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VOLUME 4: REUNION OF WARRIORS AND CITIZENS

_Henry Armitage: Entry 11_

Entry 11
August 11, 20XX

If you have stayed with me so far, I have a confession to make. I originally said this publication was a record of my findings. This is true; however, there is much more to it than that. I have chosen to only reveal this information at the last moment to gain the reader's trust. If you are willing to give an old man an ear, please continue reading.

Some might claim me mad or a scammer, but what I am about to tell you in the remaining entries is true and my first-hand account.

[Below the writing, an invisible pencil begins drawing patches of small blades over a flowing strata of small circles]

_Shub-Niggurath_

08/11/20XX: 2300 hours

The drawing becomes clearer. The blades sway as tiny dots on the strata breeze. The outlines fill with various densities of graphite. The fills blur into green colors atop dark browns.

A soft wind massages the grass as thin layers of dirt mist over it.

The view moves up to greater heights, then travels past the green border to the dirt yard of the Akeley farmhouse. Everything has been repaired.

Past the house, we scan over the forest. Rising higher, we pass a curved river ending the thick wilderness. The river continues up both sides. In the center is a series of rolling hills with a patch of forestry in the bottom-right corner. The view continues from an eagle's perspective to witness the arena known as the Vermont Hills, bordered by an endless circle of river.

On either side of the circling stream are two green figures. One emits a long succession of flashes. The other provides flashes that are greater but more sparse. The figures continue around the flow, going underwater and reappearing to present those quick lights.

In the hilly center is an extremely large black and gray creature bobbing in and out of the surface as it travels to and fro (the holes fill immediately behind). In fact, the width of the river is the same as this thing.

Joining the center are 3 green figures, and only one emits any colored light. They travel spryly about: around each other, over and under each other, meeting and repelling, and riding the worming creature.

This seems to be the full picture until a dead soldier flies right next to us. His metallic weapon emits neon crescents below. He rotates slightly, revealing the fire from his jet pack.

Amid all the lush wilderness, green figures, and flashing wonders, there is something else that interrupts. In the center are black riles-disgusting figures-with the most nauseous of shimmers.

---

The war rages on and on. The dark young continue pouring from the black stone. No matter, they must all be exterminated.

The river border is quite efficient. Along the bank, the explosives work on a one-way scanner. All can enter, but none can leave.

Big Ben continues shooting two distances with two full-auto rifles: an M60 with an expanded scope and a long-range sniper rifle. He dives under and rides the current to the next spot yards away.

Duke rises at the opposite end . Carrying Rad's new design, the rectangular block unleashes grenades on the closer dark young. With the area clear, he switches to rockets and blasts the distance. Duke continues downstream of the newly-formed river.

[frontal view] The three brothers jump over the hill and right at us. Gash ends the cycle with a heavy slash.

[side view] The brothers cycle in their intertwined performance: the lead sprints, the rear rolls like a log, and the last springs over and ahead of them all. The positions of the triangle rotate while they take out the riles without interruption. Amidst it all, the cream and porcelain moon shines brightly, visually rhythmed by J-S2 and founts of dirt appearing before it.

The brothers reach the valley and continue the next cycle: They run up the hill, aligned. The rear position sprints faster and flips onto the mid-guard's shoulders. He continues a flip to a handspring off the forerunner. The one in back repeats the process. The sneak of their attacks is quite sublime.

They reach the top and jump at each other to repel. J-S2 arises. Mash jumps on top, Bash grips a scale, and Gash rebounds off, slicing through enemies as he flies downhill. Bash repels from the side to attack another group. Mash flips forward as J-S2 dives.

Above the battle zone, Rad fires his ray gun through the arboreal nasties. Many cauterize in half, leaving no mess as the flanks hit the ground. Often clearing the base, he catches a glimpse of the black stone. The numbers are declining in entrance.

He darts his eyes quickly, here (blast), there (blast), here (blast), there- "Wait! Hold your fire! Repeat, hold your fire! Civilian at 6:20 on the field. Repeat, Civilian at 6:20 on the field!"

---

[overhead view of the battlefield] A brownish figure climbs out of the river into the forest. The jet pack soldier redirects to the woods. In the hills' top-center, something very large and dreadful emerges (but still obscured by the red lines of teleportation).

---

"Civilian at 6:20! I'm going in!" Within range, Rad uses his grappling hooks for increased speed.

He flies through the trees, using his boots to slice through the dark young.

On the last surge of his hooks, he switches to his chainsaws and performs a cyclone attack, the parallel saws thrown high and low. The spread catches them all. Finishing the cyclone, the chainsaws jet forward through the trees into the dark young behind the man.

"What are you doing here?!"

"I- I came to investigate.I-I-"

"RRRROOOOAAAARRRR!"

That hellish, demon noise draws the human's sight, draws it and loses it to the male form of Shub-Niggurath: The Black Goat with a Thousand Young.

Rad grabs the man. "We're gonna get you out of here!"

And then he appeared.

---

An explosion of golden-yellow light spreads from the farm's sleeping tunnel and touches the sky. Everyone and everything stops in wonder.

The general has returned.

Lost in his sight, they didn't notice he'd already passed the river.

About his body is the golden armor, fused from the pharaoh's adornments. His spikes seem more metallic along the proteic root.

Outer Armor: Level 2

As the mass lumbers, his worm-appendages sway breezily with maggot-crested mouths (pierced with the earlier flagella).

Worm-Appendages: Level 2

A web of interlaced leather wraps his forearms and calves. The moon runs over them, revealing the toughness of gorgon hide.

Armor Amendment: Vambraces and Greaves

Auxiliary Weapons: Petrification Fluid

The last of these is the greatest of all, for all about him flutters a robe of yellow-gold. It fluctuates between adherence to the body and fanning apart as a blaze of glory.

Amendment: Yellow Robe

Somehow seen out of sight, the yellow sign had been released and usurped by a holy symbol. The mark is not merely gone; all of its power and meaning has been washed away. The power of the Cthulhu Mythos is ending, and this holy symbol is reclaiming the throne, for it was here first.

We realize this is what we couldn't understand when gazing upon the holy seals: it was this symbol.

The size disparity between the army and the Mythos creatures begins to warp.

Military X lumbers forward, the dust rising above each pound. The dark young spread like rows for a royal procession. At the end is Shub-Niggurath, stunned in awe.

