Ch.140Act 1: Ch.9 – The King Sleeps in Carcosa (9)

PM 8:32

Western Reservoir

Arkham

Stammering, swallowing dry saliva, and occasionally feeling the urge to hit the brakes, I told Emma about what I had experienced and seen. What I had witnessed after setting foot in the reservoir. Why blood had stained the Necronomicon.

What I had seen in the city of Aldebaran.

Emma listened silently. Occasionally she would stroke her neck, and each time she coughed, my heart tightened. Still, I somehow managed to finish my story.

Then before us appeared the white, burned forest of the reservoir.

As we got out of the car, the smell of melted ash overwhelmed us. Arkham’s firefighters hadn’t left a single ember behind, but they couldn’t pull down the dust floating in the air. Between the scorched and cracked ground, reddish clay soil was visible.

“So this is the reservoir.” Closing the passenger door, Emma looked up at the sky. She squinted, turning her head from side to side. “Where’s that security office you mentioned?”

“Over there.”

I couldn’t look her straight in the eye. The bruises left on her neck vividly testified to what I—no, my body—had done. Emma shook her head.

“That wasn’t you back then. You know that, right? You were entranced. From the moment you went near that damn reservoir, you were practically covered in honey. Of course flies would swarm to you.”

“Even so…”

“Close your eyes and cover your ears.”

I pointed to my ears. Emma nodded. As soon as I covered my ears with my palms—

Slap!

My left cheek stung, then quickly burned hot. Emma shook her wrist.

“Not enough?”

I offered my other cheek.

Smack!

An even stronger blow than before. Emma showed no mercy. When I carefully moved my tongue to check, I tasted blood. The inside of my mouth seemed to be cut. Emma folded her arms.

“Feel better?”

I spat out bloody saliva. Emma didn’t apologize. I didn’t complain either. We both knew we had no time. Taking a hit like this was cleaner anyway.

“That’s enough.”

“Good. Let’s go.” Though she said that, Emma was rubbing both her wrists. She must have twisted them wrong. I called out to stop her.

“Emma?”

Sparkling but indifferent eyes stared at me. Somehow those eyes resembled the insensitive and quiet universe.

“How do you… distinguish between what’s real and what isn’t?”

Was it my imagination that Emma seemed flustered? Or was she just startled by the ash blown by the wind? The priestess of Hyperborea appeared quite taken aback. I continued speaking. I felt I needed to buy her some time.

“What I mean is, I’m afraid I might hurt you again.”

“You don’t trust yourself, do you?”

Emma moved closer to me. I had nothing to say. I wasn’t confident I could maintain control. Emma’s finger touched my forehead, and I closed my eyes. Her warm touch gently pressed down on my eyelids.

“What you did was a reaction. A reflexive response. Natural and inevitable. Don’t be ashamed of what happened when you didn’t know. But now you *do know.* Where you’re vulnerable, when you break down.”

“…Yes. I want to know how you distinguish.”

Emma gently stroked the side of my head.

“I don’t know either.”

I blinked. There was no hint of joking on Emma’s face.

“As you said, I move between two worlds. Now it’s as natural as breathing, but I had to pay a heavy price for that. I had to leave my family. Did things no one would understand. Wandered without finding a way to suppress my own confusion… and separated from my sister.”

Emma dropped her arms weakly.

“Ha. Ha. Catherine. That child… is more idealistic than me. She knows how to close her eyes to what can’t possibly happen. In the moment of truth, I was stubborn, and she lied. Even though she experienced exactly what I heard and saw.”

“So what happened?”

“My sister became a doctor and a government official, while her big sister steals her ID and enjoys dates with a man who strangled her neck at a burned-out reservoir. Wonderful life, isn’t it?”

Emma spread her arms and turned elegantly, as if dancing.

“I don’t have much to tell you. All I can say is to try. Some knowledge in this world cannot be conveyed through words. Things you must shake off yourself, things you must learn yourself… it’s like learning to walk.

