundation and closed to the public; to ensure containment and further study of the anomaly, Provisional Site-55 has been constructed around it.
Copies of documents retrieved from the Pentagram involving SCP-5585 are to be sent to the Provisional Site-55 Director and the region's Records and Information Security Administration office for documentation.
Expeditions into SCP-5585 are to be led by head researcher Martin Breen. Any additional personnel must be approved by Doctor Breen and must be equipped with Force-Euclidean Hazard Suits, while within the building. Any personnel attempting unauthorized entry into SCP-5585 are to be disciplined accordingly; those who successfully enter the building are to be considered lost.
Description: SCP-5585 is an 18th-century English-style mansion that resides on the Salem estate. Since coming into Foundation control, it shows no signs of deterioration or damage except for ash and burn marks present across its surface. Investigation of old underground tunnels once connecting to SCP-5585 were found to be significantly damaged and unviable to travel through, making the front door the only entryway into its interior.
The interior is host to a variety of spatial abnormalities and reality distortions. These include:
- Hallways elongating and looping around themselves, making travel within them last for several minutes to hours,
- Doors causing spatial displacement such that, while passing through them, subjects are able to witness themselves passing through them from the back,
- Movement being slowed, sped up, or entirely stopped at random intervals,
- Rooms and open spaces repeating and possessing alterations in the form of enlargement or transmutation into an entirely different material,
- And stairways and other similar structures exhibiting properties not aligned with the laws of universal gravitation, with some allowing personnel to walk upside down or vertically.
These attributes make it significantly larger than its exterior and difficult to explore and map. Covering much of its interior surface, ranging from the floor to the ceiling, are dark green, flesh-like veins. They average 0.25-meter in circumference and periodically exude a clear-watery liquid. Analysis of the liquid found it to be in similar make-up to human cerebral fluid.
SCP-5585-1 denotes translucent humanoids of varying sizes and shapes that reside in SCP-5585; these entities' physical appearances have been described as "foggy," and have no distinguishable features save for faint green glowing marks in place of their eyes. They wander aimlessly, with no clear destination or goal, and display incorporeal properties such as passing through physical objects including personnel, sinking into the ground, floating in the air, and spontaneously disappearing and reappearing. The exact number of SCP-5585-1 instances are currently unknown but twelve unique variants have been discovered.
Addendum.5585 History:
SCP-5585 was built in 1754 and served as the generational home of the main branch of the neutralized Group of Interest "Salem Family". The Salems were a powerful and influential group of psychics that delved into mainstream and occult sciences, and would often search out and steal anomalies to further their endeavors. They were known to be eccentric and devoted in their ideology of "self-perfection", with accounts from several organizations and Persons of Interest stating the Salems constantly delved into self-experimentation to heighten or change their psionic abilities, sometimes resulting in mutilation or death. Other accounts suggest they would also kidnap individuals for these experiments, particularly those with psionic abilities, for physiological study and breeding purposes.
Near the 1850s, however, the main family and its branches started to suffer from unknown brain and nervous system ailments that killed them at an increasing rate. In the early 20th century, only 35% of the family were still alive. Due to this, most of their international activities ceased as they slowly secluded themselves.
In 1954, one of the few remaining living members of the Salem Family and the last owner of the Salem estate, Joshua Salem, began to become active in certain social circles and institutes and participated in subjects pertaining to biology, psychology, and neuroscience. Over the course of his career, he published several noteworthy papers on these topics and was most known for his discovery of a tumor-like mass of undifferentiated cells that presided inside the brains of 85% of known psychics. Later on, he was scouted and then hired by the Pentagram and worked with them between 1958 to 1964.
In 1968, due to his expertise in dealing with psionics and his past neutral encounters with the Foundation, he was offered a position within the organization. This was turned down and Salem continued his solitary research until 1969 when he fired all the caretakers of his estate and secluded himself and his child, Wiliia. Joshua Salem would later die in 1974 when his home caught fire, killing all persons inside. Local eyewitnesses' reports claim the fire was white and moved "as if it were alive". The fire itself caused superficial damage to the building and little to the surrounding area.
