BeyondtheVeil.txt
BEYOND THE VEIL
Written by Dashboard
I awoke to the feel of wet stone pressed against my cheek. Labored coughs escaped my lips as I breathed in a stale air. Though at the time I thanked the Lord that I was still breathing at all.
My last memories before those moments were of the sudden storm, the high winds and crashing waves tossing the boat around as if it were nothing. I remembered the blast of icy water knocking me over the edge, my body already numb from the rain fighting to stay above the churning ocean waters. Then I felt myself sinking, darkness laying itself over me.
My eyes at last began to adjust to the strange darkness around me as my breathing steadied. Yet in that instant it was almost lost from me again.
I found myself within a vast hall, intricately carved from a coarse ebony stone. At first I wondered if my eyes were still adjusting, yet as I slowly stood upon weary legs I found my eyes did not deceive.
I turned where I stood, and felt my jaw fall open. There behind me was a circular pool, as large as a stadium arena. By the salty taste still on my lips I knew it could only be sea water.
My mind began to race with questions. How was I still alive, how had I come to be here, where was here? Perhaps more importantly; was I alone?
That last question I found would be answered sooner than the others. From behind me spoke a sudden voice, It has been decades since a new soul has joined us.
I swear my heart itself jumped within my chest as I spun around so fast I nearly found myself falling back upon the floor.
There she stood, I say she for the voice was unmistakably female in tone and pitch, carefully concealed from head to toe in a heavy and ragged brown robe. It was as if she had appeared from nothing, standing just out of arm's reach.
Who are you? My question came out in almost a whisper between the breaths that flowed through my opened lips.
The hood of the robe tilted, and I was both surprised and even somewhat unnerved as an almost whimsical chuckle left her. I do not remember. I did for a time, longer than most I think...but we all forget our names eventually here.
I began to feel the first real sensations of fear caressing it's fingers up my spine. Already I felt near certain this was an unhinged person before me. I don't understand. Are there others here? I glanced around the two of us some, almost expecting more to appear as mysteriously as she had.
They are further in. Come...let me show you. And now her voice became almost the antithesis of what it was seconds before, weary and heavy with obvious sadness. As if the thought of taking me further in filled her with sorrow.
I will not deny I was indeed hesitant to follow. As I said before this chamber alone was vast. Indeed I could not even see the ceiling itself through the darkness around us. Even had I a simple flashlight or even lantern I do not believe I would have.
Without any word from me she turned and began to walk. As I began to follow I noticed with every step she took her body seemed to...quiver, even tremble. And as I focused more upon her I discovered every step sounded as if whatever she wore on her feet had been soaked through. I looked down and noticed here and there what looked like water marked her footsteps.
Initially I remained quiet, still concerned as to exactly where I was following this woman to, and what awaited me when we arrived.
Some minutes passed before I finally noticed it. As we proceeded further and further along I found the darkness began to lessen, the shadows fading as more of my surroundings became clear.
I discovered we were walking along what appeared to be a hallway of sorts. But so massive in scale was it, it made even the the grandest of cathedrals seem small by comparison.
Merely by looking upon the base of the stone walls I could see that wherever I was it was old. Ancient even. But I did not understand how any ancient human civilization could create such a place.
Human hands had nothing to do with it.
I felt as if every drop of blood had frozen within my body, my eyes fixed upon the back of the robed figure's head. How did..
We have all thought the same question when we passed through here ourselves. But the truth... Here she stopped for but a moment. She hunched over some, as if hugging herself under the robe.
I reached out to see if she was all right, yet my fingers fell only upon air as she walked forward again. What did you mean 'the truth'?
She did not answer, she simply continued on. Again we walked in silence. I felt my body already become more and more tense as we traveled on. How much further could it have been?
Now I wish I knew then to turn back and run with all my strength.
I finally began to notice a change. Where as before the walls had been nothing more than stone, now I started to see images carved upon their surfaces, though from my first glimpse of them they began to fill me with a strange dread.
They were murals of a size fitting the massive walls. They depicted what appeared to be creatures, beings of a size and nature truly alien to anything I have heard of before. On both walls they now showed, and I began to wonder what sort of mind could envision such things.
