by Scott Shoyer
Damien stayed hidden behind the thick tree about fifty feet away from where the odd ceremony was taking place. He saw Brandon, Judith, and Kristin and was glad they were unharmed. Unlike Brandon, the two women looked as though they were drugged. He watched as Brandon looked around and scanned the woods.
“I’m here, buddy,” Damien whispered. “I’m here.”
38
The High One could already feel a change in the air—in the clouds—as he and the others walked around the pentagon.
Th’ganoi zgwi’lth frlop’thulwm N’Xabez wshil’gahng t’nk.
Th’ganoi zgwi’lth frlop’thulwm N’Xabez wshil’gahng t’nk.
Th’ganoi zgwi’lth frlop’thulwm N’Xabez wshil’gahng t’nk.
The words had never held so much power as they did on this night. The other times the ceremony had been performed, the same words had been repeated, but Howard had doubted the Ancient One had heard them. The Elder was trapped between two worlds, and only when It had reached down and taken their offering had they known it could hear them.
This time, though, the ancient, antediluvian words had weight. They drifted up to the clouds and made the heavens rumble. The High One knew N’Xabez heard their every word, and he couldn’t help but laugh. If only those past patriarchs could see him now—see him and hear his words—they would all realize the power that coursed through their veins. As the words were spoken and the skies thundered, the blood in all the patriarchs became a weapon. The amorphous Thing in the sky was being born into the world, and it was words and blood that completed the ceremony.
After the High One hushed the others, Levi left his position to escort a woman into the center of the pentagram. The flickering candles created ominous shadows, but Judith followed the man’s commands. Her mind screamed to run away, but her muscles followed the man’s guiding hand toward the center of the symbol. She stood in place, eyes wide open, but not seeing anything.
“Oh, Great Elder One,” the High One said. “We bring you an offering to find your way into this world. For far too long you’ve belonged to two worlds while at the same time belonging to none. Find your way to our realm so that You, the Ancient One, may guide us through to the next millennia.”
The men stood looking at Judith, hoods still on and candles at their feet. No one said anything or dared move. Then, as quickly as the High One’s candle was extinguished, a hideous, swarthy tentacle shot from the skies towards the drugged woman.
“Release and unveil yourself, Elder One,” the High One shouted just as the large tentacle wrapped itself around Judith’s waist. The sudden violation shook the woman awake and she screamed at the tentacled invasion.
“Take her, Ancient One,” Howard shouted. “Take her unto the clouds.”
In the blink of an eye, Judith was gone. Nothing was left behind but the echo of her scream among the trees and in the men’s ears.
From behind the tree, Damien watched as the eldritch object snatched Judith from the clearing.
She was gone.
Damien knew time was running out and Brandon could be next. He pulled the gun out. He wished he hadn’t used two bullets to take out the old man, but he knew no matter how many bullets he had, it wouldn’t be enough against ‘The One in the Clouds.’
39
Brandon looked on in horror as the woman disappeared into the sky. He was glad Kristin was drugged, or whatever it was they’d done to her, so she didn’t realize her mother was dead.
Or that she was next.
Brandon struggled against the rope around his wrist as he looked all around. He noticed how still the robed men stood and thought it might be a smart idea to follow their lead. He began to rub the rope against the rough tree bark behind him, but the rope was too thick and the bark too dry to do any good.
“Our offering is but one of many!” the man called the High One said. “This world is yours, and everything and everyone in it yours as well. Find your way unto this realm. Follow the light of the Effulgent One, my Master.”
Brandon stopped moving as he realized the High One was talking about him. One of the men broke away from his spot on the pentagon and grabbed him. Brandon was escorted to the same spot that Judith had occupied just moments ago.
The dark skies suddenly took on a dark bluish hue. The clouds raced as if trying to get out of the way of something monstrous. A stench fell from the air and made everyone in the woods cough and gag. The noisome odor embraced them all in an oily, spectral embrace.
