by Scott Shoyer
It is you. You have come.
Brandon had tried to convince himself that what he experienced was only a dream, but the feeling in the pit of his stomach told him something else was going on.
It is you. You have come.
Madness wrapped itself around those words like a snake coiled around a rabbit. Brandon shook his head as he tried to forget about the sights he was shown last night, but his brain was no more an Etch-A-Sketch than those images were just dreams.
Damien followed the Sheriff’s car as it pulled off the main thruway and onto a dirt road. The trees in this area were thicker and denser than any other area they’d seen around Derleth.
“This section must be ancient,” Kate said. “I can’t find this road we’re on anywhere on the map.”
“Dad,” Brandon said from the back seat. “I don’t feel so hot. Can we just go back to the hotel?”
“What’s wrong, honey?” Kate asked as she turned around. She reached out and placed her hand on Brandon’s forehead. “You don’t feel warm.”
“It’s my stomach,” Brandon said. “Can we just go back to the hotel?”
“Absolutely, buddy,” Damien said. “But right now, I have no idea where I am. Just wait for Sheriff Landry to stop and I’ll ask him for the directions to get back to the hotel.”
Brandon sat back in his seat and watched the trees speed by the window. He wrapped his arms around his stomach and tried to relax. It felt as though something was gripping him from the inside and he couldn’t alleviate the sensation. He closed his eyes and tried to think about something else.
It is you. You have come.
Brandon jumped in his seat as his eyes bolted open.
“Whoa, whoa, honey,” Kate said as she unbuckled her seatbelt to get closer to Brandon. “Are you okay, sweetie?”
“No, Mom,” Brandon said as his insides felt like they were in a vise. “Something is wrong,” he said as he began to sweat. “Something isn’t right with this place. We shouldn’t be here. We’ve stayed away for so long. We shouldn’t be here.”
“What are you talking about, Brandon?” Damien asked. “We’ve stayed away from where?”
“Pull over, Dad. I’m going to be sick,” Brandon almost cried out.
Brandon kicked the door open the moment the car came to a halt and ran into the nearby woods.
“Is everything all right?” Brandon heard the sheriff ask over the sound of his retching. “Your boy sounds sick.”
“Yeah,” his mother then replied. “I think he’ll be okay. He must have had something bad to eat.” Brandon threw up what felt like two weeks’ worth of meals. He held on to one of the large trees as he felt a weakness creep through his body.
You have come home.
Brandon looked up and searched the area for the source of the voice, but found nothing in the dense trees.
You have come home to me.
Brandon closed his eyes tight and covered his ears with his hands. “I’m not hearing this!” he shouted into the woods. “I’m not listening to you!”
You cannot help but hear me, Squire. You belong here.
The words sliced into his head, and Brandon swore he smelled a similar stench he’d experienced during last night’s dreams.
“What the hell are you?” Brandon asked.
Your family has shunned me for hundreds of years, yet you have arrived. You are the one. It is you.
Every word that entered his head felt like a shard of jagged glass.
“I don’t understand you,” Brandon said as the pain grew more intense. “I don’t know what you want from me.”
I want passage.
*****
“I found him!” Damien yelled as he found Brandon curled up on the ground with his hands over his ears. “It’s okay, buddy. I’m here. I got you.”
Kate and Sheriff Landry ran to the spot and found Damien holding his son.
“What’s wrong with him?” Kate asked, panic in her voice.
“I don’t know,” Damien said. “But we need to get him back to town and to a doctor.”
“Let me help you get him up,” Sheriff Landry said as he bent down and grabbed Brandon under his arm. “Just follow me back to town. We’re only a few miles away.”
From the corner of his eye, Damien saw the sun glimmer off of something shiny, but was too slow to react. A nine-inch-long blade sliced through the air and slammed into the side of Kate’s head. A horrible cracking sound was heard as the blade penetrated Kate’s temple, through her head, and pinned her to a tree.
Blood spurted out around the fatal wound and both of Kate’s eyes bulged. She gasped for air as her body went limp, the blade being the only thing that kept her on her feet.
Damien watched in horror as his wife died in front of him.
Standing with his fist wrapped around the blade of the knife and breathing heavy, was a mysterious man who Damien hadn’t even heard approach their location.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, Howard?” Sheriff Landry shouted. “Why the fuck did you do that?”
Damien looked into the killer’s eyes and saw madness. It had been clear that the man Landry called “Howard” had been kissed by madness, and that Howard would never escape from its embrace. Howard stood there with his eyes wide open as he stared at the blood as it poured from the woman’s head wound. Damien noticed the whiteness of the man’s knuckles from where he tightly held the knife.
“Why the hell are you in your robe?” Landry asked. “That robe is only to be worn during the Circle of R’lyeh ceremonies.” Damien noticed the long robe and realized just how surreal everything had become. The robe was white with odd symbols of an ancient, perhaps alien, language all over it and on the red trim. Damien knew that those odd markings were somehow related to all the other ‘off’ stuff he had been experiencing since they arrived in town.