Shortly after, forces from the Pentagram took control of the estate for five days before leaving and relinquishing it into Foundation custody. During this acquisition, documents pertaining to their operations with Joshua Salem and SCP-5585 were given to the Foundation as a sign of good faith. These documents, however, were heavily redacted and provided contradictory and vague information.
For a full list consult supplementary Document 5585 Pentagram-Foundation Relation.
Document 5585-5f:
Subject: Retrieval of components for PROJECT "████ ████".
Background: Joshua Salem was an integral part of ████ ████ and continued to participate in its development for several years after his termination of employment, in return for assistance in transporting live specimens to his estate. However, the promised delivery of ████████, ████, and ██████ from him after the assistance was made was not completed. This delay has persisted for six months and contact with Joshua is lost.
An operational force will be developed to retrieve said items and acquire Joshua Salem for questioning. Caution is heavily suggested; he has participated in several US sponsored combat operations and has proven competent.
Status: [CLASSIFIED]
Document 5585-12D:
Accounts from Agent Zion described the interior as displaying little coherence when compared to normal baseline-reality laws, and was filled with hostile chimeric and humanoid entities. Stated, "The walls were gnawing at us from behind while a giant hand plucked men from the air and dragged them into the dark". Zion noted that there was an artificial sky present filled with flying creatures that actively hunted their group. When he believed they reached the center of the building, he said there was a pit that "spewed" a presence of great malice. Other accounts share similar experiences.
Approximately three hours following initial entry, Joshua Salem (accounts of this vary) was found; upon questioning, he divulged the location of the sought-after components. Due to the completion of the original mission, the capture of Joshua Salem was not pursued.
Document 5585-2H:
Prior to Joshua Salem's termination of employment, he was questioned by an operative on his theories about PROJECT "████ ████".
It is very particular why you are still focusing on the why. Honestly, it does not matter. The how is much more interesting— it will reveal motive, morality, and purpose. But, I digress.
Given our current perception I believe they sought an out. They wanted to live in a world away from reality. A kingdom made of their own desires. A hedonistic plan designed by hedonistic people. But the framework is marvelous. To think they would have the capabilities or foresight to create a such thing. If committed by a less selfish, more desirable people, it could be used as a tool to delve deeper into the so-called truth of reality and explore its mechanisms thoroughly.
Indeed, its potential is limitless…
Addendum.5585 Exploration:
While researching new methods of exploring SCP-5585, a new property of the anomaly was discovered. A transparent, dust-like substance, hereafter designated as SCP-5585-2, was found to be lightly concentrated around the perimeter of the structure and heavily inside its interior. It is produced by the veins inside SCP-5585 and possesses reality-disfiguring properties; it is also believed to be the most likely cause of SCP-5585's anomaly.
SCP-5585-2 effects are theorized to work on the principles of "anchoring". Anchoring is the concept of an ontokinetic entity, or in this case a substance, that becomes embedded within the object in not just a physical sense, but a metaphysical one as well. Ultimately strengthening its influences while at the same time restricting it inside a certain space.
How this occurred to SCP-5585 is unknown but it should be noted it has a similar behavior when compared to nymph clusters abilities, including its strengths and weaknesses. Its influence is partially negated when pertaining to an object not originating from SCP-5585 and entirely neutralized when removed from its normal perimeter.
This discovery eventually led to the creation of the Force-Euclidian Hazard Suit (FEHS), which would negate SCP-5585's most egregious distortions and allow semi-normal travel.
Due to Doctor Martin Breen's experience with similar anomalies and his role in developing the FEHS, he was chosen to lead an exploration into SCP-5585 while accompanied by three assistants.
Due to the malfunctioning of our recorders for most of the exploration and the unforeseen events that occurred, I, the head of this team, Martin Breen, will try my best to transcribe what we found.
The FEHSs proved excellent. The space-time anomaly inside SCP-5585 had little effect on us, and although it still held most of its properties, travel was no longer hindered. Walls disappeared when touched and hallways that seemed to go on forever became normalized. With each step, we destroyed the layers and laws of SCP-5585 and imposed our own.