None of them know what to do. X calls to one of the dark young. Hypnotized, it comes forward and attacks. At lightspeed, X slashes all over its body. For a second, nothing happens. Then the slimy shards fall away into a row of diamond chunks.

Looking at Shub-Niggurath, X shoots the petrification fluid at its limbs. Its arms and legs meld to the ground in stone. "RRRROOOOAAAARRRR!"

The mech arms fire hundreds of Yig Fangs straight into the sky. The moon becomes a series of tiny strobes. The effect stops for a second, then returns as the downward flood impales all the dark young to the ground.

X shoots the two closest nasties into stone. The bio-cables expel and attach to the cement bases. X stalks forward while swinging the stone blocks through the gathered rows. Black slime, hooves, and ripped flaps squish and gush all over the path to the master.

The bases slam against each other. The ashen sediments litter down.

Still barking and seething through its multi-orificed head, Shub-Niggurath struggles against the anchors. The front legs of the draconic warlord rise and extend the talon digits. X removes the petrification from the prey's hooves alone. The outsides talons pin the hooves, while the inside talons trace and incise.

X retrieves the hooves as Shub-Niggurath's lopped ankles shake horribly with tiny range. X lifts them above, as if offering a gift. The hooves double.

Boots: Level 2

With a smooth lift, X pulls a quasi-goat skull with multiple orifices from Shub-Niggurath's body. The encasing tissues flops over.

X smashes the skull over his own. The Hound's skull splits in two and slides down the face. The plume stays at the zenith, threading into the new foundation. The old skull melds under the sides of the new and becomes pointed extensions outside the jaw.

Helmet: Level 2

The body of Shub-Niggurath falls over and twists into the female form. Like a giant dark young, the grand tree of tentacles rampages, being free from the stone restraints.

It riots about wildly, thrashing its body and twisted appendages all over the battlefield. Traveling on bloody stumps only enrages it further, as does fleeing to the river bank for an ugly surprise.

It bashes into everything except where X pushes to protect the civilian. Hills flatten and new fissures open. The churning shrieks are too much to bear. The tentacles with their drooling mouths spit new dark young like a fountain gone awry. X's worm-appendages unwind and syphon them all. He can't let the swarm rebuild.

X tracks the sickly tornado as it rages all about. Left, right, away, beat down, twist, right forward, faster, faster, fas-

Bio-cables shoot through the drooling mouths into the guts inside. The foreboding substance so feared to touch-the milk of Shub-Niggurath-passes through the cables into X. They continue to feed until the wrathful tree is drained.

Body Fluid: Level 2

The bio-cables shoot a new fluid into the sickly beast, a substance the opposite color of the one taken. The messy pile wilts and hardens, its appendages twisting tightly and drying like a sponge. Before it turns gray and white, X removes a handful of the extremities. Making them into separate twists, they join the harness from Lavinia Whateley.

Belt: Level 2

---

"General, we really missed you."

"I know. I missed you all too, but now I'm back. What do you say, men? Shall we finish this war?"

"Yes, General!"

"General, what about him?"

"He comes with us." X turns to face the civilian. "You have a story to tell the world, don't you Dr. Armitage"

Armitage's face slackens. "… yes."

"Then come join us. I can guarantee your protection."

J-S2 rises softly out of the ground on the opposite side of the river. Reaching the bank, Duke presses a button on his deactivator. The explosives shutdown, and the water gyrators stop and melt. They proceed over the dried ravine and enter the vessel.

_Transference (Group Meditation)_

Inside, the army rests in a circle, closing their eyes with upright torso. Not sure if they're even speaking, something like a chant is sensed around them. A little cryptic, it starts to make sense in small rotations between intuition and the obtuse.

The finger-legged eye from the West mansion curls up to Dr. Armitage like a dog. The ceremony starts to make more sense. Unlike the loathsome, baleful atrocities of the Mythos creatures, this feels more like the way it's supposed to be.

He starts feeling and seeing apocryphal languages.

And flowing colors.

And transference of other spiritual realms.

It feels like going into a dream, but a dream of intention. Substance, space, vision, taste,silence, hearing, invigorating, restful, empirical, intuitive, dreamlike, awake, (in)substantial. If Henry was asked about these things, the only thing he could say is "Yes."

---

The vision continue like a train through a tunnel, but the tunnel alleviates into a wide sky of presences within it.

_The Shadow Over Innsmouth_

The train continues into a vision, still very dizzying in delayed and staccato images but growing clarity. "(The sign, What does it say? What does… What… does… ? 'Welcome to Innsmouth.' Innsmouth!)" Henry starts to recover, realizing slowly that he is walking out of the train with the Army of the Dead.

TRAIN DEPOT

08/12/20XX: 0700 hours

The soldiers exit a small train, followed by Henry Armitage covered in a specialized armor case to keep him invulnerable and invisible to the enemy. A light in the front cabin turns on, revealing the driver to be an Innsmouth native. X pulls up the travelling rear. Upon his exit, the size between the army and the train warps and bends, making the train barely even to them.

On one side, X pounds the train towards the squad. Together, the squad rebounds it on the tracks towards X. X smashes it to the troops again. The exchange continues like pong on a single track. Both ends of the train crush closer together, back and forth, until there is no middle left. Only a ridged pile of metal sleeves and the leaking flats of the engineer.

WEST SIDE OF INNSMOUTH

0705 hours

The army continues into the town streets, foregoing any disguises or illusionary devices. The natives only seem to revile them for being outsiders. Some look with suspicion from their unblinking eyes and long, flat faces. Their scabrous skin twitches with repulsion, turning for a second at the outsiders before hop-walking and hobbling away.

The squad pauses in the middle. Rad turns to Big Ben. "So, what do you say?"

"Let's do it."

Rad, Big Ben, and Duke stand back-to-back, turning clockwise while an M60, ray gun, and rocket launcher destroy the land-dwelling "deep one" hybrids. Everything turns quiet, and they continue on their way.

GILMAN HOUSE

0710 hours

The line of soldiers slides through the hotel lobby and begins ascending the stairs. Mash and Duke tail off the end and approach the front desk host, whose stiffened skin unnerves against a moldy suit. Duke takes the hybrid's hand, smacks a grenade in it, then presses the host's fingers shut. Duke takes the second hand and does the same. Mash adds, "Hold on to those tight, and never let go."

Ping

Duke slides the pins in his pockets and returns to the line.

[3/4 overhead view] The army proceeds up the stairs. X explains, "This place only has three stories" [Boom!] "but that's all we need. None of the buildings here are taller than that."

