Eldritch Night Read online

  J. M. Hamm

  Eldritch Night

  Book One of the Dark Hierophant Saga

  Copyright 2018 J. Marcus Hamm

  Prologue

  I slowed my truck as I reached the end of a long driveway. My tires dug into the soft gravel as I stopped, sending small pebbles to ding against the underside of my truck. The house itself was small and yellow, its paint long ago faded from the sun. Green shutters lined windows that had been thrown wide open, letting in the waning sunlight and releasing the smell of freshly made lemon bars.

  “Liv?” I yelled as I stepped out of my truck. “Troy? You guys here? Whatever you’re cooking smells delicious.”

  I stepped around a yellow and green moving truck as I walked towards the porch. The sliding door at the rear of the truck was still open, revealing lines of neatly stacked boxes and a few pieces of furniture covered with blankets. From beneath a cloth I saw the white marble of one of the godawful pillars Liv’s mother had given her as a wedding present.

  Liv would never leave them behind. She and I shared that instinct. We had both lost people close to us, and we clung to the things that held their memories. My eyes lingered on the truck for a moment, as my hands grasped at my brown leather jacket. Some memories were too painful to linger on, and yet even still, we kept the artifacts that linked us to them.

  “So, what’s going on guys?” I yelled.

  I walked up the porch steps and knocked before opening the screen door. The wire mesh still had a gash in the center from the time Troy and I had got drunk and started trying to hit each other with darts. Liv had never forgiven us for the holes we had put in the walls. She was even less pleased when she saw the tear I had created while trying to dodge a bottle tossed by a drunken Troy.

  I knocked again, before walking into an empty room. I stomped my feet as I kicked off my boots trying to make as much noise as possible while doing so.

  “You guys moving and didn’t tell me?”

  The house was spotless, except for a few boxes that littered the bare floors. The pictures had even been taken down revealing small squares of white that stood out against the yellowed wallpaper. My eyes lingered for a moment on the faded crayon drawings around the bottom of the walls.

  “Gus!” Liv shouted as she ran from the kitchen, throwing her arms around me. “How the hell have you been? We haven’t seen you in weeks.”

  “I’m … good,” I stammered. “Busy with school. I, uh, got your calls though.”

  Liv squeezed my shoulders before pushing herself away. She looked up at me as she brushed a strand of blond hair behind her ear, revealing a long scar above her eyebrow.

  “You should come in,” she said. “I wanted to tell you in person.”

  “What did you want to tell me?” I asked.

  “Let’s get Troy, first,” she answered, “do you want some tea? I’m out of coffee.”

  “None for me, thanks. It’s getting late, and I wasn’t planning on staying long.”

  I could hear Troy yelling at a television in the other room. The volume was loud enough that I could hear every word of a commenter discussing a fumbled ball.

  “I take it Troy’s in there,” I pointed towards the back room.

  “You know it,” Liv said as she offered me a plate of lemon bars. “Could you get him to turn that thing off for a moment?”

  “Ah, sure,” I took a delectable square of lemony goodness and walked toward the sound of sports announcers and an angry Troy. I wasn’t sure which was louder.

  As I entered the room, I saw Troy decked out in full scarlet and black regalia, screaming at the TV while completely oblivious to everything else around him.

  “Go Tigers!” I yelled, the only surefire way to get his attention.

  “Fuck you,” Troy mumbled without any anger as he paused the game. “We’re getting our asses handed to us and then you come in here with that fucking mojo? It’s bad enough half of our offense graduated last year.”

  “Good to see you too,” I said.

  Troy stood up to give me a quick side hug, “you doing okay? You don’t look so great. I mean you always look like shit, like the mopey offspring of Chewbacca and the slender man. But today you seem off, tired maybe?”

  “And you’re a catch?” I asked.

  “Well,” he shrugged, “I did marry the prom queen.”

  “Yeah, yeah, don’t let Liv hear you talking like that. By the way, she wanted me to get you.”

