This was it, he realized. The moment that he’d dreamed of for so very long. Even as a child, he’d craved the ability to dominate those around him. At first, he used his money and personality to do so but eventually it wasn’t enough… he’d turned to black magic, hoping to find the key that would turn things from mere games to deadly seriousness. He didn’t just want to order people around… he wanted to control them body and soul.
Mr. Black had offered him the keys to the world… and all it would take was unleashing demonic forces upon the rest of humanity. It was a fair price, in Arthur’s eyes.
Thanatos closed his eyes, his fingers running across the pages. He began reciting the words, looking at them only when he encountered a particularly difficult passage. With his other hand, he rhythmically knocked against his stomach.
“Enoch illesium C’thulhu! Enoch illesium Shub-Niggurath! Planititan onseetus k’rash!”
The words spilled from his mouth like blood oozing from a wound. Each of them was accompanied by a hard punch of his fist. The blows were strong enough that they would leave terrible bruising… but he felt no pain. His mind was alive with the promised power of the ancients.
He was nearing the end of the ceremony when he heard the whining of space ripping in half. Just in front of him, a hole was forming, small in diameter but growing with each passing second. Energy flooded from this portal, passing through his skin and charging him. A tentacle, dripping with black slime, appeared, touching the edges of the portal. The unholy beasts within the other dimension were aching to be free and Thanatos heard their whisperings melding with his own. He was chanting with the denizens of another realm and the spell gained power with their aid.
His skin darkened and became harder than normal. His lungs burned as his nostrils flared, inhaling the scent of the damned. His tongue swelled to the point of nearly bursting and his penis was so hard that it ached.
On and on his words flew. He was moments away from amazing power… moments away from condemning the world to a living hell.
Gravedigger ran up the steps to Meeks’ apartment. Her ears were ringing with the horrible, inhuman chanting that was beginning to echo off the walls. She and The Peregrine had scarcely vacated Mitchell’s car when strange lights had begun to emanate from their quarry’s apartment.
“Are we too late?” she had asked as they burst into the building.
Max’s silence had spurred her on to greater efforts. He had a grim expression on his face and she knew that his fears mirrored her own — if Meeks gained his power and unleashed those demons… then nothing they could do would be enough to save Sovereign City and the rest of the world from torment.
Gravedigger drew her sword and stood outside the door to the villain’s apartment. She took a step back and then raised her foot, slamming it into the barricade. On the second kick, the wood began to splinter and she was able to hack away at it with her weapon.
By the time she and The Peregrine entered the apartment, wind was whipping all around them, sending every loose piece of paper into the air. She squinted against the bright light emanating from the portal, momentarily taken aback by the inhuman limbs reaching through.
And then her eyes focused on Meeks, in his full guise as Thanatos. He looked bigger than she’d expected, his suit barely containing his bulk. A mask hid his face but the skin surrounding it was dark and crispy-looking, as if he were being cooked alive.
“You focus on Meeks,” The Peregrine shouted in her ear. “I’ll close that portal!”
Gravedigger gave a quick nod and approached Thanatos. His head whipped towards her and she could tell from his body language, that he was furious at the interruption. He continued chanting as he raised both hands and channeled eldritch energy in her direction. Gravedigger dove to the floor, avoiding the blasts, which tore a hole in the plaster behind her. She slashed out with her sword, slashing at Meeks’ closest leg. The impact of her blade against his flesh reminded her of chopping wood — his skin was incredibly dense.
Yanking her blade free of him, Gravedigger scrambled to her feet just in time to take a powerful fist to her left shoulder. Pain flared throughout her arm and the tingling in her fingertips worried her — she wasn’t sure the limb would be effective for the rest of the fight.
Responding by raising her right arm and firing her crossbow bolt, Gravedigger was pleased to see the point of her weapon bury itself in Meeks’ eye. Blood and gore shot forth from the wound and Thanatos ceased his chanting, though it seemed to be carried on by the creatures within the portal.
Thanatos hissed, reaching up to grip the bolt with both hands. He yanked it free, emitting a roar as he did so.
“You can’t kill me!” he shouted. “I am Death! I am the Destroyer of Worlds! I am Thanatos!”
Gravedigger laughed aloud, a sound that seemed to surprise her just as much as it did her opponent. The tone was mocking, rising up deep from her soul. It was the laughter of not just Charity Grace but of all the Gravediggers whose skills she possessed — they had heard many claim ultimate power and in the end, they had all ended up in the grave.
Gravedigger swept her sword through the air, her one good arm driving it towards Meeks with all the supernatural strength she now owned. The blade sliced deep into the villain’s neck, encountered stiff resistance, and then finally carried through.
Thanatos’ head flew into the air, bouncing off the wall. It landed at Gravedigger’s feet.
A loud noise, like the rushing of an oncoming flood, caused Gravedigger to turn towards the portal.
The Peregrine was there, stabbing at a set of tentacles that were wrapped around his body. His weapon was a dagger that glowed a bright golden color, its surface adorned by ancient runes. From Max’s lips were bubbling a series of words that seemed foreign to Charity’s ears — but it was clear that they were somehow forcing the portal to shrink in size.
He turned his head and shouted, “Get out of here! When this portal closes, the energy that’s been released is going to blow this place apart!”
Gravedigger watched in horror as the tentacles suddenly raised Max high into the air. The portal was sealing itself back up, as time and space fought to restore the natural order of things. But the pressure that was suddenly being placed on Max’s body was going to kill him — his quick screams told Charity that.
Rather than flee as he’d said, she rushed towards the maelstrom, sword raised above her head. She brought it down against the largest of the tentacles, slicing it in two. Max hit the ground hard, grunting in pain.
Gravedigger stood in front of the portal, weapons at the ready… and then the hole shrank so quickly that it vanished from sight. Just as Max had warned, the occult energies that had filled the apartment were now running wild.
There was a bright flash of light, followed by a boom that could be heard and felt throughout all of Sovereign.
And then there was nothing, save for silence… and a huge gaping hole in the ground where once there had been an apartment building.
PART II: THE STRANGE HORROR OF HENDRY HALL
Chapter I: Mortimer Quinn
Mortimer Quinn had never been in this region before, nestled as it was in the indent of the eastern shore of the river. It was no more than a day’s journey from the small market town of Greensburgh, which in the local vernacular was often called Tarry Town.
Mortimer had stopped in Tarry Town for the night and had inquired the woman who ran the inn as to the origins of the local name. She told him, with great alacrity, that it had been given by the housewives of a nearby county, based upon the propensity of their husbands to waste away their hours in the Greensburgh tavern on market days.