---

In the room, most of the soldiers lounge on the mildewed furniture, peering with laughing curiosity at the literature and artifacts. Plenty of amused comments fly back and forth. From the window, Duke launches remote-controlled, heat-intensive explosives onto all roofs in view.

He rests the launcher's butt on top of his shoulder as he steps away and passes to the hall. Simultaneously, Big Ben comes the other way and enters the room. Bash sneaks in a quick hammer-throw to a deep one hybrid before Big Ben takes the post. We hear Duke's launcher in the next room.

EAST SIDE OF INNSMOUTH

0730 hours

The soldiers return to the streets and deal with the scant hybrids while pleasantly reminiscing about boot camp.

Rad: "That's the trick in boot camp. Never volunteer an answer for something that seems harmless."

[Big Ben fires his 500 Magnum at a trio standing on their path. An exploded head, a dissolved chest, and splattered guts.]

Gash: "I remember when the drill sergeant asked, 'Who here likes bowling?' I foolishly raised my hand. Then he told us, "Good. You're all going to be in charge of cleaning the toilet bowls. You're going to be my Latrine Queens.' "

[A deep one lunges from behind a gate. Bash smashes the stomach with his mallet. Mash finishes him with an ax kick decapitation.]

Big Ben: "Oh, yeah. I made that mistake too. I remember the drill sergeant asking, 'Who likes to watch TV? Come on, guys. I'm not trying to pull anything. Who likes to watch TV?' "

[Two deep ones slither off the roof at them. X shoots one with the petrification fluid, which hits the ground and breaks. Gash side steps with a steady, level machete. The deep one skins his front on the blade. Gash slices off both arms with parallel raises, then severs its head.]

Bash: "You volunteered, didn't you?"

Big Ben: "Of course. We were like, 'Well, yeah, I like to watch TV.' So he made us get in a plank position with our hands supporting our chins for 30 minutes. It was a long 30 minutes, but it helped train us for aiming a rifle from the ground."

[Duke sees a few hybrids spying from the row of storm drains. He casually drops a few grenades inside while passing.]

Bash: "I remember another incident at boot camp with training as an entry guard. You're supposed to follow the rules step by step, but the commanders always like to mess with you. The other private got it first, and that's how I learned what not to do. The commander was yelling at the guard, 'Let me in!'

The other guy started reading the rules directly, 'Provide your proper identification.'

'You idiot. You know who I am! Look at how many stripes I have! Let me in!'

'Do you need me to report you to the infirmary?'

'I've about had it with you! I'm gonna have you discharged! Let me in!'

Of course, he did, and the commander started going off, "Who is your reporting officer?! I'm reporting you! You just let me in without following protocol. How do you know I wasn't the enemy?! These uniforms can be imitated!' That's when I learned. I felt sorry for the other guy, though."

[Rad shoots his ray gun at four deep ones spying from surrounding roof tops.]

Big Ben: "Duke, you've usually got some interesting ideas. What are you thinking about?"


"Well… it's hard to find a place to start. I… well, I was thinking about music, like how jazz works by having certain beats-certain areas-that you have to hit (or at least move around), but there's a lot of room for improve and free-flow. I wonder if that's how free will and the ultimate plan work together. People have at least some free will, which allows us to make those free-flow, improve areas while The Source makes all the necessary things happen within that or around that. And some formulas are obvious while others are not, like syncopation. The Rite of Spring was not comprehended by the original audience, but now it's considered a classic, especially in how its syncopations are actually quite mathematical.

With all that, I was also considering the left brain and right brain and what happens when those parts are synthesized or harmonized, like euclidean and non-euclidean structures (and the error that can happen with fitting a round peg into a square hole), like Western logic and mysticism, like mathematical music (which uses a systematic formula) and expressionistic music (which goes outside those formulas). Like right brain and left brain when mixing music. Mechanical order and expressionism.

And also there's the power of silence, both in music and outside of music. And not everything is binary. Some things, for example, might be trinary. We don't just have blue and yellow, with the third simply being the green in the middle. Rather, there is a whole different part that exists in the visible spectrum: red.

And I think that's about where you asked me. I had some other thoughts, but I can't remember what they were."


Big Ben: "Dang, that's a lot more than I was thinking."

INNSMOUTH MARKET

0740 hours

The clerk at the front, a native from Arkham, feels sicker and sicker every day he's here. "(Why am I even here? Everything feels very wrong.)" Worse, he feels they are waiting for their moment to do something awful to him.

"And you thought they looked strange."

The clerk turns back, glimpsing dead soldiers proceeding around him. More overwhelming is the source of the voice.

"I suggest you leave. This town is closing permanently."

The clerk nods and runs out.

Bash and Gash grab a cart and run to opposite ends of the store, knocking over a few denizens in the process. The brothers stare at each other and imitate bulls before the charge. They race towards each other, then jump into the carts.

They pass each other.

Clang

Clang

Clang

Smash! / Slice!

The last training attacks miss each other and hit the adjacent fishmen.

Mash and Duke play their own mock training. Duke hides behind a pile of cans while Mash defends in the open . Duke throws cans at him as if they were explosives, often hitting the patrons, even though Mash could easily deflect them. He kicks one can to the side, hitting a hybrid deep in the parietal. It falls over, bleeding from the wound and its mouth. Duke starts throwing cans more fiercely. "Ha! I know how to deal with that!" Mash pierces his spearing hands into a denizen's back and grabs the spine. He lifts the fishman like a giant shield and shifts him towards all the cans as they lodge inside him.

Big Ben shoots his machine guns into an aisle, forming "This wall sucks" on his side while the denizens on the other side fall over. Rad sees this and engages his jet pack, which flames the denizen next to him. "Alright, Big Ben," Rad addresses as he lands, "I want to see how much of a crack shot you really are." They walk out to a group of locals. Rad picks up a can. "I'm going to toss this, and I want you to shoot it dead center." Rad tosses the can, and Big Ben follows it with his 500 Magnum through the air. He keeps tracking it until his hand reaches head level. The can hits the floor, and then he fires. Cranial paste splatters over the wall.

"Hmm. I guess that was just too easy of a shot. Let me try something more difficult. I'm sure I'll do better." Big Ben ties a bandanna around his eyes. Rad tosses another can straight in front of him. The soldier aims straight, then goes wildly off center.

Blam!

Blam!

Blam!

Blam!

The can hits the ground. "Did I get it?"