  “Oh shit, you haven’t heard the news yet?”

  “No, not —” I began to say, just as Liv entered the room and set a small pitcher of sweet tea on the coffee table.

  “Glad to see you two boys getting along,” she smiled. “Troy wouldn’t tell you this, but he’s missed you these past few months.”

  “So, uh,” I mumbled, “what’s going on with the truck?”

  “Here,” Liv handed me a folded letter.

  As soon as I saw the letterhead I knew what it was, but I scanned it anyways to make sure it had those magic words, ‘We’re happy to inform you …’

  “You got in? That’s great Liv, you deserve it. When do you leave?”

  “Tomorrow,” Troy answered, “We’re heading out a few weeks early to get things set up.”

  “That’s … I don’t know what to say. I wish I had known earlier.”

  “We only decided to go a few days ago,” Liv said, leaning into my shoulder. “Troy just started a new job, and I’ve never really left Charleston before. And with everything that happened with … We’ll be in touch, though. Promise.”

  “So,” Troy said as he sank back into the sofa and grabbed the remote. “You going to stay for Pizza? It should be here soon. Maybe help me with the last of these boxes?”

  “Yeah, no problem.”

  Chapter One: Day Breaks, Night Falls

  The drive home started off peaceful. I rolled my windows down to enjoy the cool night air, as the heat of day gradually faded. The splendid oranges of dusk were just beginning to darken, and a full moon illuminated a starless sky.

  I loved these long drives home at night. I didn’t have to worry about studying, or why my best friends had been avoiding me and were now running away. It was just me and the road. There were no distractions, even my phone was turned off and had been tossed into the seat behind me.

  As I rounded the final turn before I before the long stretch of dirt road that led to my cheap apartment, I noticed what looked like a shooting star. It cut through the night, dividing it with a fiery trail that was steadily getting larger. I shaded my eyes with one hand and slammed on the brakes as the light continued to grow.

  At the same instant that my truck slid to a stop, the sky exploded. The horizon lit up with intermittent flashes of gold and red. As the sky began to burn, I felt a coldness descend over me, chilling me to the core and leaving me unable to move.

  The sky continued to grow brighter until a line opened directly in front of me, dissecting the sky in fiery ripples. It gradually grew larger and the flashing lights allowed brief glimpses of a churning darkness that was slowly growing from the tear. It was both beautiful and terrifying.

  Tendrils began to spin out from the center of the darkness, each one dancing and writhing independently from each other. There was no apparent pattern to the movement, but the shifting shadows were strangely mesmerizing. They burned themselves into my mind in a way I can never cleanse. The darkness spun, as it still does in my dreams, a wreath of death upon the sky.

  I stared, transfixed, and the darkness gazed back. Folds of shadow twisted and spun to reveal an eye. It burned red, as large, and as bright as the sun. The world froze, and my mind retreated. I cannot name the unfathomable things I saw within that gaze. When I think of it my mind shuts down in panic, unable
to comprehend the horror of the images that swam before me.

  The sky lit up once more as the eye retreated. A shimmering gold and white light turned night into day, blinding my still confused eyes. The world came apart around me and I stared blankly into the sky.

  Asphalt and gravel swirled around my truck as it was lifted into the air, leaving a crumbling road behind. Trees and rocks spiraled around me, slamming into each other with resounding force. I heard the screech of bending metal as something large and heavy slammed into the bed of my truck.

  I could hear screams, probably my own, but they were muffled and sounded far away, as if underwater. I felt the crash as a wave of force that moved through me. The air was driven from my lungs and my screams were silenced.

  My bones vibrated and shattered, pushed out of place to make room for organs and limbs as they repositioned themselves in unfamiliar alignments. It should have been painful, but it all happened in slow motion and felt as though it were happening to someone else. It was like a dream or a half-forgotten memory.

  I tried to reach out to grab onto something, anything, but all I could find was smoke. It tasted acrid and bitter as it forced its way into lungs and burned my eyes. I remember the heat on my arms and the glow of embers as flame danced around me. Inch by inch, they consumed everything, growing ever closer.

