A Place of Chains and Stars

I looked out across the end. So many craters, so many chains, so much smoke. I peered into the sky, streaked with black and links of metal like it was being held in place. There was desolate sadness to this place, a sense of hopelessness, but also of spite. The air was thick, coating my mouth with dust and soot- I coughed into my into my palm and the skin of my hand peeled away.

I stumbled back, icy claws gripping my stomach as my throat began to burn. Hands wrapped around me as I fell into the chain oval, the grey draining out of everything until it was all gone.

There were millions of stars in the darkness, but so far away, untouchable. I reached my hand out, grasp something of their glory, but my fingers bent away from me- twisting and collapsing helplessly in the void. They stared at me, apathetic as they drifted in their home. I tried to close my eyes, skin pulling against sockets, frozen solid.

Slowly I began to turn, tumbling away from the celestial lights and into the the empty. The vastness of the shadow washed across my sight, consumed illumination. There was no emotion there. No sadness, no joy, no hate.

No fear.

Murky thoughts churned, drifting hazily to the surface as I gazed on the beyond. It reminded me of something, recent but half remembered. A great shadow, something in darkness.

No, not in darkness, of darkness. Even now it is here, not so far away. I could feel it submerging me.

There were others too. I could sense them there, more than just the blackness.

The nothing began to corrode the fog in my thoughts, clarity flooded across me as I thought. I reached with my conscious, tried to snatch the epiphany as it rose above the disorder. My mind closed around the understanding, started to absorb.

My eyes blink and the knowledge slipped between my fingers.

The stars were gone, the void dissipated- blurred forms made mumbled sounds at me, the grey world around spun slightly as I adjusted to false reality. I blink again as the walls solidified, Rill's face loomed over me, its left side beginning to slide off. I blink once more, and the hotel room was real again, I was laying on my back, spread eagle in the oval. I remembered how to hear just soon enough to catch, "-ll be for naugh, washted time, devoureddd. Soon or naw in our livves, tshoo late. Ish he rottegh?"

Rill turned her head to Narl too quickly and the damaged half of her face slipped off and spattered on the ground next to me.

"Ji will operate, mental shock, the mind inexperience passing."

Motor functions established themselves, I rolled my head and vomited across the floor.

"See, first born? The seeker wakes, returns to realms of the flesh," Rill said, though there was no happiness in her voice, "Now we make feet motion, the return."

She turned back down to me, I could see the alien muscles beneath her face lax and contract as she smiled her fake amusement at me.

Narl spoke from somewhere to my right, his voice was oddly slurred.

"The partshing way is closh, our tshransition prime, the move ish naw distancegh. We neee only several shor tshimes to achieve."

I tried to move my legs and they submitted, I rolled myself away from the sick and stood.

As I pushed myself to my feet, something cut at the inside of my hand. I looked down; the muscles were showing, bits of bone revealed at the joints, tendons an unsettling pinkish white. I tried to ignore these, focusing instead on the object held there.

The strange prong from the oval, clenched tight in ruined fingers.

Narl must have seen me staring at my hand; from behind me he spoke again, slightly slurring his words.

"Worrugh lishtle An-dragh-gee, the shkin ish onluh of thish world, it wull be reshurned tso youh."

I looked over at him, noting the hanging jaw and shattered teeth, one of his eyes was leaking out of its socket. He gestured at me limply and lead the way out, Rill followed closely behind. I slipped the prong into my pocket as we continued into the grey.

Still a collector at heart.

~Ji

The Radio

Narl left for a bit, came back with a long chain and something that looked like a two sided prong. I stayed to the back of the room as he passed the prong-thing to Rill and set to work with the chain, wrapping it around and around in a large oval on the floor. The moment he was done, Rill stepped forward and crouched down, carefully stabbing the prong into the middle of the oval. Narl began to pace around the outside of the oval, mumbling under his breath.

"What is this," I asked Narl as he passed me, "what is this supposed to do?"

Narl snapped out of his reverie, but didn't stop pacing.

"Where is the radio of radio?"

I turned to look at the small, cheep radio in the room, "I don't understand."

Narl ground his teeth for a minute before answering, "when the radio, sound object, is on, where does the music come from?"

"A broadcast tower?"

Narl shook his head, still pacing, "Radio waves, the signal, the music unseen. We must make a radio."

"I still don't understand."

Rill stood and began to pace the oval too, on the opposite side of Narl, she spoke as she passed me.

"The radio pulls the signal from the sky, makes it ours, able to be heard."

Narl spoke, asking his question again, "so, An-drew-gi, where is the music?"

"All around us?"