He removes the bandanna. The surrounding denizens are shot dead-center, but the can is safe. "Wow! I guess this just really isn't my day."

"Well, lets see what the others are doing." Rad uses his mechanical hooks and boot claws to hit the ceiling and keeps walking. He aims a hook to the floor, which goes straight through another fishman. He walks up to another fishman and fires up to the ceiling. The boot claws take a chunk of indispensable meat as they rise and crush it against the ceiling. Rad makes it to the tables full of disgusting entrails. The others are playing catch around them. Rad disengages the ceiling and runs on the necks and shoulders of the fishmen. In slow-motion, we see Rad intercept the mucky blob and dive into the rotting excuse for a produce bin. His boot claws are still engaged and wet.

They look around at the store. All the inhabitants are dead. "Anyone want to play another game."

"No, I'm satisfied."

"Me too."

"Same here."

"Alright, let's get out of here."

On the way out, Big Ben stops by a deceased fishman clerk. "Please don't tell my mom we were playing around. She'll ground me."

EAST SHORE OF INNSMOUTH

0750 hours

Outside, the army triangulates around the street corner and turns back to the store. Duke gives them a preview. He presses the detonator, and the entire market melts to the ground.

Just beyond the new space is the port to Devil's Reef. J-S2 is waiting at the edge.

---

Standing on the vessel's back, Rad issues them their new equipment. "This will allow you to take advantage of the water's near weightlessness without having any slowed agility. Dr. Armitage, we have a similar one for you so you can breathe and be safe while recording events."

---

Suited up, they look back at Innsmouth one last time as Duke presses the button. The sunny sky is revealed so richly, even stronger than the storm of debris. All structures are melted, and the ground is even. The only thing left are all the denizens scurrying with no place to hide.

Duke presses the second button. The orange and red explosions, albeit brief, match the rich sky. Now nothing moves.

DEVIL'S REEF

0800 hrs

With X at the helm, we follow behind and head for the unholy reef. Something has stirred the sea, for a flood of sharks are coming towards us. In slow-motion, X performs a series of telekinetic attacks, lifting them out of the sea and making them explode.

The swarms become so big, you cannot see the ocean. X lifts them all out of the sea. He raises his arms, causing a net several miles long to form and grip all around them. He brings his raised hands together as the net secures and compresses. It continues to squeeze through them as the shark guts fall to the ocean and set fire.

Devil's Reef, a stone iceberg, is in site. With the army's feet lodged into the vessel's sludgy pores, we follow the shark into the mushy-crested rocks carry a cobalt hue as we travel through a murky atmosphere to a cylindric metal tunnel of at least 50 feet.

J-S2 stops at the brink as the team leaps forward onto the entrance. They evenly circle the circumference and continue running the course. Five exits appear on their paths. X and Gash take the top-right while Mash and Bash take the top-left. Big Ben and Duke split left and right, and Armitage's suit follows Rad through the floor.

---

X and Gash surface at the sacrificial chamber. Keeping low, they watch deep ones and hybrids prepare the standing table for a new victim. A hybrid wheels an inclined cart over floors stained with blood and the dark residue of long-rotten flesh. The place smells of nothing else but rotten bodies and sea water.

The cart turns around to show the sole human inhabitant of Innsmouth for over 20 years: Zadok Allen. He isn't nearly drunk enough to dull the pain of the prepared instruments.

We look at the pool entrance from behind Zadok and the deep ones. The pool is empty and settling.

[closeup view] A deep one's face comes close to Zadok's. The knife rises to Zadok's jaw. The deep one smiles, then his corneas enlarge with shock.

---

Barnabas Marsh, the high priest of the Esoteric Order of Dagon, proceeds down a long pathway towards us. He is surrounded by his cardinals in this new section of an ugly cathedral.

---

X issues a device. "Take this." Zadok touches it, and an air bowl forms over his head and jets him through the pool towards safe land.

---

Marsh and his cult elites knock on the door. There is no answer. He knocks again. Still no answer. He pushes the door open with no obstructions. They enter and look over the grimy vista.

All the bodies are dead. Some are hacked by an experienced assassin. Others seem mangled and staged in some kind of countering ritual that fills him with fear, anger, and repulsion.

---

X returns to the central tunnel. He looks to the top-left entrance but stops. He pauses to watch Mash and Bash together.

---

"Hey, boys! You lookin' for some fun?!," Bash announces to the other side of the disposal room. The deep ones and hybrids rush at them.

[The view follows Mash and Bash west through an elongated room full of body parts]

1st hybrid:

Mash's blazing sweep-kick knocks the hybrid on its back while its legs fly away. Bash's mallets pound the head into the floor.

1st deep one:

Mash delivers an uppercut that rebounds into a side chop, followed by a forward palm with the other hand. The deep one turns aside gripping its collapsing face. Bash hammers a 1-2 across its spine.

2nd deep one:

Mash crescent-kicks the deep one to the left. It faces Bash, whose mallet breaks half the face. The force returns the deep one to Mash. Its face shows signs of brain damage. Mash crescent-kicks the fiend to the right, where Bash's second mallet waits. The other side of its face flattens, leaving the head an inch thick.

Bash smashes a wall and collects the larger fragments.

2nd hybrid:

Bash throws a loose stone into the hybrid's back. It arches backward. Mash pummels the convex stomach with multiple punches, rupturing through the cover into something chunky and puss-ridden.

3rd deep one:

A launched stone breaks through all the teeth and pierces several exits. The top of Mash's double-punch breaks through the stone to outside the back of the mouth. The second punch drives into the throat and out the neck.

Final deep one:

Mash shatters the right knee with a stomp. / Bash shatters the left knee with a stone.

Mash palms the right side of the head. / A mallet smashes the left side of the head.

The head implodes into a collapse of pieces.

Final hybrid:

Mash strikes with a blazing high kick. / Bash hammers mid-level.

The body scissors in half with gnarled ends.

---

A heightened, membranous squeal alarms through the tunnel. X knows it's an intruder alert. Several deep ones infiltrate ahead as others pursue the exits.

X senses Big Ben and Duke on either side of him.

---

[left perspective]
Big Ben kicks off the floor to glide along the bottom, shooting his machine guns at those above him.

[central perspective]
X's wings stab back and propel forward, shooting him along the bottom while blasting lasers, Yig fangs, and electricity at those above him.

[right perspective]
Duke kicks off the floor to glide along the bottom, shooting his grenade launcher at those above him.