  I gasped for breath, but my chest wouldn’t rise. I couldn’t focus, and I felt cold. My mind was hazy, but for a moment I saw the form of a man leaning over me, watching.

  Then, I saw nothing.

  ***

  Congratulations!

  “ … the fuck?” I summarized.

  I awoke to a strangely chipper robotic voice in my head and a translucent screen that was visible even with my eyes closed.

  His hunger knows no bounds, and you have awoken him, but fear not! The Old One, Crimson Hunter of the Void, has been contained! The Hegemony of Worlds has accepted your planet as a provisional Tier 4 member. Your world, and all its citizens, will be given the opportunity to grow and develop to meet the coming challenges.

  For more information, please think “menu” and then select “guide.” Good luck.

  System loading…. Basic stats package prepared! “Stats” can be viewed by thinking "stats" or “status” at any time.

  Augustus Finn

  Class: N/A

  Level: 1

  Stamina (r/ per second): 16/16 (0.133)

  Mana (r/ per minute): 19/19 (0.633)

  Might: 8

  Agility: 6

  Reaction: 6

  Intellect: 9

  Perception: 10

  Focus: 5

  Phys. Resist: 1

  Mag. Resist: 1

  I looked down at myself, expecting broken bones and charred flesh. I stretched my arms out, stretching my limbs experimentally. I was not only whole, I had never felt better. As I stood I felt nearly weightless, and my arms felt as though they could bend steel. Even the faint edge of tiredness was gone as if I had just woken from the best sleep of my life.

  I wanted to try deadlifting a truck or deflecting bullets with my chest. The euphoria was almost like a drug. My mental health, on the other hand, I wasn’t so sure about. Flashing screens were competing for my attention and the things they were saying were clearly impossible.

  Congratulations! You met your new life on the brink of life and death, and yet you persevered through sheer determination and adaptability. New feat(s) unlocked – Reactive Adaptability Ⓛ! All resistances +1!

  Congratulations! You have unlocked your first feat! Random common skill(s) unlocked –

  Arcane bolt © 0/10!

  Congratulations! You have entered your first dungeon!! Every adventure begins with a single step, and this is yours. As a Dungeon Delver ®, you gain +1 unallocated stat(s) per level!!

  You currently have three (3) unallocated stats.

  I looked away from the screens, trying to learn more about my surroundings. Beneath me was a pool of blood. It was probably my own, and yet I didn’t have so much as a bruise on me.

  My eyes followed a trail of the dark liquid back to what remained of my sky-blue pickup. It was almost completely destroyed. The bed, and everything in it, had been sheared off and there was no trace of where it had gone. Only a twisted cab remained. The roof of the truck was completely caved in, with bits of jagged metal where the driver’s side seat should have been.

  The passenger seat was the only thing still intact. I reached into the cab and retrieved my green canvas backpack and the brown leather jacket that was still folded neatly in the center of the seat. It was an old bombers jacket that had once belonged to my grandfather. The image of a Valkyrie holding a spear above a burning biplane flying over a roman numeral “XIII” adorned the otherwise faded jacket. I concentrated on the memories contained in that jacket and managed to stave off panic, if only briefly.

  A faint green light illuminated my immediate surroundings and drew my eyes upwards. I was beneath an impossibly high domed ceiling that was alive with swaying tendrils that glowed with blue and green bioluminescence. It was beautiful, almost like stars floating on the surface of a black and swaying ocean.

  I turned as I heard a scratching sound behind me, but when I looked I found only empty darkness. The only thing I could hear was the faint susurrus of flowing water coming from somewhere in the distance.

  “Hello?” I shouted.

  The only reply was a quiet echo.

  I could feel the pressure of my blood running through my veins as my heart began to beat faster. I could hear it pumping as it flowed through my ears, a steady drumming that drowned out all else. My hands grew cold and sweaty.