The High One stood, arms raised to the sky, and laughed maniacally. Brandon looked around at the others and saw the fear and uncertainty in their eyes. He tried to run, but was held in place by more than just fear. Brandon looked up and saw that a large hole had opened in the dark blue sky. There was a bright white light that beamed through the hole and upon the small clearing.
The light found Brandon, and as he was bathed within it, an iridescent glow surrounded him—like a beacon in a dark storm guiding ships from rocks and certain death. But Brandon couldn’t help but think that he was doing the opposite here and was guiding certain death not just to these woods, but the world itself.
The hole in the sky dilated as if some celestial womb was preparing to give birth to something indescribably large. The other men followed Brandon’s gaze and looked on as a skyscraper-sized tentacle ripped through the hole and slowly descended. Attached to the impossibly large appendage were smaller tentacles that explored and searched Its surroundings.
One of the robed men couldn’t contain himself and screamed as the tentacled appendage slowly drew nearer. One of the tentacles shot down and impaled the screaming man through his mouth and out the back of his neck. The end of the tentacle then expanded before tearing his head off. Before his lifeless form could hit the ground, another tentacle ripped through the dark night and snatched the body.
The High One stood at the point of the pentagon and laughed maniacally at the events unfolding. “Ph’nafh nagl'fhtagn has come… It is here!”
*****
Damien stood and watched as the man’s head was ripped from his body and looked on as the body disappeared into the sky.
He looked over and saw his son bathed in an iridescent glow from the hole in the sky.
Not caring about stealth anymore, Damien ran into the clearing with the gun aimed at the High One. “Let my son go, you son of a bitch!” he screamed at the High One.
“It is too late for that,” the High One laughed. “It has found the light. Your son is guiding the Ancient One.”
Another of the hooded men threw his hood off and went to run into the woods. He ran two steps before another squamous tentacle, this one thinner than the others, shot from the sky and severed the man’s feet above his ankles. Blood gushed from the stumps as the man shrieked in a high-pitched wail. Another thicker tentacle then grabbed the man by his bleeding legs and carried him up to the clouds and to his death.
*****
The remaining hooded men stood still, afraid to move. Thomas Harkshore and George Lindquist both knew they had become superfluous to what was now happening. Both men looked at each other as they realized Howard only wanted them present as offerings to the Ancient One.
‘The One in the Clouds’ was coming, and from the looks of what was happening, It would be in their realm soon. The blood links to the past meant nothing any longer. The patriarch legacy of the chosen bloodlines was no more. The Ancient One no longer needed it now that the Iridescent One was here.
Thomas and George shielded their eyes as they looked at Brandon. The boy looked as though he was on fire from the light, but he didn’t appear to be in any pain. They then looked at the boy’s father, who had a gun fixed on the High One.
“N’Xabez is coming!” Thomas screamed to George. “What the hell have we done? What have we been a part of?”
“This can’t be happening!” George screamed back. The sight they saw unfolding in front of them defied everything scientific in this world. Physics was being rewritten before them as N�
��Xabez revealed even more of itself.
“Don’t look at it!” Thomas screamed to George. The wind blew through the surrounding trees and created a deafening sound. This sound, though, was soothing compared to the noise emanating from the hole in the dark blue sky. Thomas tried to drown out the sound, but it violated his ears and senses. He could feel the noise in his bones and could even taste its foetid sound.
Thomas knew he was listening to the sound of madness itself.
George, ignoring Thomas’ words, looked into the sky and saw the source of the maddening noise. Thomas may have been listening to the sound of madness, but George was staring into Madness’ face.
Instantly, George’s mind snapped as more of N’Xabez revealed Itself. To see any one part of the Ancient One was to see It in Its entirety. George’s eyes were glued to the creature in the sky. Open-mouthed, George couldn’t comprehend what it was that he saw—couldn’t comprehend what kind of creature was emerging in the world. What he looked at was impossible, yet it was there. George’s mind couldn’t process what he saw, so it simply shut down.