They smiled simultaneously. Yellow, blood spattered teeth leering out of overlarge mouths.

"The library," Rill began again, "you were in the presence of the old one, his library. Where is the Library?"

"It was across from a city."

Narl shook his head again, "No An-drew-gi, it is here, here like radio."

"All around us," Rill completed, "intangible but surrounding. Dimensions are not separate areas, there are no walls, no borders. They are inside, all inside, one another, like radio waves."

Narl picked up again, "traveling between them is tuning in, out of one frequency and to another, radio."

"But I thought you said they were locked, that we needed a door."

"They are locked, we are stopped from changing to their channel," Rill said, still at the opposite side to Narl, "but not all, we need only a door, a door can be many things, a door can be a radio."

"This," Narl said, pointing at the chain oval and prong, "this is our door, our radio. It will change the channel, tune us to the apocalypse. All we need is the key to open our radio."

"So what's this key?"

They stopped, standing at either ends of the oval.

"First blood, an act of war," Narl finished.

Rill's jaw snapped open, stretching wider and wider. She lifted a hand and began reaching inside, down her throat, into her stomach. I could see her neck bulge, then shrink as she retracted her arm. There was a slight gurgling noise, and she pulled something out. Stepping forward, Rill speared the thing on the prong. As she stepped back I could make out a shock of red hair, still attached to a bloody chunk of scalp.

For a moment nothing happened. I turned to Rill and Narl, trying to figure out what was wrong, but they were both staring out the window. From under his breath, I heard Narl say something.

"-like the dinosaurs."

There was a whistling, high pitch and uncomfortable, just at the edge of my hearing. I looked past them, out the window, into the horizon. There was something, a tiny streak of light in the sky, moving steadily toward the ground as the whistling grew louder. It bored into my ears painfully; the object in the sky grew brighter, I could hear the buzz of planes overhead now, thousands of planes. The burning light streaked down, a bolt of slow lightning, closer and closer to the ground. I felt a pang of dread as it fell behind the horizon, some unspoken understanding.

The white exploded out, devouring the sky. I put my hands up, I could see the bones in them through my closed eyelids.







































































When I opened my eyes it was all ruined. Everything.

The side of the hostel was gone, torn away. Dust covering the ground, pervading the sky, painting everything grey. A thousand craters, smoking into the air, were spread across the ground. Out of each a chain, thick and dark, linking up into the ashen sky. From next to me, I heard Rill speak.

"Welcome Andrew. This is the grove of fetters. This is an end of the world."

~Ji

Key

Rill returned today, covered in gore. I'm not sure how she got here without being noticed and arrested. She looks like a person again. But I know better now. She started talking like no time had passed, directing her question at Narl.

"The way is long. We have not the legs to traverse the path in time. We must prepare, obtain the items to cross the boundary."

"The wilderness will not suffice," Narl responded immediately, "An-Drew-Gee would not survive. The city is locked, the other realms held shut, we have no making speed."

Rill smiled unsettlingly, her teeth stained dark red.

"The inciter is bound, the path unguarded. We may open the gate and wander through. The apocalypse. The world of world's end."

Narl furrowed his brow.

"The ritual we do not have, the gate unguarded but locked eternal. We lack the key. The path is inert without the blood to wash it clean, the hate to grant us entry."

Rill smiled wider still, her mouth stretching unnaturally.

"But we have the key, I made it," She stretched her arms wide, flakes of dried blood drifting to the ground, "The drums beat louder, they had no quarrel and now they do, the gates can be pushed open. The path clear for us."

Narl's eyes widened slightly.

"You have been in future thought. The hardest part passed. When shall we have the doors be crossed, the smoke inhaled?"

"We need still the bindings and the fork. We must make quick our voyage, we begin now.

They turned to me for the first time since Rill walked in, bloodshot eyes boring into me.

"Come An-Drew-Gee," Narl began.

"We have places to seek, and little hours to spend" Rill finished.

I doubt this is going to be pleasant.

~Ji

O'brien's

I feel sick.

The previous commenter, the Dral person. They were right.

I'll just get on with the story, then I need to rest. I really hope I don't dream about this.

We got to the place, shitty looking restaurant called "O'brien's". I couldn't read the name at first, whoever made the place had decided to slap a big X through the first letter for some reason. This place had grime creeping up the sides of the walls, windows were cracked, sometimes sloppily repaired with duct tape, the wooden door looked like someone had taken a sword to it at some point. There were all of these little, off-colored patches across the front outside of the restaurant, I didn't realize what they were until after we were opening the door.

Sealed bullet holes.

