SCP-███ — We Were Merely Next In Line

SCP- No (TOP SECRET)

[Discussion of this anomaly is strictly prohibited]

Humanity does not discover certain things.

Some things...

are only found again.

According to a deleted report from the SCP Foundation archives, the first contact occurred during an excavation.

Location: [DATA EXPUNGED]

Depth: Far below sea level

What was discovered was neither a machine...

nor a living organism.

And yet...

it emitted energy.

During the first test, no connection was established.

There were no cables.

No circuits.

Yet a device placed inside the chamber...

suddenly activated.

The phenomenon repeated.

Again.

And again.

Eventually, researchers reached a disturbing conclusion:

It was not generating energy.

The energy was simply... coming from it.

After the discovery, ancient texts were reexamined.

Fragments believed to originate from Atlantis were recovered.

Incomplete.

Broken.

Burned.

As if someone had deliberately destroyed them.

When the surviving pieces were assembled, the same phrases appeared repeatedly:

"...light..."

"...remain above..."

"...balance..."

And hidden between the lines was a single recurring word:

"...energe..."

"...geia..."

Its full name was never written.

As if...

someone had intentionally left it unfinished.

The tablets spoke of a city.

But not as a city.

Atlantis:

It stood above the sea.

It generated its own light.

There was no difference between day and night.

But the most intriguing detail was this:

At the center of the city stood a place that led downward.

The texts never described what was below.

They only offered a warning:

"Those who descend... no longer belong above."

Another fragment read:

"The light does not belong to us."

"We belong to it."

As the records progressed, their tone changed.

The earliest tablets spoke of hope.

Of salvation.

Of ascension.

The later ones spoke only of fear.

Missing names.

Erased histories.

Vanishing people.

One of the final fragments stated:

"The balance is failing."

"It demands more."

And then came the last recorded warning:

"Extinguish the light."

But they never did.

Because another fragment carried a different message:

"If it goes out... we fall."

And eventually...

they did.

The fall of Atlantis was no longer a mystery.

It was a consequence.

The Foundation brought it back to the surface.

And repeated the same mistake.

New facilities were constructed.

Deep underground.

Without windows.

Without sunlight.

Every one of them...

connected to it.

At first, everything seemed perfect.

Unlimited energy.

Stable systems.

SCP containment operating at peak efficiency.

Then the first disappearance occurred.

A technician.

No death record.

No departure record.

Entered the facility...

never emerged.

Then a security officer vanished.

Then two researchers.

Then more.

The pattern became impossible to ignore:

As energy output increased...

personnel losses increased as well.

A data analyst eventually attached a note to the report:

"This may not be production."

"It may be conversion."

Attempts were made to halt the experiments.

For the first time...

the system was shut down.

Only for a few seconds.

In those few seconds:

The entire facility was consumed by darkness.

Contained SCPs became active.

Security systems collapsed.

Emergency protocols failed.

And the recording devices captured only a single word:

"...cold..."

The system was immediately reactivated.

After that day, a decision was made:

The system would never be shut down again.

But that was not a solution.

Because now they understood the truth:

If the system remained active... people disappeared.

If the system stopped... everyone died.

A council was assembled.

Every alternative was considered.

Conventional power sources — insufficient.

SCP-based energy generation — even more dangerous.

Evacuation — impossible.

Every path led to the same conclusion:

A dead end.

The final surviving transcript from the meeting, recovered before deletion, contained a single statement:

"This is not a choice."

"It is merely deciding how we die."

After that day:

The SCP designation was removed.

Its name was erased.

Discussion of it was forbidden.

But the system is still running.

And sometimes...

when the lights flicker...

certain personnel report hearing the same words:

"It is calling me."

ADDENDUM — UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS

The final line recovered from the Atlantis records reads:

"We did not use it."

"We were merely next in line."

END OF FILE

It is not a power source.

It is not salvation.

It is not a weapon.

It is not a machine.

It is...

a balance.