The further we explored, the duller the interior became. Colors turned monotone with each passing corner, rooms became more simplistic in design and composition, hallways looked plainer and less extravagant; even the air, which in previous expeditions was noted to have a slight "glimmer" to it, was beginning to look plainer and darker in some areas. When we tried to conduct some testing on the -1 instances, that, too, proved fruitless. Their nature, combined with the FEHS negation, made it impossible. Recalling the Pentagram documents for guidance was also disappointing; none of these creatures or major reality corruptions cited in their documents were encountered. In truth, the majority of this journey was unimpactful.
But as we continued, there was this loud, splashing sound—like a body falling into a pool of water. It came from behind, and when we looked back our pathway was gone. In its place was a wall made of a patchwork of veins; they drip cerebral fluid, and, in its cracks, glimmers of light could be seen. We tore down these veins, each layer becoming thinner than the last and with the final tear, it revealed a void of white. On the ground was an inch of clear liquid, but no reflection came from it.
When I looked around me, I found that my men were gone, but I was not alone. In the distance, directly in front of me, was a man sitting at a table surrounded by groomed and maintained greenery. As I approached, the image became clearer. The greenery was still mostly the same but for the man, his upper head was covered in this device. It was circular and made of an array of wires and plugs. In some places, I could see electricity spark. He was sitting at a table with a stack of papers that contained numbers held within strange symbols. The Salem Family's emblem was on the top right corner of each page.
When he was done writing, he gestured for me to come closer. He claimed to be Joshua Salem and exclaimed that he was eager to talk to me. The whole He was quite animated during the whole ordeal. He told me they were fine, and that they were still here. I tried to glean more answers from him but it soon became a back-and-forth of trading information. I took some liberties in revealing our purpose here—nothing too much to compromise our mission. Although, midway, he figured me to be from the Foundation, naming former employees, some of whom I even knew.
It was sometime during this conversation, however, that my recorder began to function. Below, I transcribed what I could from our interaction.
[BEGIN LOG]
Doctor Breen is standing while conversing with SCP-5585-A, who is seated.
Dr. Breen: What prevented you from joining us then? If you had no grievances with the Foundation, what stopped you?
SCP-5585-A: Work. [Spreads its arms in a grandiose manner.] Our work needed to be completed. How can I ever stop that for something as an earthly position?
Dr. Breen: And what does this work entail?
SCP-5585-A: It entails a new beginning, Doctor Breen.
Dr. Breen: A 'new beginning' of what? Does it have any explanation for this [Gestures around him.] place and how my men are here but not here as you say?
SCP-5585-A: Indeed. Tell me, what do you see?
Dr. Breen: A void. A desolate place filled with nothing but shrubs and a man claiming to be Joshua Salem.
SCP-5585-A: Is that all?
Dr. Breen: Am I supposed to see something different?
SCP-5585-A: No, no, no, all interpretations are valid. We are simply on different lines of existence. You and I share the same space, but we are not in the same space. Do you understand?
Dr. Breen: Like overlapping realities?
SCP-5585: Correct! You're not supposed to be able to meet me, let alone converse with me, but you broke that wall with those suits of yours. Simply marvelous.
Dr. Breen: But how is that possible? In the small confines of a building, that would require an enormous amount of power to produce and contain simultaneously.
SCP-5585-A: In a limited world, yes. Elsewhere, it is much more practical. What is your take on dreams, Doctor Breen?
Dr. Breen: Dreams? Hmm, I suppose they are the by-product of an organism gaining sapience and self-awareness. When the mind is dormant it has nothing else but to imagine. Whether that be due to survival or boredom. Waste products of a healthy mind.
SCP-5585-A: A myopic view, Doctor, a myopic view. [Begins to stand and walk around the area.] Yes, dreams are the waste of a superior mind, but they don't have to remain as they are. They can be so much more. They can become physical vectors in our constrained reality. When you think energy is required to form a thought; it is the same as when you dream. For that's what they are, tiny realities formed by energies within the mind. And within that visage of a world comes knowledge. The one who takes a piece of that essence from himself would unlock a new perception of what is and what is not.
Now imagine, what would happen if one was to take that from multiple people.
Dr. Breen: Are you saying this is a dream?
SCP-5585-A: You're trying to get to the point so quickly. I wish you weren't in such a hurry. The Americans, despite their ambitions, are so shortsighted because of it. But, you may think of it like that. When you came here, you all went to the different versions of this place made by your own perception.