  Something was there, and yet I couldn’t see or hear anything. Some primal sense I had never felt before in my sheltered upbringing was warning me of danger.

  I tried to quiet my racing mind by assessing the situation and stopping to take a few deep breaths. I was obviously hallucinating, alone, and apparently underground. If I wasn’t dead, I must have been kidnapped and inserted into some kind of psychological experiment. Or torture.

  I also wasn’t ruling out this being Hell.

  No matter how unreal it seemed, however, I had to treat it as real if I was going to survive. Hopefully, I could find someone to explain what was going on.

  Before that could happen, I needed to find food, water, and shelter. I could hear flowing water coming from somewhere further into the cavern, so I moved in that direction. The faint green glow only allowed me to see a few feet in front of me and I quickly lost all sense of direction. The only guide I had was the faint rumble of flowing water.

  I knew I needed to stop ignoring the implications of those floating status screens. If I really did have new abilities, and I certainly felt stronger, then I needed to experiment with them. Besides, who didn’t secretly dream of playing with magic? I felt dumb just thinking it, but I tried it anyway. For science.

  I held my hand out expectantly and tried to imagine a what an arcane bolt would look like. I stood there, motionless with one arm held uselessly in front of me.

  This is dumb, I thought. I wasn’t playing some tabletop where I can throw magic missiles just by thinking about it. At that same moment a small sphere, a barely visible wisp of blue light, shot from my fingertips.

  My hand had already started to fall to my side and the projectile struck my thigh. I barely felt the impact, but it burned a hole through my jeans and lines of steam were spiraling up from my leg.

  The light had done nothing to illuminate the gloom and it seemed nearly worthless as an attack, but … “Magic! I just did magic.”

  It was hard to contain my excitement as I clenched my fists and held them up by my shoulders as I began dancing around. I couldn’t contain my shouts as I launched three more arcane bolts into the waiting darkness.

  On the fourth, however, a few blue sparks fizzled into a puff of smoke. I tried again but got nothing. I thought, “menu,” and my stats were instantly displayed in front of
me. I was searching for a ‘guide’ or descriptions, but the problem instantly became apparent.

  I only had three mana remaining, I would have to find a way to replenish it before I could use more magic. I had never been much of a ‘gamer,’ but the concept of mana was ubiquitous enough for even me to instantly grasp. Cosmic power at the tip of my fingers but still reduced to managing resources.

  Just as I began moving again, the number ticked up a single point and I experimentally pointed my hand forward and gave the mental command. A thin, wispy line launched forward as I watched my mana drain to zero.

  I could feel a strange weakness as if some muscle I wasn’t aware I had was completely atrophied. It was a bit like the mental fatigue from trying to study too long, and it carried the same exhaustion and pressure at the back of my head.

  I rubbed at my eyes, but I knew the only fix was time. A quick run and a nap and I’d be as good as new. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be an option.

  I opened my eyes and saw a small shadow dart in front of me before disappearing into the darkness. Its feet clicked as it skittered across the hard stone floor. I turned as I heard more of the feet circling from behind.

  I had a glimpse of thick, hairy legs and large black orbs flying towards me. I reflexively cast arcane bolt, but nothing happened.

  Many limbs, long and powerful, wrapped around me. My arms were pinned, so I was forced to watch helplessly as two fangs longer than my thumb sank into my shoulder. A large, reflective orb stared down at me, showing me my own contorted face as I screamed in pain.

  My chest tightened, and I lost the ability to scream as my body stiffened and convulsed. I could taste copper in my mouth as the metallic smell of blood mixed with the rancid scent of burning flesh. The last thing I remembered was my limbs going numb as I struck the cold floor.

  Chapter Two: Through Darkness Crept

  I woke up gasping. My tongue was dry and swollen, and my mouth was full of the taste of rust and bile. The faint traces of a dream were fading as my conscious mind took over and struggled with the reality of where I was. My heart raced, and I tried to scream through a swollen throat. The only sound I produced was a raspy cough.