[left perspective]
Big Ben moves to the central-left side. He kicks off a protrusion to glide along the wall, shooting at those around him.

[central perspective]
X moves to the eye of the tunnel and gusts his wings. Gliding gracefully, he blasts those around him.

[right perspective]
Duke moves to the central-right side. He kicks off a protrusion to glide along the wall, shooting at those around him.

[left perspective]
Big Ben sinks to the central-bottom. He jumps up & forward at ceiling height, shooting those below him.

[central perspective]
X's wings tilt to drift him to the central-top. The wings gust him along the ceiling. He blasts those below him as the wings slowly start tilting the opposite way.

[right perspective]
Duke sinks to the central-bottom. He jumps up & forward at ceiling height, shooting those below him.

[left perspective]
Big Ben gradually sinks to the bottom.

[central perspective]
X's wings continue to drift him to the bottom until he comes upon another floor exit. He sinks into it.

[right perspective]
Duke gradually sinks to the bottom.

---

Rad takes Armitage into one of the rear gold piles for hiding.

The gold and red room streams with incense along its dry path. Rad goes ahead, diving throughout the hoards of gold piles speckled with jewels.

The deep ones have entered.

They search around on a hill. As soon as they look away, drills covered in green cloths pull one in. They look back, look at each other, and inspect. An arched, green covering reaches quietly and swiftly over one. The tip and edge of rotating metal gleam in the spaces. The third turns back to see it is all alone. The massive goat-dragon head slides underneath it, clamps, and slides below.

Like a riled hound, we travel turbulently down the treasury's hallway and stop jarringly on another group of investigators.

Crink

[deep one POV] Further back down the hall, small rolls of shekels roll down two mounds.

The deep ones stand together, watching.

Chink, snap, chink

(Chink, snap, chink)

Almost simultaneous, the diving sharks got them.

The last two run the opposite way.

Chink, snap, chink

(Chink, snap, chink)

Armitage's electronic tethering is activated, pulling him through the gold to Rad. It disengages for a second.

The exit is right there, above the end wall's icon… obscured by an entering deep one.

Armitage looks around. His protectors are gone. "(Oh no! Will they find me? Keep quiet.)"

The deep one looks in his direction. "(Can he see me, or is he just searching?)"

Chink

(Chink)

X and Rad (projected by sleek wings and a jet pack) fly out of opposite mounds like flying fish. They each take a half and land in the opposite's mound.

Chink

(Chink)

The tethering mechanism engages.

REEF'S ATRIUM

0815 hours

X, Rad, and Armitage emerge out of another baseline pool. The room is some kind of large, nauseous cathedral, and they are currently in some kind of merged nave-transept. Not far ahead is the apse, guarded by the head priest and his cardinals. They've been watching since they entered.

Mash, Bash, Gash, Duke, and Big Ben emerge from the pool. X's wings flop with a wet smack as he exits to the ground. The soldiers follow behind.

"Barnabas Marsh, right? Or is it Obed Marsh, over 200 years old, hiding his identity?"

"Very perceptive of you. I hope you don't mind if I have my friends join us. Like family, they can be so protec-"

buzz-chunk

buzz-chunk buzz-chunk

buzz-chunk buzz-chunk

buzz-chunk buzz-chunk

buzz-chunk buzz-chunk

buzz-chunk buzz-chunk

buzz-chunk

Rad's chainsaws finish their sides of the circle.

"I guess it's just you and me now."

Marsh unsheathes his ceremonial knife: 10 inches long and sloped with the engravings of a snake-fish creature. X tosses him an additional knife. "You're going to want that." X approaches and leans in. Marsh strikes.

Clang

"Again."

Clang

"Faster."

Clang… clang, clang, clang, cla-clang-clang-clang

X bests each moves with one arm at rest. Marsh keeps striking and stabbing. And huffing and puffing. No matter how fast he strikes, that lax arm always intercepts. Marsh goes wild.

cla-clang ca-clang ca-clang-clang-clang clang clang, clang clang clang clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-sh-sh-sh-sh sh sh sh… sh… sh… sh…

There are no more clangs because there are no more fingers, only tiny drafts from squatty faucets.

X breaks an arm off the atrium assembly. Like a hammer, he holds the narrow spire and slams the base to the ground. A leaking pile spreads under the thunderous crack.

X approaches the altar. Behind it are two giant vats closed with stone slabs. X opens his cloak, creating a wall of fuming yellow light. Then, he unleashes his bio-cables into the spinning wheel on the apse wall. It begins to turn. The slab covers pull away.

Dagon and Mother Hydra unfurl while rising from the pit.

"Ah, you're the one that's been hunting us…"

"... You're rather small. You have no chance."

"Attack us if you dare…"

"... or surrender for a quicker death."

"For we are the children of the great priest Cthulhu."

"... and you shall suffer for what you've done."

"Kneel and worship us…"

"... or your torment shall last a thousand years."

The diminutive and feeble image-seeing what they wanted to see-shatters as X walks through the mist reflecting the mind's eye.

They seize as X grips their hearts, vising tighter on every pump. Their screams can be heard throughout the Devil's Reef as the free arms tear the scale manes from their heads and to their spines.

X attaches the manes to his helmet, on either side of the plume.

Helmet Amendment: Auxiliary Plumes

The free claws skin two flanks of scales off each child of Cthulhu. They attach to his wing rims.

Wing Rims: Level 2

Still shocking the hearts with the other hands, he rips them out and shoves each heart into the opposite's mouth. The claws grip the mouths and throats tight. X rips the heads off, and shoves each into the opposite's body cavity.

The bodies sink into their personal basins, melting and hardening into cement slabs with smeared outlines of their once-bodies.

[Horns rise in a series of triumphant blasts. Violins conclude the theme with a soothing resolve.]

The bio-cables shoot into the altar wheel again, spinning it counter to their gears.

---

Devil's Reef begins to shake and crumble.

_Cthulhu Dream 7:Loss and Ruin_

A soul-burning, orange-yellow light shines between two glazed panels. The air is like taking a breath full of dust. Two star spawn walk up to the panels. "Are you ready for this one, sir? It's not going to be easy." The panels open as doors to a funeral service. That strange light soaks the room and its wooden structure.

Continuing down the aisles, continuing towards a linen-draped table. Someone else is standing in front of it.

Approaching the table, the heart constricts. It strangles worse when the sight is what we feared. There lies Ghatanothoa, Dagon, and Mother Hydra: embalmed and fitted in pristine dresses and a suit.