Dr. Breen: Then what about you? How are you and I in the same space then?
SCP-5585-A: We are above that now; entering worlds of limited minds is child's play.
Dr. Breen: We?
SCP-5585-A: Oh, my apologies, the other one here is my daughter. Given your condition, it makes sense you couldn't see her.
Dr. Breen: Your daughter? What are you talking about?
SCP-5585-A: My, that information must make you uneasy. You cannot see her without assistance.
In the distance, a sudden splashing sound is heard, startling all personnel present. This sound continues to repeat, with growing intensity.
Dr. Breen: What was that?
SCP-5585-A: Do you want to know? Do you want to see her, Doctor? I can show you a glimpse.
SCP-5585-A reaches their hand in the open air and pulls. From this action, a door-shaped portal to a featureless black space is opened. SCP-5585-A gestures their hand and Doctor Breen walks alongside them into the space. In it, nothing but the activated flashlight produced from Doctor Breen's suit is discerned.
Dr. Breen: What is this place?
SCP-5585-A: My daughter's domain. She has so much work to do nowadays. If only I could do more. Ah. Such is the fate of the talented.
A gurgling noise is heard which is followed by continuous splashing sounds.
Dr. Breen: What is that? Salem, what is that?
SCP-5585-A: Do not travel far, Doctor. It seems she does not want you here. So curious and violent that one is.
Dr. Breen: I don't understand any of this.
SCP-5585-A: Your confusion is warranted, but you must know old thinking will not work here. A dream is closer to the truth than the waking world. For within it, we can taper the lens of our limited perception. Revealing old and destroyed ideas. Knowledge that was not originally meant for our minds.
Once that is known and accepted everything else will come naturally.
Another splashing sound is heard behind Doctor Breen. Upon inspection, a human cadaver facing upwards is seen behind him covered with veins. Facial recognition confirms the person to be a Pentagram operative. In the distance, a large, unknown mass begins to form out of the ground and begins to spread and advance forward to them.
Dr. Breen: God…
The footage then begins to distort and break down, showing the void and SCP-5585-A to be moving further and further away.
Dr. Breen: Wait, I have more questions!
SCP-5585-A: Indeed, but there will be no point of them if you're dead.
[END LOG]
At this point, everything around me began to swirl and dissipate until I was back where this journey started. Salem and his void were gone and around me were my men. I decide to abort the mission immediately, and not try to discover what that warning was. Not yet, at least.
Upon debriefing, the three personnel that accompanied Doctor Breen stated that they were alone in separate white voids for the same amount of time as each other, before the space around them began to grow unstable and they were transported to the front entrance. None reported any meetings with SCP-5585-A.
The exploration was deemed a success due to the FEHS functionality and the discovery of SCP-5585-A. After a few days of deliberation, Doctor Breen requested a second excursion to obtain more information from SCP-5585-A, stating its behavior seems benevolent and that further questioning could reveal more about SCP-5585. This request was later accepted.
The interior was changed dramatically. Instead of encountering the usual spatial distortions, there was a single, long hallway presented to us, with the veins congregating on its sides. The -1 instances were also more active than last time — they walked up and down the corridor without stopping, and would move away when one of us got too close.
When we reached the end, Salem was standing at the entrance of a wide decorated room. A massive chandelier could be seen dangling in the air behind him. He told us to follow, and when I asked why he couldn’t do this before he replied that things have changed. He did not divulge any further. Salem guided us through new, unexplored areas of SCP-5585, the world around us warping and changing as we marched onward. For formatting purposes, I have categorized the places we visited for easier documentation.
AREA-LIBRARY:
The first place we entered was a collection of items and books, all held within extravagant and masterfully crafted shelves and cases. Salem stated that this was his family's personnel collection, carefully curated over the centuries. I ordered my men to disperse, and document anything worth noting. I stayed with Salem and discussed the history of this depository of knowledge.