“This is what the Ancient One wants, Kane,” Howard said. “She is of no use. She is not of the bloodline.” Howard moved his arm as he tried to dislodge the blade from Kate’s head and the tree.
Damien saw the crazed look in Howard's eyes and didn’t want either himself or his son to be around when he freed the blade.
Brandon stared in horror at the sight of his dead mother with a knife impaled through her head. He felt his father tug at his arm and knew they needed to get away from whatever madness had unfolded before them.
Hunched over, Damien grabbed a nearby tree branch and swung it at Sheriff Landry and Howard as he stood. The force of the branch knocked the sheriff over and gave Damien the time he needed to get Brandon off the ground. Father and son ran into the dense woods away from the madness.
“Dad,” Brandon said as they ran. “What the hell were they talking about? What the hell is the Ancient One? Why did they kill Mom?” he asked as tears rolled down his face.
“I don’t know, Brandon,” Damien said. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I do know that we need to keep it together if we want to survive this. Right now, we need to just move and get the hell away from those maniacs. We just need to run.”
21
To the outsider, Yuggoth was always in chaos, but to its occupants it was a state that that world always experienced. But now everything was in disorder. The Ancient, Elder gods of all domains felt the changes. The dank air was heavier, the oceans more turbulent, the winds more violent.
One of the inhabitants of Yuggoth was attempting to break free—not just any resident, but one of the Elders. N’Xabez had been a part of Yuggoth for longer than most. To the lesser beings—those used as slaves and food—rumors had circulated that N’Xabez, “The One in the Clouds,” had been around at the creation of this world.
The rumors were not that far off.
N’Xabez had always been at the center of most of the uprisings that would plunge the alien world deeper into chaos through war, but N’Xabez had always respected The Law of Yuggoth. If, after a few hundred thousand years, Its rebellion was still raging on, then ‘The One
in the Clouds’ would return to the sky and let the Order re-establish itself.
This time, though, the energy in the air was not of an impending rebellion. Something else was going to happen, and all the Elder and lesser gods felt it. They also knew that N’Xabez was once again at the nexus of the disturbance.
Rumors among the lesser gods were that N’Xabez had found a way out and was making the final preparations to abandon Yuggoth for another realm called Earth. Details of how ‘The One in the Clouds’ was going to execute such a plan were sketchy, but the consensus was that The Ancient One would soon be gone from Yuggoth forever to rule over another realm and bring with It darkness and madness.
Some of the Elders scoffed at the idea of escape from their world and pointed out that many had thought they’d found passage to another realm only to find eternal darkness in another corner of the universe. Others yet were content enough to let N’Xabez leave Yuggoth. After eons of rebellions and wars directly caused by N’Xabez’s aggressions, they argued that Yuggoth would be better off. But, the Ancient gods argued, if N’Xabez mastered the ability to slide in and out of other realms at will, then no world, no matter how dark and violent, would be safe from N’Xabez’s reign.
The Elders argued for days, weeks, but the only thing they agreed upon was that N’Xabez had grown too powerful and too dark to be the ruler of any realm.
As the Ancient gods argued, N’Xabez put the final pieces of Its plan into motion. The others were fools, and even with their combined efforts were no match for the Ancient One’s strength. For N’Xabez had been planning Its escape for eons and had everything in place. The other fools had only just found out about Its plans and scrambled to prevent what was almost completed.
22
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Sheriff Landry screamed at Howard. “Do you understand what you’ve done?”
“Don’t you lecture me, you dime store security guard!” Howard shouted back. “You've overstepped your role in all of this. I am the goddamn High One and no one has a greater connection to the Ancient One than I do!” Howard pushed Landry’s hands off his robe and walked away from the woman pinned to the tree by his knife. “Your bloodline is only here to protect the secret. You have no idea what is going on here.”
“Okay, then,” Landry said. “How about you fill me in?”
Howard looked at the Sheriff and figured that it was harmless to fill him in on what he had been shown by the Ancient One. The plan was already in motion and nothing in this world could prevent it.
“Everyone in town has felt the changes over the last few weeks, even those with no blood invested in this town,” Howard explained. “There’s a big change coming not just our way, but for the world, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.” Howard walked back over to the tree and pulled his knife out of the woman’s head. The lifeless body fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
“What about her?” Sheriff Landry asked. “You don’t think the Ancient One would’ve preferred her as a sacrifice rather than as a casualty of your rage?”
“The One in the Clouds’ has no more need for silly sacrifices,” Howard said as he wiped the brains and blood off the blade. “N’Xabez has found a way into our world.”
The blood drained from Sheriff Landry’s face. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came. Finally, Landry managed to ask, “How? When I spoke to you earlier you didn’t seem to know anything.”
“After you left my place this morning,” Howard explained, “I had a visit from the Ancient One. N’Xabez showed me everything—made me feel everything.” Sheriff Landry just stared at the High One.
“We all know the story of how the Ancient One contacted the original six families after my ancestors first made contact with the Elder,” Howard continued. “It contacted them through dreams and guided them to this land we now stand on. But up until now, Its presence was fleeting. It was drifting between this realm and Its home realm, not able to call either Its true home.”