No matter how many times you explain walking to a child, will a baby whose head is as big as its body suddenly stand up and walk? All you can do is make them walk, hold them so they don’t fall, and when they scrape their knees and cry, go comfort them… but then make them walk again. That’s the path you’ve entered.”

A desolate wind blew. White ash scattered. Yes. I had already entered. I had already stepped onto an unwanted path.

“What you need to listen to,” Emma placed her palm on my chest.

“Is here. Don’t react to outside voices. Take control. Remember that whatever you see or hear, you can decide your actions. It will feel like a burning blade slicing from the nape of your neck to your temple, but even then, you can choose. Learn to be grateful that when the god of death smiles before you, you can still roll your eyes and wiggle your toes.”

Emma reached out her hand to me.

It was far from her sister’s fair, delicate hand. It was a hand full of scars, scratches, and burn marks. How many memories must be contained in each scar? I couldn’t even imagine how many harsh things she had touched before a burn mark became a pattern.

So I grasped that hand. Emma smiled faintly.

“As long as you don’t close the door to your heart, remember that you are never alone.”

* * * * *

We found lanterns in the office. They were older than the previous ones but had more oil. We each took one and lit them with matches.

Disappointingly, we couldn’t find anything special in the office. The ledgers and documents only revealed that this construction was carried out by Arkham City.

“Nothing special here.” I closed the page of the last ledger.

“Are you sure?”

“To my eyes.”

“Then it’s time to see something else.”

Emma snapped her fingers. Suddenly everything around us brightened. It was as if colors had been inverted. Black things turned white, and white things darkened. It felt like watching a negative film.

A human figure passed through me.

Even though it went right through me, I couldn’t even scream. If Emma hadn’t shaken her head and covered her mouth with her finger, I might have run away. Emma’s finger pointed to a calendar hanging on the wall.

1884.

Only then did I slowly examine my surroundings. People were bustling about. Suspenders, hair neatly styled with pomade. People writing by hand at each shiny desk. An errand boy noting schedules on the wall chart, a kettle boiling water, noise from outside…

The door opened. Removing his cowboy hat, a clean-shaven man entered. That face I knew… E. Derby.

“Damn farmland.”

He shouted.

“Never seen land like that in my life. Another worker was carried away. Can you believe it? Just a week. He worked for just a week! Then he collapsed, bleeding from his entire body. Like meat that’s been boiled too long, can a person collapse like that?”

“Edward!”

A man with a monocle from the back of the office jumped to his feet.

“What nonsense are you talking about? Watch your mouth!”

“Father. We’ve been deceived. This place is cursed land! More than ten workers quit this week alone!”

“Damn son, is that something to say in front of employees!”

With a slap, the man with the monocle struck Edward Derby’s cheek. I guessed this man must be Ephraim Derby. The 1884 ledger cover clearly stated Ephraim & Edward Derby Civil Engineering Company, so they must be father and son.

“Am I saying anything wrong!” Edward talked back.

“Arkham City still hasn’t paid the interim payment. That talk about paying when construction progresses is bullshit! Rumors have spread all over Arkham City, and no one comes when they hear it’s the cursed wasteland construction! We’re recruiting workers from Kingsport, Ipswich, even Innsmouth! We might have to go to Boston next, and you’re not even angry, Father?”

“Isn’t it your job to appease the workers!”

“Father. We’ve been deceived.” Edward sat on a nearby desk.

“It’s a clever scheme. Getting paid in installments according to construction progress? Yes. That’s normal. It’s hard to find construction that doesn’t work that way. But, damn it, for land like this, they should have paid more upfront! Or provided more workers!”

“Talk sense!” Ephraim’s spit flew from his mouth.

“Workers going crazy because of colors? Dead Nahum Gardner walking around? You want me to believe the nonsense you and your drunk fools talk about? Among those who quit, which one wasn’t drunk? That dead guy? I know he fell and broke his neck while humming drunk!”

“Father!” Edward slammed his fist on the desk. Blood streamed down.