George stood with his head up, mouth open. Drool dripped from the corners of his lips and his bowels voided themselves as he lost control of his bodily functions. Blood pooled from his eyes as he looked upon something Man was never meant to witness. Madness gripped George in its grasp, and there was no coming back from it.
Thomas saw that George was firmly in the grip of madness and screamed, but even they were not enough to quell the noise that came from ‘The One in the Clouds.’ Thomas kept screaming, hoping to drown out the noise. His voice became hoarse and his throat raw. Blood flowed from his ear drums as the noise from above claimed his sanity. With the madness creeping into Thomas’ head, he looked into the sky and saw the Ancient One as It continued to descend into the world.
The sights and sounds were too much for Thomas and he collapsed inside the pentagon design on the ground. He spasmed as his mind tried to understand what it heard and saw, but comprehension was not going to happen. Thomas joined George in the madness that was surely going to sweep across the Earth as N’Xabez made Itself known to humanity.
40
“That’s enough!” Damien shouted to Howard. “Let my son go!”
“Ha ha!” Howard shouted back. “You still think I am in control here, Damien? Look around you. No mortal is in control. Not anymore.”
Damien walked closer to Howard and pointed the gun at the High One’s head. “You have two choices,” Damien said, but was cut off before he could finish.
“What aren’t you getting here, Damien?” Howard asked. “It is over. Humanity now bows down to N’Xabez—‘The One in the Clouds.’”
Damien knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere with Howard. “Crazy son of a bitch,” Damien muttered. He then turned his gaze to his son and saw that Brandon didn’t appear to be in any pain, but also knew that whatever was going on wasn’t good. “Hold on, Brandon!” Damien yelled.
Damien then turned the gun and his gaze up and was confronted with the most frightening vision he could image. The creature was emerging from the gaping hole in the sky, and from what Damien could see—or not see—was that the hole looked as though it had opened up to another dimension.
Now there were two skyscraper-large objects descending from the hole, and Damien didn’t want to find out if they were connected to the same beast. Smaller, swarthy tentacles squirmed in every direction as they shot from the main appendage to explore Its new environment before being sucked back into the main structure.
Damien felt foolish as he aimed the gun at the amorphous creature and lowered it until it rested by his side. He stared into the creature—‘The One in the Clouds.’
Damien stared deeply into what he thought might be one of the creature’s eyes. “N’Xabez,” Damien said out loud. He felt his blood coursing through his veins, his heartbeat, and every other one of his bodily processes. The air that filled and left his lungs; the bile in his stomach breaking down and digesting food; the synapses firing in his head.
Damien stared into the shapeless eyes of the Elder God and wasn’t instantly overcome by madness.
You are finally here, a voice suddenly spoke in his head. The voice was dark and Damien could feel the pressure in his head when It spoke to him. It was like a palpable blackness that filled his head.
“What are you?” Damien asked. “Why are you doing this? Why did you destroy my family?”
The Elder God laughed, and Damien thought he would throw up. It was a stygian laughter that had no humor behind it. You are here because of your blood, N’Xabez hissed. You of the clan Squire are the lost bloodline that I’ve searched two worlds for. You are the most powerful of the bloodlines—the only bloodline that could guide me here.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Damien asked as he held his head. With every word N’Xabez spoke it felt like metal spikes were being pounded into his brain.
You’ve always had the darkness inside you, Squire, N’Xabez continued. Your suicide attempt opened your soul to me and made it easy to find you. After that day, you longed to once again embrace the darkness. N’Xabez paused. Your bloodline is special, N’Xabez finally said before projecting images into Damien’s mind.
Damien saw flashes of an ancient past and an ancient, foreign world that somehow felt familiar to him.
Rememberrrrrrr, N’Xabez hissed.