[rear POV]

Standing next to the coffins is a woman--a human woman--that Cthulhu senses is his wife. She turns to him and accuses, "It’s because of you it’s come to this! You and your stupid pride!"

She begins slapping his chest until she walks away crying. Cthulhu slowly turns towards us, his face robbed by grief.

The scene around him folds away into blackness as his footing elevates.

Still distraught from grief, he doesn't truly notice the destroyed castle wall on which he stands.

[A musical tone (like the intro beat to Labyrinth's "Within You") starts. The music continues in that vein, never leaving the brooding bass for higher tones.]

A voice begins singing, drawing him to look over the dashed wall to the death and destruction all about:

"Behold, your kingdom now lies in ruins.
And to your death, it all shalt end."

(The area fades with small glints remaining.)

"You try so hard. You wait so long
To see it now all come undone."

(X walks among the glints. They illumine as the ravaged insides of R'lyeh. All that was is torn away.)

"Behold you kingdom now lies so far
Your dreams are dashed and torn apart."

(Cthulhu turns to face his empty throne as X stands beside him.)

"This all remains in death untold
to you, while the cosmos is made whole."

(X ushers his hand to the side. In the open universe, first his children-then the other gods-languish dying.)

"Your children left alone to fail
And all your family falls as well"

(Cthulhu turns back to X. They are both in a temple of darkness recently emptied.)

"You forego a prophecy
And there is nothing left of thee."

(Cthulhu appears on a living Penrose Stairs painting. Following faceless strangers, he slavishly trudges the stairs. A nameless, vacant soul.)

"No- thing
left
of
thee"

As all fades away, Cthulhu grasps to remember. The was something-so hard to understand, so hard to remember. The only thought he can attribute is "bronze baritone." The mind's grasp is loosing. He tries to remember. He tries to understand. He tries…

He tries...

(fading) "Behold, your kingdom now lies in ruins."

_Nug and Yeb/Yog-Sothoth_

08/12/20XX: 1900 hours

The darkness takes substance with a light mist. It reverberates with a reflecting timbre like wind in a glass case. The smoke forms and structures into rows of clouds, separating in either direction and opening to a fluctuating canvas. It waves and folds between denim and black as lights curve the minute crests. Even the black lightens to blue as it manifests as the ocean.

Miles above, we move west across its compressed image until reaching the white border: Antarctic. Travelling at immense speed, we cover vast terrain in mere seconds until settling over a flat land.

The view spirals clockwise into the ground, revealing the holy symbol and its electrical residue from recent use. We hit it, releasing another prismatic surge that follows around us as we race forward.

Traveling again at unnatural speed, the view shifts and tilts in a manner more organic than mechanical. Covering miles of dents, dunes, and vehicle tracks, we continue far into a flat expanse until crossing and penetrating a deflecting mirage set by alien technology. The stone mountains of mad design lay before us.

We shoot through explored vistas and into the heart of the base, where dead elder things lie and technology is absent. Continuing through its passageways, we fly out the rear exit to a greater mountain: Mount Voormithadreth.

We latch onto its base, surging up the sky-piercing shaft. The path continues with seemingly no end.

We pass many fires and dead cults of unknown origin. The surge grows faster and faster until the view tilts forward, and we jump high above the mountain top. Still rising, the view changes downward to focus on a battle below.

Several soldiers and one protected civilian hide behind rocky buffers. Between them hunt the Twin Blasphemies: Nug and Yeb. The view becomes tiny as the specks of soldiers take turns attacking the hunters from blindspots. The view stops here and crystalizes on a screen with a scratchy filter.

---

Yog Sothoth watches the battle from his personal, locked dimension. Though imprisoned, he sees all… all except the birthed shimmering in the darkness behind him.

The shimmer slowly manifests and opens into a vague, glowing image. Still unseen, the image sprouts its roots below as the primal cause crystallizes in detail and reveals the goat-dragon face of The Unnamed One.

Not until summoned does Yog Sothoth, turn, shocked and bewildered by the lifeform before him. The needle tips of the wing-swords hook into 13 precious orbs.

Riiip

Glop, glop, glop

The stunned god sees no more and feels the protoplasm flowing.

"I guess you didn't see that one coming. Haa hahahahaha. 'All-seeing?' No, you see only what you are allowed to see. Most of your visions are fantasy." The orbs, the eyes of "the Lurker at the Threshold," begin orbiting around X as he recites each by name.

Yog Sothoth rages at X, only for his locking dimension to hold him a prisoner at the invisible border. It keeps pressing at him, ramming and leaking over the transparent wall.

"Gomory, Zagan, Sytry…" On each name, the orb flashes a different iridescence and flows counter-orbit to attach to Hastur's robe.

Yellow Robe Amendment: Gemstones

Their iridescence reflect in the gemstones of his armor.

"Rrroooaaarrr!" Still banging at the vertical hold, the massive blob rages in jealousy.

"All of you corrupted them. All of your powers, they were stolen and debased, so we're taking them back. And now you're all going to die." Pausing for a second to look at the helpless god, X adds, "Now watch this." Turning back to the flow of the final orb, X smiles as he vibrantly croaks: "Anaboth."

The orb shines great and bright as it counter-flows and sinks into the general's belt clasp.

Belt Clasp: Level 2

Shuunk!

X senses "The Lurker's" cold seizure… and panicked thoughts: "(What was that?!)"

"Those are the walls of your dimension contracting. Specifically, those were the side walls, and…" X holds onto the last syllable while looking and pointing angularly upwards.

Shuunk!

"… Those are the walls above and below. They're not going to stop."

"Wait! Wait! You can't destroy us! You see us as evil, but we are not. We are beyond the lowly concepts of morality."

"Wrong! Ultimate goodness is the great force behind the universe, even beyond the universe. Going against this is immorality. You are an enemy to creation and its purpose. Your kind seek to take over. Spreading amorality is immorality.

"Listen! Listen! The universe needs evil for balance."

"The balance of the universe must be restored, and evil will not be a part of it."

"Evil is essential. There has to be evil. If there isn't a balance between good and evil, the universe will cease to exist.

X stops the walls' contractions long enough to lean in and say, "I don't buy it."

Shuunk!

X reposes to his upright stance. "And one day, the universe will be cleansed."

Shuunk!