He spoke of his family's tours through the Old World in search of treasures and the encounters they had with the other psychic families, specifically the Maruses and Dagas, whose abilities and influence often made them enemies with his own. Tales of when his grandfather was stranded in an alternate timeline where Rome and Carthage never fell and now held dominion over a scorched world. He told me all these stories were contained here, written and stored by his ancestors before their sickness came. When I began reading, I found the Salems were meticulous when it came to organizing, specifically with their own history. Looking back further in their annals, I found old parchments stated to be from the 12th century. In the future, it would behoove us to develop a way to copy these texts for future study.
AREA-LABORATORY:
Before we entered, we passed several rooms with doors that held a single square glass window on top of their frame, peering into them revealed these entities—some were humanoid, most were amalgamations of things— organic and non-organic. When I questioned Salem about this, he told me they were "ghosts" of past endeavors similar to the ones we encountered at the entrance. It wasn't until later that I fully understood what this meant.
At the end of our travels, the path was stopped by a metal door. It had rust and dents across it, with stains covering the window. The interior, however, was much more pleasing; it contained a variety of pristine tools, instruments, and technology. In its center was a giant, bronze model of a human brain. Throughout its structure, electricity constantly ran around it. Inspection of the rest of the devices revealed to be made from some type of alloy I never encountered before. It was smooth and flexible, yet durable. Its structure perplexed me before I remembered that in the library a document explained that the Salems discovered a way to use their psionic abilities to create an alloy suited to their peculiar needs. A metal that would only work under certain circumstances, secrets that can only be unlocked by a Salem. It was a pity; a whole subdivision of sciences was created by psionics, and we couldn't even use it.
AREA-MORGUE:
Our final stop was a staircase that led to a pit. It was an open space room; within it were humans suspended in oversized glass jars. The jar's edges were stained and the liquid they were in was murky. Their bodies were bloated and their scalps were removed. Their brains glowed as they slumbered. They were set in parallel rows and numbered in the dozens. Most of their faces, I didn't recognize, but those I did were known Salems. He told me that this was where the true work was made, where their "masterpiece" was kept. In front of us was one of the -1 instances, or ghosts emerged from the floor and entered one of the bodies stuck in the jar, while another left a body beside it and wandered off into the dark. When Salem was questioned about this, he said:
"Vagabonds. They had no future, not for themselves or anyone else. They roamed the earth without purpose. But they were soon found in my keep, and I gave them an opportunity to rise with us."
I then asked how this related to the work he spoke of:
"I told you before that dreams are just power and knowledge within ourselves. But I never told you where it comes from. All thoughts come from an absolute and the more thoughts, or dreams, you control and hold, you perceive, the closer you get to it. Within the Absolute is all knowledge, all ideas from which the universe spawns. It is what my family has been striving for over three hundred years— to reach the ceiling of perfection and bring its majesty upon ourselves. For what do you call a man who has all knowledge?"
He continued to speak of this subject for quite some time, never stopping even after an apparition walked through him to enter its jar behind him.
After this, we delved deeper into this morgue, I noticed for a second time my men disappeared and my recorders started to function. I theorized that the void before and this area may be closer to our baseline reality than it originally seems.
[BEGIN LOG]
SCP-5585-A: You look distraught, Doctor Breen. Are the humans of concern? Do not worry, I did not make use of them against their will. In fact, they gladly accepted my offer.
Dr. Breen: I find it hard to believe that anyone would willingly subject themselves to this.
SCP-5585-A: They are in no pain. They are between worlds now. The dreaming and waking.
Dr. Breen: And what of the other Salems?
SCP-5585-A: What of my family? They were most supportive of this endeavor. In the great past, before the Salems were even thought of, psychics were known as "new minds". The heirs of the future and the beginning of a new paradigm. As you look upon the world now, you can see that to be clearly false. As time went on, natural psychic births dwindled. My forefathers, fearing the end, tried to stop it, and they succeeded. They even increased our potential tenfold in the process. Until the sickness came.
It devoured us. Turned our own bodies into our tombs. Our gifts into our curses. When I was just a boy, my cousin awoke one day to find he could make a star in the palm of his hand. A month later his body was a bloated mess spouting green pus from every new hole on his body. The world around him shifted to his maddened desires and had to be put down by my father and uncle.
But now, that is over. We are so close, so close. Our work is almost complete, Doctor Breen. The curse of the flesh will no longer hinder our pursuits. Yes, indeed, maybe now, you can see it. Willia! May you please show us?