Rill and Narl walked on opposite sides of me as we entered, there were a handful of other people inside already; a bunch of guys wearing leather jackets sitting at a table, several people at the bar, one of whom had bright red hair, and the bartender who wore an odd, burlap coat.

Everyone froze the moment we stepped in, eyes locked on Rill and Narl. My bodyguards didn't even seem to notice the change as they calmly slid themselves into an open place at the bar; several of the other people at the counter scooted away. The burlap coat bartender made his way over to us, but kept to the back wall.

"Well hello you two. I must admit I'm surprised to see you here," he said, "what can I do for you and your…"

He fixed me with a quizzical look before continuing.

"Your guest."

Everyone was still staring at Rill and Narl, it seemed like the guy was the only person who had actually noticed me. My two protectors exchanged glances, then Narl spoke to the man.

"We seek the learned one. Answer speaker. The king's guard and cavern finder, we must trade words with them."

The bartender shifted uncomfortably before talking again.

"I might be able to help you, but I honestly can't understand what they hell you're asking for."

Narl clicked his teeth several times. One of the people at the bar flinched.

"The mountain, the truth castle. Atlas, who holds the world above him. There is one here who knows his location. They must tell us. We will go when they have given the thought of that place."

The man furrowed his brow for a moment, deep in thought, then seemed to realize what Narl was asking about.

"Nobody knows where the king under the mountain is. You'd be better off raiding the archive's deep vaults than asking around here," he chewed his lip for a moment before continuing, "we can't help you."

Rill turned her head mechanically towards him, and spoke.

"I am hungry."

The people at the table began to stand. The bartender went slightly pale.

"Well we do have food, what are you interested in?"

Rill smiled, and her mouth stretched across her face.

She whipped her arm forward and it twisted, bone ripping out of the side and lengthening. The man shrieked as the gory spear planted itself in his shoulder and pinned him to the far wall. I slipped off my stool, turning to see a girl at the table pull a gun and take aim, but Narl got there first. He rushed her, hands stretching into claws as he tackled the girl to the ground. She screamed and I could just barely make out Narl's jaw unhinging as he sank teeth into her face. There was a wet crunch, and the noise was silenced.

Narl turned and slashed upward, ripping out the kneecap of the nearest watcher. The man yelled, toppling to the ground and into Narl's waiting fangs.

Rill stepped over me, bone spear sliding back into her arm as fingers lengthened into knives. I could hear her whispering quietly to herself.

"Rise. Rise. Rise. Rise into the shining darkness. Rise into the miracle of flesh. Rise. Rise. Rise. Rise into the cleansing pain. Rise into the jaws of beginning."

She turned and stared at the other people at the bar, who had now backed up against the wall. They were arranged to place the red haired girl in the back, farthest from the fight. Rill looked right at her and, without stopping her soliloquy, extended a bladed hand and gestured forward. The people shuffled for a moment, but didn't move. Rill's eyes widened and there was and audible crack. Rill began to grow taller, arms and legs extending, back hunching over; her face became twisted and more bestial. Eyes sunk into their sockets as her face stretched outward, teeth lengthening into yellow fangs.

Rill loomed over them, inhuman. In the background, Narl lifted one of the leather jacket men and slamming him into the floor before tearing into the man's ribs. Rill stepped forward, still whispering to herself.

"Rise into the eternal song. Rise into the perfect agony. Rise Rise Rise."

She held up a hand again, reaching forward and gingerly grabbing the closest watcher, pulling them away. The man struggled, pushing against the vice like fingers, but couldn't tug free. Rill dragged him toward her then, staring at the red haired girl, slowly sunk her claw into the man's lung.

He shrieked, grabbing and flailing at the blade; hopelessly trying to stop it's invasion. Rill didn't even turn, her eyes still directed at the single girl, then lifted her other hand. She lined it up, placing two claws over the man's face. He struggled, twisting his head from side to side, but couldn't avoid the knives. Rill dug into his eyes, methodically stabbing, lifting and stabbing again; reducing the eyes to a bloody paste as the man writhed and screamed.

After an eternity the man stopped, twitching for a final time before being still. Rill extracted her claws, and began to reach for the next person.

"Devil's tower."

Rill paused; from across the room, Narl stopped his dissection. He stood, and made his way over, standing next to Rill.

"The place, secret home and hiding. The answer bed?"

The red haired girl nodded, and spoke again.

"The blood found out years ago, shame and truth go hand in hand. Now let us leave. You have what you want, our kind has no quarrel."

Narl, smiled. Teeth spattered with chunks of flesh.

"Come An-Drew-Gee. We must make go."

