The sky began pulling itself apart, revealing a dark void, where a colossal eye flipped itself wide open, staring straight ahead, holding universes within its pupil. Another, much smaller yet still intimidating eye manifested, then two, then twenty, and I had lost count; they glowed sanguine. The eyes would fail to blink in sync, as if each had a mind of their own, making them all the more disturbing. Cracks started to appear in the sky, and from them emerged large whip-like tentacles, razor-sharp spikes protruding from the ends like fingers. As well as some other, and possibly even more indiscernible features that were far too unpleasant to recall.
Reality touched me in brief flashes.
I awoke at dawn. The evenings were almost too quiet. The aureate yellow from the sunset overlapped with a bright orange, then fading to crimson, with faint hints of violet. Then the sun went down, its incandescence fading with it.
The orange that dominated the skies had been dyed dark blue, and the clouds turned gray. The sky was a bowl of space and stars, the solar-bright moon loomed planet-huge. City gloom draped the streets outside, street lamps on the sidewalks and traffic lights at the intersections in the distance blinked yellow. Dim clouds hung overhead. Nothing moved, save the few walkway trees that shifted in the wind, and the fallen leaves wafted in the chill breeze.
I had never grown accustomed to these streets. Infrequent pedestrians crossed the road diagonally, eyes locked onto the ground to avoid being drawn to any sort of interaction, I don’t blame them. The wide spaces between the grand apartment blocks and forbidding villas were cloaked in darkness, as if something dreadful were about to happen. Sudden gusts of wind were interrupting the uncanny silence, like night howls. Something in the whole atmosphere seemed redolent of unhallowed age and unpleasant crudeness. The weather had turned blustery and the temperature plummeted.
The titan of a building towered over every other estate in the neighborhood, secluded and set back from the street. Vines ensnared the outside of the building, devastated by mold and ravaged by weather. The concerning fissures that covered the walls made it clear that the place was falling apart.
The doors had been taken off their hinges, even then I hesitated to step foot in. The brightness coming from the flashlight in my hand dissipated the further I looked on. Every thing in this house: the chandeliers, stair railings, bed frames, even the door handles were made out of gold, solid 24 karat gold; every inch of tile that covered the floors and counter-tops was marble. Had the furnishings been a little more humble, this place would have been a paradise. Expectedly, the vault downstairs was cracked wide open, and the many antediluvian fixtures that once crammed inside were gone, along with any other valuables; anything that was too big or worthless to steal reposed amidst the building.
The moon gleamed whitely as it climbed higher up in the Stygian skies, casting shine over the windowsill and whitewashing the stairs. Drops of intermittent rain began hitting against the windows, streaks of rainwater like veins sliding down the glass. Beyond, the distant sky turned foggy, the clouds curtained the sky as if hiding an imminent threat. The house now an echo chamber that amplified my every step. The evanescent, foreboding atmosphere that soaked the already frigid air was unbearable.
In this household dwelt generations of bizarre people, whose like the world had never and will never see; photo frames of estranged family members and relatives alike, collecting dust along with the rest of the rotting furniture in this god-forsaken house, only few remnants didn’t decay with time. Shelves stashed with ancient books from top to bottom, grandad’s testament probably hidden within the pages in one of the many novels no one bothered to read. I felt disinclined to wander about the remaining parts of the house, not ever was I welcomed here anyway, I was the sore thumb that stuck out.
Much to my dismay, I had no choice but to dig up my repressed trauma. I surveyed the living room for the third time, then the kitchen, the hallways, bathrooms, bedrooms, After inspecting every item and looking through every drawer, behind every cabinet, under every couch. I moved on to the basement.
The basement.
The stairs descended successfully to the underground level, I was expecting the wood to rift underneath my foot halfway. The sheer abundance of locks on the basement door was very distressing to me, though there had been recent signs of entering, as all of them were broken open — not unlocked, broken. Strenuous effort was used to push open the unwieldy metal door, and the rusty grinding was ear-splitting, I’m pretty sure you’d hear it even on the third floor.
Immediately catching my attention upon entering, apart from the dripping rancid water that emitted an odious stench, were the deranged carvings on the cinder block walls, reading “THE END IS NEAR” or “HELL ON EARTH”, something along those lines that was so barely legible that I thought it was a different language. But what stood out to me the most was the one that said “open the gate”, this was in lowercase, unlike all the other ones, and very clearly written in, I’m assuming blood — though dried to a discolored dark brown — instead of carved on.
Under further scrutiny of my surroundings, I found pieces of parchment scattered on the floor, all filled to the brim with the same illegible scribblings. From one of the pages, I could make out the drawing of a portal. I have read somewhere, probably from some obscene mythological literature, that the legends portrayed this tear in the cosmos as a veritable gateway to realms of unfathomed horror and inconceivable abnormality, and a creature ruled this nexus and devastate anyone should they come across it, they called it the Chaireka.
An earth-shattering bellow startled me, and I faced the eldritch horror once more. Its mouth was agape, rows and rows of blood-covered teeth lined themselves inside its jaw unevenly; its tongue extended out, and at the tip of it was another mouth. My body was frozen as I watched it devour the sun whole, the radiance escaping between its teeth. Again it roared, enough to decimate entire cities.
I ran, I ran just like them. My legs moved faster than my brain could think, allowing my feet to bring me to a safe space.
Ahead rose the second sun, it burned brighter than the first, if that was even possible, its heat threatened to ignite the entire world. The last I had seen from this abomination was when I gawked at its eyes, with a level of certain hesitancy, afraid that their eyes would pierce my own if I stared long enough. But all the trepidation that had accumulated since my first glimpse of the creature was overmastered by curiosity, a long-suppressed feeling since it had only ever led me to trouble. At that moment, all of its umpteen eyes were fixated on me.
To me, the appearance of this creature, as well as the instinctive fear it inspired, wasn’t the most harrowing; it was the way it stared downwards at me, seemingly knowing my darkest secrets that even I wasn’t conscious of, and using them to bring me a fate worst than death. This prepared me for something like enmity.
I don’t know how the other world works, even the most mundane appear new. It feels like I have deviated from reality and time is stagnant. The universe has lived its course, and now it is crumbling on itself; everything has lost its meaning and everyone else is gone.
I know there is something that can stitch the sky back together and close the gateway again. I just need to figure out how.