The area begins to show seismic activity before it is overlapped by a blanket of shadows. The scenery is completely changed, and they stand in complete darkness. As they move, the splashing of water can be heard with each step.
SCP-5585-A: Though you cannot see her, she sees you, always, and is very wary of strangers. If it's in you, please forget that last encounter. She's always working ever since she got sick and seldomly stops.
Dr. Breen: How old is she? Our records tell us that she can't be older than ten.
SCP-5585-A: Ten is correct. Don't be fooled though. She was born with the spirit of a scientist. In different circumstances, she would have been a prodigy. If only she had more time. But that's neither here nor there. It won't matter soon anyway.
As they continue to walk, a small humanoid is seen crouched on the ground with its back showing.
SCP-5585-A: Still shy I see. Do not fear, Willia, this man is a scholar, like us, and yearns for more understanding.
The humanoid lifts its head, revealing an enlarged brain emitting a green hue. Missing pieces and incisions can be seen across it.
Dr. Breen: You… did that?
SCP-5585-A: I had no choice, doctor. No matter what I did or say, she wouldn't let up. She kept insisting that I do it. That I make her the bearer and foundation of our work. And sadly, I had to to yield. She was correct. There was no other way and her abilities far surpassed me and any other Salem, even before the sickness. It pained me to do it, but sacrifices had to be made by all of us for this to succeed. [Caress its upper face, touching its plugs and wires.] Great things do not come willingly.
SCP-5585-A: [Walks closer to the small humanoid entity, now designated as SCP-5585-B.] The dreams are tamed and all that remains now is time. Willia has done excellent, indeed, her methods are undeniably marvelous.
Dr. Breen: When will this happen, Salem?
SCP-5585-A: [Turns to Doctor Breen.] Don't worry, nothing of permanent harm would come to you or the Foundation. I wish I could show you personally, so you may witness it in all of its brilliance.
[END LOG]
My suit at the time began to indicate re-charging and I decided to abort the mission. It is also to be noted to document any changes from SCP-5585 and SCP-5585-2 no matter the scale. If Salem is telling the truth, I want to be one of the first to know it.
The information obtained from the expeditions done by Doctor Breen and his team, and the Pentagram documents, showed that SCP-5585 and its properties were unpredictable; due to this, all further explorations were postponed.
Doctor Breen actively protested this action and stated that more information could still be learned from SCP-5585. Shortly after, the Director of Site-17 and current overseer of Provisional Site-55 declared that Doctor Breen and his team would be transferred to another project to help develop a mechanism similar to the FEHS for combative purposes. All envoys from Doctor Breen pertaining to this issue afterward were subsequently ignored; shortly after, he was later given a cease and desist order.
Addendum.5585 Supplementary Investigation:
In the attempt to garner more information on SCP-5585, the Salems found in the second expedition were sought after. One individual identified in the second log, Nicholas Salem, was last reported to be in a compound located in rural Norway. Investigation into the compound found it to be in a state of disarray, with chemical bottles and medical instruments covered in a green biological substance scattered throughout it. In the basement of the compound were the partially decomposed bodies of thirteen people including Nicholas; all were confirmed to be Salems.
They were found to be sprawled across the ground in a pool of cerebral fluid, with glass capsules beside each of them except for one. This individual was seated in a chair and suffered a gunshot wound through the heart. Beneath their chair was a glass capsule similar to the others, and contained dark green brain tissue, alongside it was a water-damaged letter identified to be by Joshua Salem.
Heirs of the Salem Legacy, I call upon you once more for the making of our greatest achievement, the Magnus Opus of our family.
I have given proof of our works in the past years and I and Willia have upheld our bargain. Now, it is time to do your part. Negligence from you will no longer be ignored. Below, I have given instructions. Do not deviate from them.
1. Consume the brain matter. It is of Willia but it contains the key to the Absolute. Our blood ties are strong but still so far apart. This will close the gap.
2. Destroy all your familiars. We need ourselves to be whole, splintering your consciousness will no longer do.
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]
12. Find a means to end your life.
The failures of the past have finally caught up to us. Our ancestors are dead, and we are the ones left. We must expand our view of life and death and embark on the journey that will grant us freedom. We must come closer to the Absolute to unlock ourselves. We must all join the Dream and rise.