"No! You'll destroy too much of it. The universe will fall apart. And if you accomplish the end you seek, the universe will be destroyed. He must not be allowed to awaken. You can't! It will destroy everything!"

"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"Listen you fool! It's in the book. It's in the Necronomicon!

"If they make a movie, I promise I will possibly maybe.. consider watching it."

"Stop! You have to stop or…"

Shuunk!

Yog Sothoth's mind startles.

Shuunk!

The outer god desperately scurries his thoughts. "Stop this! Stop this now! Do you, do you really think you will destroy us all? Do you really think you can cleanse the universe as you see right?"

"It's a vision far beyond my own. And there are other powers at work besides me. I'm only part of the plan." [pause] "I don't even know if this is my last quest… although…" The Unnamed One gazes away from the collapsing box; his mind drifts. "If it is… what a glorious way to be completed."

Shuunk!

"Aaahhh!" Yog Sothoth's mind screeches.

"Oh," partially returning to his senses. "You felt that one, didn't you?"

Shuunk!

"Aaahhh!" Yog Sothoth's mind screeches shriller.

"They must be getting pretty close."

The thoughts of the captive's mind distort in random static. "Nyhuhr yhurlyurh eirir"

Emotionally distant and flat-toned: "I'm sorry. I couldn't understand that. Could you please rephrase?"

The sharp, panicked wails of The Lurker's mind rage out of control.

"No, that's worse."

Shuunk!

A thickened palate of tissues begins leaking.

Shuunk!

A noxious sound of wet, oozing meat slushes and pops.

Shuunk!

The sound repeats, followed by pungent glops hissing through the smallest of corridors.

Shuunk!

A vicious cesspool leaks behind X with a rotting odor that would be too much for humans.

Shuunk!

Shuunk!

clang, clang, clang, clang

Compressed metal rewards from the collapsed dimension. The vile fumes dissipate.

X returns to his former place, retrieving the bronze-golden plates formed from compression.

Cloak Clasps: Level 2

We return to the screen of the battle. It reverts to a natural view, and we sink to a flat in the rugged the acme.

The warzone of valleys, elevations, and rock walls lies all about us. A massive boot of vast digits cracks the platform before us. The twin blasphemies, minute in the distant perspective, turn with trembling. The view rises, tracing X with Hastur's robe wide open and complete with the eyes of their father. Though their injuries ran rampant, their whole bodies begin to corrode and blacken like gangrene throughout.

The display captivates through its myriad destruction. From the core they peel and part, the fibers unravel like filaments of rope. The limbs stretch and thin to oblivion. Bulbs de-circle, colors fade, layers melt, throats reverse, and mouths fold inside-out over their own bodies.
And species die.

The twisted remains of reversed bodies and melted layers condense and harden, flying to X as they take shape.

Armor Amendments: Clamp-Gloves

Segmented plates clamp onto his palms and finger segments. Their metal design is thin and snug, flexible and sturdy, awash in a faint gold, bronze, light metallic-pink color. The hand blades escape the plate gaps, surrounded on either side by scant mesh webbing. Permeable circlets allow the bio-cables to escape with ease. The gleam of the robe's 12 eyes reflect in the amendment.

X walks over to a melded rock pile and punches it (the blue aura has not faded). It breaks open into a shallow pit. From it, X retrieves a device not made by human hands. He breaks another rock pile to retrieve its other.

Auxiliary Weapons and Cloak Clasp Amendment: Torch of Nug, Furnace of Yeb

The hidden flames melt the rugged topography like molten gold. The consuming viscosity slides down the mountain in a few streaks. Soon enough, the forbidden mountains will be no more, and the programmed flames will fade away.

The soldiers stand in awe. "(It it time?)"

"Are you men ready?"

"Yes, General!"

J-S2 breaks through the surface of the arena around them. The glare of his controlled excitement shine through the pores as he tells them, "Then let's move out."

---

J-S2 crawls backwards down the shaft to get a running start.

[J-S2 POV]

We see the last of the sunset in the sky beyond the wide pallet. With a growl and a shutter, we shoot up the mountain several miles and launch off the top.

The vessel roars as we leap high above the clouds. The last of the red sun shines so beautifully as we run towards it. It gives us a final shimmer as the trajectory leads us back through the heavens to the long air's glide.

Sprushh

We soar through the water's surface so gracefully as the sky turns an aqua green. A sense of adventure seizes us as we head towards…

(The view tracks slowly behind, observing the vessel's travel through the dreamy blue sea. Across the globe, all the holy seals activate, converging their beams onto a specific are in the Pacific Ocean: 47°9'S 126°43'W.

The scratchy filter applies, then the edges of the screen surround. The edges continue inward, leaving a tiny sliver of the realm's space.

The screen shorts out. Steam escapes. And the screen explodes.)

_Towards 47°9'S 126°43'W_

X stands at the bow, admiring the gentle waves and soft starlight. After some time, his army approaches and fans behind him.

They begin to daydream while lulled by the night sky. A period passes, and they share their own dreams: what they had wanted while alive, what they look forward to now, and what it will be like when everything is redeemed and made whole.

The moments continue as the shared visions settle in their minds, and they continue to dream while lost in the night sky.

---

47°9'S 126°43'W

Hard to believe, under the gentle waters lies the danger below. But for now, it shall be undisturbed. X stands back, a motion that signals a coming change. J-S2 lifts out of the ocean and deep into the sky beyond the clouds.

Hidden above from all sight, there is no concern for surveillance. They can turn their full attention elsewhere. "Come," he tells them. "Let us prepare."

_The Great Feast_

We continue deep into the vessel's organic base once again. It's royal walls are lined with golden candles and satin ribbons: a grand invitation to the feast ahead.

We enter the great room with vibrant adornments, where congregations of beings are spread out in tables. Most are occupied by soldiers in old uniforms. They appear human except for blurry faces. A few other tables contain monsters we sense are our allies. The four we notice the most are:

The 1st monster is a squatty, fleshy being with thick, whipping extensions from his scalp. It could be likened to Medusa, but they are the same white-pink & tan-pink variations of its body. Though they often move, it's a different sense than snakes. There are 3 eyes on its fattened, rotund face like elliptical jewels. It wears a thin robe with designs akin to middle-eastern art.

The 2nd monster has a body substance between flowing cloth and a cloud. The outlines of its dark body beam with white shadows. It has long, indistinct arms ending like frayed clouds. Its possible legs are short stumps like dismembered trunks. The head of the large, semi-tubular body looks like a biohazard sign, especially with its 3 sets of horns.