Narl gestured at me, then began to make his way to the exit, I struggled to my feet and followed, trying not to look at Rill. She didn't follow us, still gazing at the red haired girl. As we left, Narl turned and spoke to the room at large.

"Honor. No higher. To be consumed by the body of perfection. Experience the perfect kill. Rill will be our gateway of teeth."

We walked off, behind us the screaming began; tearing at me ears. I blocked it out, everything. It's not me, it's not going to happen to me. This is just the way things are. This is how it's supposed to be.

~Ji

Journey

We're almost there, my "bodyguards" called for a midday rest, apparently they want to wait for a while -I'm not sure how long- before we go to wherever this place is.

Right now I'm typing at my computer in a new hotel room, and I'm pleased to say that on the way here I picked up some more things:

• set of silver spoons and forks
• Vinyl recording of Johnny Cash's Greatest Hits
• Linoleum carving tool kit

All of which were really cheep at the garage sale that we passed by, I imagine the people who were giving them out had no idea of their value; which is all the better for me. It seems that Rill and Narl disappear the moment I approach other people, which makes me question even more how they're supposed to be protecting me. Come to think of it, I don't know how they could protect me; compared to something like that dog or the bird-helmet-machete-man, they just look like disturbed individuals. I'm not even sure what they can do in a fight.

Why were they chosen to be the ones to protect me, and for what purpose? What am I doing that is so important that it needs any sort of defense?

I suppose those are just more questions to add to the pile; but I'm getting ahead of myself; I should explain how we got here and why I haven't posted for several days. I'm going to rewind this back a bit, right after my previous post.

They met me outside, both of them hidden in the shadows. I could just barely make out their outline, the green reflections of their eyes. Narl spoke first.

"You have prepared? Taken the items for your life?"

"Uh, yeah. I packed."

"Narl will go before," Rill spoke next, "I will go after. He will take you to the goal, the next step. Prerequisite."

Narl quickly stepped to the side, still partially obscured in the darkness, and gestured to me before dashing to the next patch of shadow. I started jogging in pursuit,  I could hear Rill shuffling somewhere behind me.

It's weird, going from traveling only in the daylight to navigating a city at night; I followed Narl to the best of my ability, guided more by the sounds of his footfalls than by sight. Sometimes he would vanish entirely, and I would stop in confusion. Each time this happened, Rill would appear by my side, and point to somewhere off in the distance; directing me to the next location. Narl would already by there, gesture once more to me, and we would continue on our way. This made travel incredibly disorienting and I'm fairly certain that we backtracked multiple times. After awhile I realized we had passed into the next state, I found that we were crossing into the next state, which shouldn't have been possible.

The thing that bothers me more though is the amount of time we traveled. We left fairly early in the night, just passed nine o'cock; but about halfway through our trip the sun came up, and we still moved on for a while after. I can't speak for either of my protectors, but I'm nowhere near strong enough to jog that long in a single sitting; that's some kind of super athlete level endurance. I don't even feel winded now.

Rill and Narl paid for a hotel this the night, using spitball-tight-crumpled-nasty bills. They're curled up in the corner of the room. The two of them look like they're sleeping, but I can see them staring at me out of the corner of my eye.

Normally I'd be creeped out by them, but I'm not. I've been thinking about it, and they probably weren't any different from me at some point; who even knows what horrors they had to go through to make them like they are now. Maybe they're just people who fell on hard times, and this was how they made it through. I can't really blame them for that.

Kind of tragic, actually.

I don't know how long we're going to be staying here, but I think that our destination isn't far off now.

~Ji

Moving Again

They're definitely watching from a distance; there was a note slid under my door, and soon after I'm pretty sure I saw Narl peeking out from around the corner. I'd question how this constitutes as protecting me, but I'm not sure getting the answer would actually help me.

Then again, I also haven't been attacked recently, so maybe they have been doing something.

Anyway, the note reads (in surprisingly good handwriting):

Andrew Ji we must move. The false trap, a restaurant that is not. You will go, we will lead and follow. There is one who knows the caves there, they will tell us, speak to us. The caverns can only be found by those who know their truth. We must learn.

Be outside in several hours.

So I suppose I'll be back soon. I don't really know what's going on, but it looks like I have to talk to someone; not sure what this "trap" is, and I'm a little bit worried.

I'll be back in the near future; I have to pack now.

~Ji

Bodyguards

I don't know where they are now, but they were here just earlier.

"Rill" and "Narl".

They're... strange. I can see why Amos seemed so hesitant to call them bodyguards. Considering how they left not long after they arrived, I question how they're going to protect me. I think they must be watching from a distance, but I don't know why.