No more will the Salems die. From here on now, we become immortalized!
Throughout the structure, other letters of similar subjects were located, written by Joshua between the years 1966 and 1974.
Addendum.5585 Incident 01:
At 4:00 am, on October 28th, 1974, Doctor Martin Breen, taking advantage of his status and his knowledge of the guard's routine, stole a FEHS and entered SCP-5585 without authorization. Three hours after this event, Doctor Martin Breen exited the building before collapsing.
I want to put this on record that I did not act under any foreign influence, non-anomalous and anomalous alike. I did what I did in the pursuit of knowledge to benefit the Foundation of any threats.
When I entered SCP-5585, the space was in disorder. The rooms, stairways, walls, and every structure inside were either infused with another or simply destroyed, their scattered remains floating in the air. Even with the suit, I was having problems getting past these distortions. It was as if another layer of reality was placed upon me.
As I went deeper, the corruption became clearer. The ground was slowly disappearing, replaced with a greenish-blackish flesh that excreted fluid with each step. The air around me was filled with floating veins that moved and contorted with their own will. And the -1's, or ghosts, were missing throughout the entire journey. Until I found the hole. It banished light and consumed everything around it. Its shadowy tendrils were spread across the ground, pulling everything into its maw. It was a vortex of darkness. The only thing unaffected by it were the ghost around it; some stood beside it, others floated, but they all had their heads up, the green orbs in their heads shining brilliantly.
Salem then appeared to me in front of that pit and beckoned me to come with him. At the time, I still believed that FEHS would protect me, and that he was the only one who could give us answers to what was happening.
I followed.
He beckoned to come even closer and we passed through reality. We entered a void. It was dark, illuminated only by my suit and sparkles of light that glittered around us. He told me that they were done. That their work was finally complete, and he wanted to show someone of a similar soul what was going to happen. When I asked about his daughter, he claimed that he talked to her and that she finally accepted my presence. As we traveled in this glittering darkness, we found her. Upon closer look, she resembled more like a child than last time and had strands of her reaching her neck all while her brain remained exposed. They were crouched on the ground, with a pool of a frothing green liquid around them. When she turned, I saw her face was rotten, with flesh sagging at the sides and green puss pouring through her empty sockets and missing nose. In her hands, she clutched something. I veered closer and then she extended her arms, bony, gray, and disfigured, and open her palms. Contained within them was a formless mass of pure light. I reached further and touched it.
My mind was filled with scenes and emotions that swirled around me like a whirlwind. In them, I see Joshua engaging in his experiments as he ripped out others' minds to put them in their slumber. I see Willia change a flower into a glass with a touch of her finger before collapsing and vomiting.
I see Joshua packing the bodies of the deceased before stabbing himself with his instruments. I see Willia, dictating the plans for all of this; her drawings and the creation of these machines that she would use on herself all for the same purpose. I feel her fears, her desperation to avoid the fate of her ancestors. Then it all ends.
Both of the Salems looked at me and I saw what they saw. A speck of white light, Joshua's space, surrounded by a world of darkness. When I looked down, I saw that I kneel on nothing but air, and beneath me were monsters — a four-legged behemoth, its head removed and replaced with a sphere of arms and legs, a flock of flying chimeras that feed on the disfigured body of a walking giant, a dismembered head that chewed on its severed body— they were innumerable.
Joshua called it her menagerie. The menagerie of Dreams and Nightmares.
I ran and heard the cry of a beast. The girl wanted me dead after I rejected them and summoned her monstrosities. Joshua tried to call me, but I ignored him. I tore down the layers of this abyss bit by bit until I escaped the hole. But it was too late by then. The nightmares were unleashed.
After recovery, Doctor Breen showed signs of brain trauma, although no indicators of physical cause could be found, and had to be given heavy dosages of stimulants and painkillers to induce lucidness to acquire a report before he lost consciousness. Shortly after, Doctor Breen died due to a brain hemorrhage.
On 1974/11/04, SCP-5585-2's range of effect began to decrease to the point where all traces of it were gone from SCP-5585's exterior, resulting in its rapid deterioration. At this time, combat forces were requested to engage any possible threat created by SCP-5585.