“But what about the sacrifices?” Sheriff Landry asked. “Surely it was physical when it took your offerings.”
“Temporarily physical,” Howard said. “It only had us performing those rituals and ceremonies with the hopes of finding permanent passage into this world.” Howard stood back up and slid the long blade back into the sheath. “It looks as though it found what It needed.”
“You’re serious,” Landry said as he stepped away from Howard. “That thing up there is going to be a permanent part of this world?”
“It is, Kane, and the sooner you accept N’Xabez’s rule, the better off you will be,” Howard said in an even tone. “I’m doing what I can to assist in the Elder’s transformation to this realm. I suggest you do what you can to help out. When the Ancient One is finally here, you’ll want to be on Its good side.”
“How?” Landry again asked. “What did you do differently?”
“It is nothing I or any of us did at any of the ceremonies,” Howard explained, “and it is not a ‘what’ that was discovered. It finally found what It had been looking for for hundreds of years.” Howard looked directly into Landry’s eye and said; “It found the Effulgent One.”
23
Damien and his son ran through the dense woods. Damien knew he needed to stop and try and get his bearings. They’d been running through the woods for the last twenty minutes without knowing what direction they’d traveled in. For all Damien knew, he could be leading himself and his son right back to where his wife was murdered.
Kate.
The only woman Damien had ever truly loved.
Gone forever.
Try as he might, Damien couldn’t get the vision of the knife being thrust into Kate’s skull out of his head. The horrible crunching sound as the blade cut through bone and cartilage, the sickening thump as the blade buried itself into the tree after passing through his wife’s head.
What the fuck is going on in this town? Damien thought as he dodged tree branches as they whizzed by his head. He felt as though he was in a bad horror film about a small town full of killers. He trusted no one and had no idea how he was going to get his son not only out of the woods, but away from Derleth.
“Hold on, Brandon,” Damien said through deep breaths. “Let’s stop for a second.”
“Do you think it’s safe, Dad?” Brandon asked. “How far away do you think we ran?”
“We’ve been running for about twenty minutes,” Damien answered. Damien leaned against a tree to catch his breath.
“Dad,” Brandon said, his eyes fixed on his father. “What the hell is going on here? Why the hell did they kill Mom?” Brandon then broke down in tears.
Damien walked over to Brandon and hugged him closely. He had no words to console his son. What could possibly be said to make your sixteen-year-old child feel better about seeing his mother brutally murdered in front of him?
“I don’t know, Brandon?” Damien finally said. “I have no idea what’s going on here.”
The sky was overcast and full of threatening bluish-gray clouds. Damien looked up and remembered what he saw on that mountain pass the other day. He had tried to convince himself that what he’d seen in the clouds was just a figment of his overactive imagination and sleep-deprived mind, but now he was more convinced than ever that these events were connected.
“Dad?” Brandon said. “Are you still here?”
Damien blinked. “Sorry, Brandon. What did you just say?”
“I want to know what our next move is.”
Damien looked around to see if there were any landmarks he recognized. All he saw were trees.
“I don’t have a clue as to where we are, son,” Damien said, “but I think if we keep going straight we’ll end up at those huge stone structures. Maybe we’ll get lucky and some other sightseers will be there.”
“That’s an awful plan, Dad.”
“I know it is, buddy. But the reality is that we’re stranded in the woods with no vehicle and have no idea w
here we are. It’s the best plan I can come up with.”
“What about the thing in the clouds?”
“What?” Damien said, stunned. “You saw it too?”
“I didn’t see it the other day on that mountain pass,” Brandon said, “but I had dreams last night, Dad. Weird, scary dreams of an alien world full of nightmares, and there was something in the clouds. That can’t be a coincidence, right?”
“I had the same dreams,” Damien said. “What the fuck is going on in this town?”
Just as Brandon was about to say something, Damien lifted his finger to his mouth.
“Shhh,” Damien said. “Somebody is coming. We need to get moving.” Damien looked down and saw a baseball bat-sized tree branch and picked it up. “Let’s go.”
Damien and Brandon ran deeper into the woods.
24
Sheriff Landry knew these woods. He’d grown up in them, as had his father and grandfather and great grandfather. Damien and his son were headed back toward the cyclopean structures. Once they got there, there was no place for them to go.
Howard had gone back to town to gather up the remaining members of the Order of N’Xabez. Howard had told him that there was still a lot of work to be done and that the Ancient One was running out of patience.
As Landry searched the woods, he couldn’t help but think about what kind of future the Ancient One was going to create here on Earth. Landry had never had direct contact with N’Xabez, but his bloodline had been in the town long enough to have heard all the stories. The Ancient One would usher in a new order of darkness and cruelty that the world had never known. Madness would sweep across the globe as N’Xabez made Its presence known. The lucky ones would perish early on. As more time passed, N’Xabez would find a way to bring Its lesser gods to their world. Soon the air, land, and seas would be full of hideous creatures.