Though, I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself, I should explain how they arrived.

I was at the supermarket, trying to pick up some additional food before I go... wherever the fuck it is I'm supposed to be going. I still don't understand all of this.

Anyway, I was wandering past the meats aisle, heading towards canned goods, when I saw her. She stood out in the store: nearly bald and wearing ragged clothes. People looked at her uncomfortably, probably assuming the girl was homeless. She stood by a shelf full of preserved beefs, staring at me. The moment we made eye contact she turned and walked down a different aisle; I looked after her as I passed, but the aisle was empty.

Shaking it off, I finished picking up several packs of canned soup and ravioli, shoveling what I needed into my cart before heading to the checkouts. Turning a corner, I thought I saw someone peeking out at me from across the store, but I blinked and they was gone. I made my way over to the nearest checkout and started unloading the numerous cans for purchase. The guy behind the counter raised an eyebrow at me as he counted up the sixth and seventh cans of chicken soup, but he didn't say anything. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone approach.

They rushed up alongside me and I felt a bony hand slide into mine. Instinctively, I tried to pull away; but the fingers tightened. I felt my knuckles pop as I looked up at the person.

Two heavily bloodshot eyes peered out of a pale, angular face. She had hardly any hair, just enough to make the eyebrows noticeable and provide a tiny covering of fuzz across the top of her pallid head. Before I could do or say anything, she smiled; mouth stretching far too wide as it almost reached her ears, revealing a set of long, yellowish teeth.

There was something distinctly inhuman in the expression; like it was something much more primitive than a display of amusement. Much more like a baring teeth, like a show of power. She tightened her grip and my knuckles began to compact together painfully.

I turned back to the man behind the counter, who looked downright confounded now, and handed him my money. He handed me my bags and began to make the transaction, but the girl was already pulling me away; out the front entrance and into a side alley. I could feel the thrum of her pulse in my hand, the impossible strength in her muscles; disproportionately skeletal fingers wrapped vise-like around my hand.

"Who are you?" I asked, icy claws clutching at my stomach.

She flicked her eyes at me, and I could see them reflect bright green in the dim light, but she said nothing.

We turned a corner, then another, then another, then another; I quickly became lost in the labyrinth of of bricks and concrete slabs. I began to faintly wonder if we had doubled back on ourselves, when someone stepped out in front of us. The girl led me forward and we stopped several feet from him.

Even in the darkness I could see his eyes dart between me and the girl. She released my hand and stepped back; they began to circle, staying at opposite sides and equal distance from me, checking me over. I could feel my own heartbeat now, pounding in my ears; I stood stock still, as though to move would provoke them. In what little light there was, I could see the flash of teeth and the glow of eyes. Neither was large or heavily muscled, but there was something far more threatening in them; I could see it, even with their torn clothing. A smoothness in the way they moved, lithe bodies rippling with bare muscle.

They stopped, and stood at either side of me, the man spoke first, a growl from my right.

"Him?"

"Him," the girl replied from my right, "the dweller has spoken."

The man shifted his gaze from the girl and back to me. I could see him slightly better now that he was still. His skin was more tanned than hers, and there were a number of white scars across his face; but the eyes were the same: bloodshot and aggressive. He shifted his shoulders forward, leaning close to me.

"What were you named?"

"Andrew Ji."

He growled, and I could feel the thrum in my chest.

"Too many, then not enough. That is of decay; a name that is not yours."

"The carvings in bones tell not the flesh they wore," the girl interjected,"only the past that followed; and the hands that made the marks."

He nodded, and I had the impression that she had somehow convinced him of something.

"An-Dru-Gee," the man sounded out, "I am Narl of the second."

"I am Rill," the girl followed, "of the alabaster bed."

They moved again; shifting their positions to stand side by side in front of me.

"Hello Andrew," Rill continued, "we are your teeth."

She stopped, and Narl spoke.

"The prowler has called us, to bring you to the halls of your answer. We will drag you dead and rotting there, if we have to; but as you are to ask the question, we will aid your life."

"Bring us to your den," Rill picked up again, "you will rest, and tomorrow you will not. The bright ones will not touch you so long as we live. Now we go."

Narl strode past me, taking the lead out of the alleyway, while Rill brushed beside me, clasping onto my hand once more. She must have felt me go tense, because she turned and said:

"Don't worry Andrew, I was people too."

And then she smiled again, and it wasn't just baring teeth like before; but it wasn't comforting either. Rill smiled at me like a person who only half remembered how.

And somehow, that made it much worse.

~Ji