“Drinking? That can happen. But it’s rare for them to work until they’re dead drunk. They say they hear sounds. Light comes from the ground, colors float around, and whippoorwills…! Please, let’s at least shoot those birds! Those bastards come even in dreams and peck out my eyeballs!”

Father Ephraim had no chance to stop him. Edward grabbed the rifle hanging on the wall and rushed outside.

Snap.

Emma snapped her fingers. Everything froze. Edward with half his body through the doorway. The surprised employees looking at him. Father Ephraim with his fist clenched. It was like a scene from a paused black and white film.

“This is as far as the memories I can see go.”

Emma approached me. Through desks, people, stacks of papers. Through all of it.

“You’d probably investigate the fate of this civil engineering company better than I could. And how this construction ended.”

“That man,” I pointed at Edward. “He was in the vision I saw. He introduced himself as a security guard and talked about Nahum Gardner. The description of meat… it was exactly the same.”

“What did he say?”

“He said it regurgitates the creatures it has eaten and then seduces. Yes, that’s definitely what he said.”

“One.”

I looked at Emma. She was counting the number of people in the office.

“Fifteen. Including the ‘workers’ outside, there would be more people. What you saw was that farmer Nahum Gardner. And Edward Derby. Just those two people.”

Emma snapped her fingers again. All the visions disappeared. All that remained was the old, abandoned office. Emma wiped her forehead.

“A meteorite fell from the sky. It’s certain that it devoured Nahum Gardner and everything on the land, then the construction site workers here… and even Edward Derby. I don’t know what process it went through, but the reservoir was eventually built.”

“Yes.”

“Strange.”

Tap.

Emma closed her eyes.

“Something doesn’t add up. That thing by the lake… whatever it is, it’s a very skilled hunter. Like an anglerfish from the deep sea. A vicious creature that opens its mouth wide and waits for prey to walk in on their own. Professor Armitage and his expedition weren’t sucked in. They were just found exhausted. Of course… the professor has enough knowledge about ancient gods, so he might have prepared countermeasures.”

“Are you saying it’s strange that Professor Armitage was excluded while everyone else was sucked in?”

“That’s strange, and…”

Emma rubbed between her eyebrows with her finger.

“The fact that you… that you were released from there. That’s strange too. There’s only one case where a hunter deliberately releases its prey. To catch something bigger.”

Tap. Tap.

There was a slight noise. Not enough to be disturbing. Emma seemed to think the same as she continued speaking.

“Despite the lake being in this state, the city is still trying to develop it. That means they don’t know the truth. Or they know and are doing it deliberately.”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Emma stopped talking. Something was tapping on the office window.

Creak… tap. Creak…

The worn-out door kept opening with the wind.

“Do you see that?”

Emma’s lips twitched. She pointed to the window. Outside was a whippoorwill. Tap, tap-tap. The bird was pecking at the window as if knocking.

Another one flew in. Tap-tap. Tap-tap. Tap-tap. The two seemed to be harmonizing. Like uninvited guests interrupting a piano solo. Another one flew in. Tap-tap. Tap. Tap-tap. Tap. Tap-tap. Tap.

One more. One more. Yet another. The window vibrated noisily. In the lantern light, blood could be seen flowing from the birds’ beaks. Squeak. Creak! Birds could be seen gathering at the office door. Not just one. Two. Four. Eight. Sixteen. Thirty-two!

I ran to the door. Caw-aw-aw-aw-aw! The whippoorwills all opened their torn mouths at once. Quaw-aw-aw-aw-aw! They opened beaks larger than their heads, revealing bright red throats. I closed the door. Tap, tap-tap-tap! The sound of beaks hitting the wooden door could be heard. I pushed a nearby desk to barricade the door.

Snap!

Emma snapped her fingers again. Like black and white, the colors inverted again. And then I saw.

Whippoorwills with human heads. Birds with human faces, empty eye sockets, smashed noses and lips smearing against the glass windows.

They were calling one name.

Ssssssssssssssssssssssss

Cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Ssssssssssssssssssssssss

Cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Blue flames rose from Emma Scully’s hand.

“It was a trap.”