One area of wall depicted what I can only describe as a gigantic, horrendous eye framed by a multitude of writhing tentacles. Another showed what appeared to be a giant, almost corpse-like humanoid with webbed feet and truly malevolent eyes.
On and on these nightmarish murals accompanied us. Before much longer I forced myself to simply stare ahead at the back of my unnerving guide.
I now truly feared for my own safety. What sort of person could live within such a place and indeed remain sane.
So intent was I on ignoring the very walls that I almost did not notice when she finally came to a stop again.
Welcome newcomer. I am so sorry for you.
We now stood within an oval shaped chamber that continued in size as the first chamber and subsequent hallway. Only here I saw that the curved walls were broken in several places by the openings into further hallways. And at the far end of the chamber I saw them.
At first they looked to me like the grand double doors one would find on an old world cathedral. Though I was not surprised when I saw their size was indeed in matching to everything else I had seen so far.
I then turned my attentions back to my guide. What do you mean 'sorry'? Where am I?
And here she turned to me. Still I could not see under the drawn up hood to catch even a glimpse of her face. And again her voice spoke with such a sadness you'd wonder if she was speaking to a dying man, You will never leave here. None of us can...nor would we want to. 'Their' power changes you. Mind body and soul!
I felt myself growing more and more nervous. As she continued to speak her voice grew more and more frantic. A laugh escaped her. And that laugh chilled me through to my very bones.
You miserable fool. You will never again know the blessed ignorance your life once held. You will know their touch very soon now! All who came before you have known the beauty and chaos of the Old Ones!
Slowly I began to take a step backwards. I had no words. What could I say to such a person? She was truly insane, and already my mind raced in the hopes of finding some means of escape.
Suddenly I found myself falling back as my foot slipped out from under me. She simply stood there, watching me.
As I began to sit myself up I felt a liquid upon my hands. Yet as I raised it I saw my hands were now stained with fresh, warm blood. I felt myself gasp out as I worried I had injured myself.
But then I looked down, and saw it was not my blood. Indeed, there were more spots of it by my leg. In the near perfect shape of a human's naked foot print.
With growing horror I looked up at my unnamed guide. She simply began to giggle like some simple little girl. And then her arms came up within the thick robe and the ragged material began to slide off her.
And my yell of horror echoed around me like a nightmarish chorus.
The robe now laid upon the floor at her feet. Nothing further did she wear, though this fact itself did not even register within my mind. She indeed had the body of a woman, though over every inch that I could now see she was without even the smallest trace of human skin.
Moist, bloody muscle could be seen as easily as the hair upon my head. Areas of her face and body framed by the blood stained bones of her body. Lidless eye sockets held within them soft green eyes that looked upon me with sadness and almost some perverse sense of amusement.
I wanted to wake up. Find myself in my own bed, aboard the boat again or in a hospital. I did not care so long as I was anywhere but there.
God in Heaven... My voice was but a mere whisper. My heart raced with fear as I still sat there upon the cold stone floor.
She tilted her head, bloody lips curling into a smile as her arm gestured in slow sweeping motion around us. Whatever God you may have believed in before now does not exist here.
I wanted to run. As fast and as far as I could. Yet as I began to rise a new nightmare began for me.
It came as suddenly as the crashing wave that had knocked me from my boat. A pain right behind my own eyes unlike any I had ever imagined. I felt myself screaming, yet cannot remember hearing any sound as my world turned to flame.
I do not know how to describe such pain. I could feel the flames as they burst out from behind my very eyes, the skin around my sockets burning away to reveal the milky white bone underneath. I felt my hands trying in vain to extinguish these unearthly flames only to recoil from the heat. I do not remember exactly how long this lasted, how long my screams went. All I truly know is that suddenly it was over, and I lay there weeping from the pain.
But still my horrors were not over. My hand reached up. I winced and cried further as fingers touched at the edges of my now empty sockets. Sobs cracked my voice as I then stared up at her, who had simply watched me in my suffering. I can still see. I can still see!
Again, she simply tilted her head. A small and sad smile came over her face as she held out her hand to me. This is only the beginning.