Two hours after this abnormal behavior, the SCP-5585-2 range suddenly increased to the point of encompassing the entirety of Provisional Site-55. The area around the Site then began to experience seismic activity before SCP-5585 itself exploded outwards and a pillar of white light shot out from the center of its foundation, destroying the building in the process; the debris could be seen floating around the pillar.
Soon after, SCP-5585-A stepped out of the pillar of light, carrying a small humanoid in their arms. When Foundation personnel drew closer to them, a swarm of SCP-5585-1 instances emerged from the pillar and began to rapidly transform into giant, chimeric entities that attacked and dispelled all combative forces from the area.
SCP-5585-A begins to walk forward as more SCP-5585-1 instances emerge from the pillar and transform. Soon, the number of hostile entities reaches the hundreds, as the flying variants began to block out the sky. The Foundation forces that remained declared an Alpha Level Breach and requested immediate heavy combative assistance. However, SCP-5585-A raises their hand and looks up, their eyes glowing a green hue. The entities around the area halt in their activities before turning into a liquid-like substance and converging above SCP-5585-A into a singular shimmering, white sphere.
The reality around personnel then becomes unstable; objects begin distorting and gravity becomes inconsistent as personnel are seen floating in the sky while others hang on to debris for anchorage. SCP-5585-A then levitates into the sphere while waving its hand in a swaying motion, causing massive shockwaves to occur across the area as they disappear into it. Shortly after, the sphere begins to rapidly shrink, possessing a shimmering effect, before completely dissipating.
In the aftermath of this event, Foundation forces suffered 38 casualties, and 5 fatalities, several of whom suffered brain trauma from an unknown source. SCP-5585 was in ruins, with its foundation and support beams functionally destroyed. When an investigation was done on its remains, it was found that only small patches of SCP-5585-2 remained and that they were dissipating.
Addendum.5585 Log III Video Recovery:
When inspecting the FEHS of Doctor Martin Breen, it was found that his recording device was damaged by brute force. This was first thought to be the cause of hostile entities that were within SCP-5585, but upon further inspection, the suit was found to be damaged in only that area. After several hours of trying to fix the device, some footage was recovered.
[BEGIN LOG]
Doctor Breen: No… I refuse.
SCP-5585-A: Doctor Breen, it is too late for you. You have betrayed them in the highest order. They will either kill you or destroy your mind. But you knew this already. Indeed, why else would you come here?
Between them is SCP-5585-B who creates a gurgling sound while drawing on the ground with a black object. Doctor Breen stares at them for several seconds before looking down, revealing a horde of chimeric entities beneath him.
Doctor Breen: You said you'll tell me your secrets. Not to kill me!
SCP-5585-A: The process will be simple, a piece of your mind will be here as we leave this realm of flesh. While the rest of you will have no reconciliation. They will never know what you did. Not that it would matter.
Doctor Breen: It will still feel like dying. And how do you know this Absolute even exists? You know nothing. You're mad!
SCP-5585-A: I did not invent the Absolute, Doctor. It has always existed in the thoughts of men. I once asked you what do you call a man who has all knowledge, but you never answered. A man who has all knowledge is no longer a man, but an aspect of that knowledge now. For to have all knowledge you must be the beginning and the end, the all and not all. Some call that oblivion, the followers of Nälkä refer to it as Yaldabaoth, and we call it the Absolute. These ideas have always existed and I know they have for I've dreamt of them. And now we seek to look upon it with new perception and learn its majesties with glee.
That is the world awaiting you. Do you really wish to stay here and live with its primitive restraints? Surely, you must know you have no other choice.
Doctor Breen: You tricked me.
SCP-5585-A: I did not. Now, is this moment of despair over for you yet? If not, lets—
Doctor Breen: [Heavy Breathing] Stop. Just do it. But destroy this. [Points at FEHS's recorder].
SCP-5585-A: Still clinging to your ego? Very well. Willia.
SCP-5585-B stands up as veins begin to rapidly envelop Doctor Breen. Shortly after the recorder's view is obscured, screaming from Doctor Breen is heard.
SCP-5585-A: Welcome to the family.
[END LOG]