The 3rd monster has a long lower body with 8 legs (like a scorpion). The base ends with an extended, rectangular mouth in front and behind. On the base's top-corners are something like insect upper body is mostly featureless, while the insectoid head is without any. The whole being has a purplish-blue exoskeleton like a plastic-metallic insect.

The 4th monster is the thin pulp of some being inside a machine body. The open frame exposes pins, thin pistons, internal wires, and the insides of overlapping metal sheets. The back is especially comprised of slanted sheets with sharp edges. The cased limbs end with straight razors and are accompanied by a second set of arms with no organic base. The face of two metal sheets tapers at the bottom and creases down the middle; the tribal paint looks like a mural. The dome atop bends ovally with the rear-ending sides forming into serrated blades. A larger, slicked-back blade is attached to the top. The body curves and slightly hunches with a were-reptilian elegance, and it moves with a combination of locking and fluidity.

We float over the joyous crowd to an elevated platform bearing a long table with elbowed extensions on either side. At the head table is X and his army.

At one elbow table is Elliot Spencer, Angelique, and as a guest of honor.

At the other are the sister luminaries and Dan (now known as Cyber Rider with the powers Freddy foolishly gave him).

The crowd enjoys their fine drink and meal in good company. The army goes with Duke to the rear for a minute. The crowd quiets with anticipation.

The army returns with the prized meal: the severed husks of Leviathan filled with his golden, cooked marrow and sinews. The baskets are set at the tables as the crowd takes generous portions.

As they feast, X opens the program with Cyber Rider taking the floor and performing stunts. His patterns and long jumps leave a fire trail behind. After an applause, he returns next to Alice and Jacob.

All the while, Henry Armitage passionately writes his experiences.

Next, X calls Angelique to his side. "This is Angelique, who surrendered herself in death. She was shown what she could have, given the gift of reprieve, and she did not resist. She decided to return to us. It feels good to have our prodigal daughter back." The crowd gives their warm approval.

X calls Elliot Spencer to join. "And Captain Elliot Spencer, now cleansed from the Hell Priest parasite, is free to help accordingly. Many of you have served with him in life. He and Angelique will guide your factions in the coming assault."

After the recognition and applause, X finishes. "I want to thank all of you for being here tonight. We will be more than just brothers-in-arms. We will be family." X steps back from the table to a higher platform. His personal army follows behind. X puts on what appears to be a quadruple-neck electric guitar, while the others go to their stations. "Therefore…" X strikes a cord. "Let us celebrate this feast of brotherhood together. Let us embrace this great feast of life!"

Transcendent music plays, one of polyrhythms, woven textures, and lush instruments. Rad works an assortment of electronics and synthesizers. Duke operates an array of percussions. The three brothers change through a host of horns and strings. Big Ben alternates between any additional assistance. And X plays his quadruple-neck guitar with his multiple limbs (the versatile tentacles handling two frets). His voice opens into a boundless world of unknown beauty and wonder.

The crowd celebrates in dance, feast, and mirth. Gala, music, and captivating lights continue deep into the night.

_Cthulhu Dream 8:The Great and Deadly Show_

We return once more to Cthulhu, sleeping in the weak light of his darkened chamber. He waits to dream.

And there is nothing.

He sees himself, stuck in a watery cell- unable to move, unable to escape.

Unable.

Then something-something like chains-raises him out of the water: out of the darkness and into the light.

Showlights.

The symphony plays as the showlights circle him. The distant crowd about him cheers.

Then "he" comes.

Down the tubular opening above he comes: The Unnamed One. His golden chains slither and undulate along the rim like fanciful appendages, slowly driving him down the passage. Showlights focus on him as the symphony plays a grand entrance. The crowd cheers.

With his open (yet unflapping) wings, he floats down to Cthulhu in a nearly-lain posture.

"Cthulhu!"


[perspective 1] X reaches to touch the octopoid face.

[perspective 2] "Welcome to…"

[perspective 1] X recoils into the air, spreading his limbs in a magnificent pose.

[perspective 2] "It's! Your! Death!"


Cthulhu finds himself bound to a nonagram as the symphony plays with royalty and suspense. Each of his limbs resides in a triangular end. The top one is reserved for his head.

His circular plane rotates clockwise, while the fanciful contraption above rotates counter. The contraption hangs nine swords attached to a geared timer. As the teeth move, so does the holding bar. And it won't be long. In fact…

First sword.

Though its dense weight carries it speedily, the display by the showlights demands its study. Like medieval artistry, the symmetry is balanced. The hilt is thick and fully horizontal, ending in fair blocks. The wrap for the handle is perfectly swirled. The blade is of consistent width until forming the tip. And the polish shines nearly white as it gorges the light.

It falls without shifting.

Studying the sword in his arm, Cthulhu doesn't hear the second bar click.

Shriiing, slam-stab-splat!

Looking to the opposite arm, Cthulhu is trapped on both sides.

The third sword falls.

Then the fourth.

And fifth.

Six, seven, eight.

Nine.

Shriiing, slam-stab-splat!

Yyyeeeaaahhh!-Whistle!-Yyyeeeaaahhh!-Clap- Yyyeeeaaahhh!-Cheer!-Yyyeeeaaahhh!

[Cthulhu POV]

The Unnamed One approaches, pulling our detached head off the nonagram and to his face. "You were great. You played your part perfectly." His hand raises us into the air, then slams us through a trapdoor in the ground.

We continue deep into the watery channel while intrigued by the sights around us.

The pressure increases. Greater. Greater.

Too much!

Our head squeezes.

Then it implodes.


There is nothing left.

_Day of Rest_

The feast is completed. Lain throughout the halls are fancy bedrolls like surrogate wombs. The organic ground is so comfortable and massaging. Scanning over them, we see how peaceful they are.

We continue deeper into further quarters until we reach X's primary army, sleeping near a wall. We travel up the wall and follow a great artery. As the artery widens, we see X deep within its chamber, his breathing fluctuates the membrane. A yellowish current (a form that is shocking like electricity but smooth like water) opens above. It flows into him and expands to the inhabitants throughout.

The web of explosives is finished. The water churners are operational. All weapons are cleaned and sharp.

There is nothing else to do for the day but rest. A full day of rest. All the preparations have been made. There are no more concerns.

For tomorrow, they will be rested.

For tomorrow, they will be armed.

For tomorrow, they will be ready.

For tomorrow is…