Karasu
A young boy stood silently at the top of a carpeted flight of stairs. In the rooms below, he heard his father's demands of his mother, and was too frightened to venture past this top step, but too interested to move away. His father had been a sailor. His mother would become a widow. And in the years between, the child would grow into a man. But not yet.
***
From somewhere, the sound of a far-off train whistle cut the night in two and started a young boy from his peaceful slumber. He opened his dark eyes, sat bolt-upright in bed, and looked about the room. When his eyes fell upon the open window, he began to sob to himself, tears streaming down his cheeks and dampening his crisp white sheet. The whistle sounded again, and a strange light began to drip into his room from the open window. The boy leaned back as the light fell upon his bare floor, and he cringed as the pool began to grow, it's luminosity consuming the darkness in the boy's room. Fear and dread took hold of his heart and all the world was lost to him in an instant.
***
Suddenly, he was on the open ocean, a man now, and the waves slammed the boat from all sides. Great, calamitous thunder rolled overhead and the Johanson looked worriedly at the compass which spun wildly, never pausing more than a second at any one heading. The ship, The Alert, was slightly tattered, and it seemed impossible that the charts could be right since there was an island out there... but how? Then they were screaming and leaping.. running from the thing behind them, and the the darkness grasping the breath from his very lungs...The darkness called.. the hate and the rage and the confusion... all of it welled up. He ran, fearing for his life... he pivoted, and he cast his eye upon the lumbering madness behind... The horrific Star Child, freshly born from his beyond-death slumber. Like a tsunami crashing upon a thin strip of beach, his sanity broke, and forever more, a young man would see eternity in the black behind his closed eyes.
Death eventually came for the man. It swept him up and ushered him into the waiting arms of the Great Old One. And in the decades that passed, an average and unremarkable sailor became the agent of something not of this world. He was transformed... and took a name he had heard in some far-away land on some long-forgotten voyage...Better now, here as an escort in the Dream World, then as some shoddy man toiling on the thankless sea.
***
Forward in time, now... a child sits with three woman and another man. The woman are dressed for a party, while the man has the air of a huckster. They are excited to be there, the oldest most of all. The man begins by turning the lights down even lower, until they can barely make out each other's faces. He says strange words in the hot little room, the boy can feel beads of sweat on his face, and wants to wipe them away, but the women are clinging to his hands from either side, as well as each other. The man continues to chant, and smoke begins to billow out of the censer to the man's right. It startles the women, and makes the boy grasp their hands tighter. The man shudders, now even stranger words are coming out of his mouth, but they no longer feel like the work of a sham -they feel unnatural and alarming. The women panic slightly when the man quiets down and speaks in a voice not his own.
"Margaret. My sweet Margaret. I left you so suddenly, and I am sorry for that... I see our beautiful Helen is with you. I missed her life and beg you to forgive me. Could this be another of ours, Margaret?" The room was chilled, and the man was not moving as he had before. He was far away and lost in the moment. The youngest woman began to shake, The oldest, Margaret, wept openly and was both joyful and saddened. The middle woman, Helen, simply stared in disbelief.
"Da...Daddy? She said almost imperceptibly, "Daddy, is that really you?" The voice returned to the man's mouth with rush, "Yes, Helen. It's Daddy. I've missed you so much, my darling. The sparrows came for me, sweetheart. But I see you in your dreams, and I love you still." The women all wept now.
Then Margaret spoke "This is your granddaughter, Norma, and her son. He has your eyes." The voice turned and looked. "And he doesn't know you. Only that you were a sailor."
"My granddaughter, my great-grandson, how perfect a vision. I see you all in the dreams, of course, but here and now, in this place, I am sorry for my absence. I mustn't stay long, my loves. I must not be missed for too long a time, as it will not be wise. But I am glad to be here and to have seen you all. You, boy - come to me with these women someday. You will need them. The Silver Key is yours, child. It will come to you in your lifetime. Use it wisely. Now I cannot speak further. The seas will rise and R'Leyh will come again -" And with that, the man crumbled into a soft pile, his hair once black now gray, and his eyes blank with some unknown madness.
***
Standing now, a shadow in the corners of a quiet place. Rich fabrics and soft carpet set the scene. The creature slips from shadow to shadow, edging closer to the open casket. Margaret's body lies in eternal peace, he knows this. But he is drawn to this mortal capsule, to the face of the woman he loved. His presence goes unnoticed, as the visitors have all long-since gone, and the staff is safe in bed for the night. Just a shadow and a few select lamps to illuminate the moment. He stand before her, and lets himself remember the day he left her standing upon that dock. He had promised to come back. He had promised to see his darling daughter before her next birthday. How long ago was that? Seventy years? She was still so beautiful to his eyes, and for the first time in as many years, the creature wept a tear. A single salty tear that fell upon the empty shell of the woman he remembered. The track it took down his face burned like the sun itself was scorching him. But it was worth the pain. He remembered the dripping sky of his childhood, and how the star-spawn had somehow chosen him to be his agent. He remembered the glowing fear that visited him, and guided him to choose this woman from so many others. He didn't understand then, and would have eternity to ponder it all. He loved her, despite his being guided towards her. She had shown him the joys in life, and he left her to die alone.
The Great Old One called him from his beyond-death slumber. His return was coming, and the creature had to begin his tasks. The Key had to be granted, and it fell to him to find it and pass it on. That damned Carter had changed so much of the landscape... And now it must change again.
The creature bent down low, kissed the lips of the woman who's body lie before him, and slid back into the shadows. Karasu flew into the Dreamlands, alone as always.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn
Continued
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