In small fragments, Damien saw a group of people escaping that alien world through a portal; saw them arrive in a new world—Earth; saw as they tried to forget their past and mixed their blood with the indigenous occupants of their new home. But try as they did to dilute their blood, it was too resilient to be thinned out. New bloodlines were created from their interbreeding-new bloodlines that N’Xabez would ultimately be able to track.
Damien then saw flashes of how N’Xabez had used that same portal to establish a connection to this realm, and then ultimately gather the bloodlines in this location—the nexus of the portal.
But the originators of the bloodline-the Squires-had learned to mask their ancestry and were able to resist the Call of N’Xabez.
Centuries—eons—I’ve waited for this moment, N’Xabez continued. Your blood is as strong in you and your son as it was in your original ancestors who fled to this world, but I was patient. I waited.
Now it is my time.
“Nooooo!” Damien screamed as he dropped the gun and covered his ears. “Let my son go!”
Here, N’Xabez offered. Here is what your blood legacy will be.
With that, N’Xabez projected more images of the things to come. A blackened Earth full of death filled Damien’s mind. The oceans and land and skies were transformed by the Elder One to better suit Itself, Its rule, and more of Its kind-a world where madness spread like the common cold and the lucky ones died quickly. Humans were now farmed and harvested to be food and slaves for their New Gods.
Damien collapsed on all fours as the visions violated his mind. “I…I won’t let you,” Damien said as he tried to shake the images from his mind.
Let me? N’Xabez asked, amused. You made this all possible. The moment your ancestors escaped to this realm, this was the obvious conclusion. I now have the light to guide me.
*****
The High One—Howard—looked on as Damien collapsed to the ground.
“That is impossible,” Howard said. He watched as Damien spoke to the Ancient One and then paused as he assumed the Ancient One was talking back to him. “How could he not be consumed with madness?” Howard asked. “He looked directly at N’Xabez, and the Ancient One is inside his head.”
Howard looked over at Brandon and saw the light was shining even brighter. Howard started to connect the dots and realized that ‘The One in the Clouds’ had used Howard and the others to locate the Squire bloodline. Howard went pale as he realized that he wasn’t special, but just a pawn in the Ancient One’s plan to occupy this realm.
Fear consumed Howard as he realized that d
eath and madness were his future. He fixed his gaze on Brandon and charged toward him. If he wasn’t to be a priest in the new world, then he’d be this world’s savior. He picked up speed as he approached the glowing boy. He gritted his teeth and prepared for impact. He leapt forward and attempted to tackle him. When he made contact, it felt as though he smashed into a brick wall. The Iridescent One didn’t budge, and Howard was sure that he’d broken a few ribs upon impact. He slid to the ground and lay at the boy’s feet.
Howard felt the warmth from the light being absorbed and redirected from the boy, and as he lay there, trying to breath with a chest full of broken ribs, the warmth grew in intensity. The boy acted as though nothing had happened and that Howard wasn’t even there.
The heat grew around Howard’s body. The part of his robe that was in contact with Brandon’s body ignited and the flames slowly crawled up the sleeves. Howard felt the skin on his arms begin to blister as the flames engulfed his body. Howard screamed as the flames charred the skin on his legs and he felt his eyeballs boil and explode in his head. Mercifully, the fires consumed his body and Howard lost consciousness, but not before realizing he’d helped bring about the end of the world.
41
Damien watched as Howard collapsed next to his son and was then overcome with flames. Hearing Howard scream and watching as his body was incinerated was the shock Damien needed. He grabbed the gun off the ground and stood. He dared not look in the sky. He’d escaped madness once and didn’t want to test his luck. He knew N’Xabez was almost through the portal and could only think of one thing to do to prevent It from completely emerging.
He ran toward his son and got close enough to see into Brandon’s eyes. He could see his son, and knew that his son was still inside the blazing light that was guiding N’Xabez to Earth.
“Brandon!” Damien shouted. “Brandon! I know you’re in there! Please come back to me. You can shut off the light. You can stop this.”
