The Story
The Long Lost are interdimensional shapeshifters that traverse the galaxy via portals. While traveling on a mission to Earth to rescue friends imprisoned in Area 51, the Losties crash landed in a Blockbuster Video and the portal closed. Watching retro horror VHS tapes to gain intel on their new surroundings, they shapeshifted into Ghoul's, Skele's, Zombie's and Ghost's, mistaking these entities for the common people of Earth. The Losties are currently hiding in an unnamed city, figuring out ways to acquire portal fuel so they can eventually return to their own dimension.
The Breakout
We were alerted by Area 51 officials of a security breach. Unauthorized access of the facilities through bypassing security mechanisms, which resulted in the escape of over 10,000 prisoners. The prisoners exited through the side fence, by force, cutting through a section of the metal. Footprints found in close proximity lead us to believe that they fled into the Nevada Desert.
Portal Discovery
19 days after the Area 51 breach, we received multiple reports of a purple hue filling the sky during the early hours of the morning. No hard evidence was able to be obtained, however all reports were within a 60m proximity of each other. Investigating the area, we found a machine similar to an ATM with ‘Enter the Portal’ painted on the side and a clipping from a book detailing ‘how to access and extract physical and digital from the portal guardians’.
Two blocks north of the ATM machine location, a large clear plastic barrel of unidentified bubbling purple liquid and hand labeled ‘Portal Fuel’ was sighted. We have left the barrel where it was found and have set up 24/7 surveillance on it. Since the first sighting, the liquid's fill level has occasionally increased with no sighting of anyone filling it up. We continue to monitor this phenomenon and will take it in for testing in the coming weeks.
THE LOST RECORD STORE
After the discovery of the "portal fuel", there have been several sightings of Skeles, Ghouls, Ghosts, and Zombies reported surrounding the Los Angeles area. investigators conducted a thorough analysis of the their behavior and patterns. They discovered that the Losties showed a particular interest in hip hop music from the 90s. With this information, the team decided to visit a nearby hip hop record store, hoping to find clues or any connection to the Losties.
Upon arriving at the record store, the team noticed that the place was empty except for an old man sitting behind the counter. They approached him and asked if he had any knowledge of the Losties or had any clues that could help them uncover their whereabouts. The old man gave them a knowing grin and reached under the counter. He pulled out a dusty vinyl record jacket, with the words "THE NEW DAWN"written on it, and handed it to the team.
With trembling hands, they opened the jacket and found a hidden compartment with a small gold token inside. The token looked like it could be the missing piece that would unlock the secrets of the portal guardians. The team thanked the old man and quickly made their way back to the portal machine.
They inserted the token and a bright purple light engulfed them. When the light faded, they found themselves standing in front of a strange structure. It looked like a combination of a spaceship and a pyramid. There was no one in sight, but they sensed that they were being watched.
Suddenly, they heard a thumping bass sound from a loudspeaker and a voice welcoming them and inviting them inside. They cautiously approached the entrance and entered the structure. What they saw inside was beyond their wildest imagination. They were surrounded by advanced technology and beings unlike anything they had ever seen before.
The Losties, as they called themselves, had been given access to the vast knowledge of the portal guardians. The team spent months studying and learning from the Losties before returning to Earth, forever changed by their experience.
THE CULTURAL FUEL
Following the discovery of the portal machine, humanity believed the greatest mystery was where the portals led.
But after the team returned from their time with the Losties inside the pyramid spaceship, it became clear that the destination was never the real mystery. The real mystery was what powered them.
For months after the team’s return, scientists attempted to replicate the strange energy signature that opened the gateway. Nuclear reactors, quantum experiments, and particle accelerators produced nothing with the same effect. The portal activated under only one specific condition.
When people were watching.
Not just observing... Engaging.
The first clues actually appeared earlier, during the investigation at the hip hop record store. When music played inside the shop, sensors around the portal machine began to spike. When crowds gathered around the storefront after rumors of the strange ATM device spread online, the machine briefly pulsed with faint purple light. At the time it was dismissed as coincidence. But the Losties later confirmed what the investigators had unknowingly witnessed. The machine reacted to attention.
During the months the team spent aboard the pyramid ship, the Losties revealed the truth about portal technology, knowledge originally given to them by the Portal Guardians. The portals did not run on electricity. They ran on culture. Music. Images. Memes. Stories. Collective belief. The Losties had discovered long ago that human culture produces a unique form of dimensional energy.
Every song streamed.
Every image shared.
Every moment of viral attention.
Each one generates tiny fragments of energy. They called it Signal. Across centuries and across worlds, the Losties built systems designed to harvest Signal from civilizations connected to their networks. Entire realities unknowingly powered portal systems simply by creating and sharing culture with one another. The more attention something received, the more Signal it produced. And the portals became stronger. But there was a problem. Too much Signal destabilized the gateway. Civilizations capable of producing enormous bursts of cultural energy could tear open portals faster than they could be controlled. Entire dimensions had collapsed this way before. Which is why the Losties eventually developed a new system. Instead of harvesting Signal randomly, they began minting it into artifacts — objects designed to store concentrated cultural energy. Each artifact represented a fragment of attention, creativity, and collective imagination.These artifacts were known as Keys. To outsiders they looked like collectibles. But to the Losties, and to the investigators who had stood inside the pyramid ship and seen the portal engines themselves, they were something much more valuable.They were portal fuel.
And somewhere within the network of worlds connected by the machine, a new generation of Losties had begun creating the most powerful Keys ever produced. Keys forged directly from the culture of Earth.