Guilt

Nyarlathotep expected the Eye’s universe to be a giant court room, or perhaps a prison cell. As such, she was surprised when she arrived to find the entire universe shrouded in darkness. As with the Dying Man, her more pragmatic side debated immediately destroying everything before the Fear could attempt any tricks, but curiosity proved stronger, and she started exploring, using her flaming sword to light the way.

“Hey!” She shouted in a voice much deeper than would be expected from her appearance. “Get the fuck out here so I can stab you and leave!”

Something did appear in the darkness, but it was not the disembodied eye that Nyarlathotep had been expecting. It was a woman, who looked impossibly familiar to Nyarlathotep.

“Lisa?” Her voice suddenly sounded like I-330’s again.

Lisa look at Nyarlathotep with sad blue eyes. “Why, 330?”

A chain appeared around Nyarlathotep’s leg, but she didn’t seem to notice it. “This is an illusion.” She said. “You died. I remember it. I was you when it happened.”

“Yes. I did die. Because you couldn’t save me.”

Another chain appeared around Nyarlathotep’s other leg. “I tried the best I could!”

“And look at what you did as a result. Did you think that’s what I wanted? Did you think I would be happy to come back and find out how many people you murdered in order to save me? That I’d be grateful enough to forgive the fact that you destroyed the entire universe?”

A chain wrapped around Nyarlathotep’s arm, making her drop her sword. She still didn’t react. “I… I thought… maybe I could make things better…. After I saved you, I could fix things….”

“How? You can’t just take back everything you did. People died. All for something that didn’t even work. How can you justify that? How can you keep fighting, acting like it’s all someone else’s fault?”

“I just… I….” More chains continued appearing around her, pulling Nyarlathotep to her knees. “All I wanted was to get you back. Is that too much? Is it wrong for me to want something worthwhile in my life?” A tear went down Nyarlathotep’s face, and more rapidly followed. “I’ve been fighting nothing but losing battles my whole life! I’ve seen humanity killed twice right before my eyes, and all I could do about it was try to get revenge on the perpetrators! Everyone I’ve gotten close to has died!” Her body shook with sobs. “And it’s always my fault. Everything I try to do only makes things worse. I keep fighting, hoping to change things for the better, because it’s the only thing I know how to do. But instead of fixing everything, I just keep breaking it even worse.”

A chain wrapped around Nyarlathotep’s neck, but she still didn’t resist. “The time I spent with you was the only time I was ever really happy.” She said. “The only time there was some peace in my life. There was actually someone in the world who loved me. Not some idea of me, but just me. I didn’t have to constantly act like a perfect, energetic adventurer for her. She saw me at my worst, when I was crippled and angry at everything but she still loved me. Even when I acted like I would never return her feelings. And she was everything I wished I could be, everything I used to be before I turned into this monster. Of course I tried to get her back. Who wouldn’t fight with everything they had to get something like that back?”

Lisa stepped closer, and put her hand on Nyarlathotep’s shoulder. “No one can doubt your motivations. But you went too far. You need to accept that it’s pointless to keep fighting. Accept that I’m gone. It’s over, 330. You can rest now.”

Nyarlathotep’s sobs grew softer as the chains tightened around her. And then, almost hidden by her crying, a chuckle. Then another. And another. The tears stopped, and Nyarlathotep laughed madly as the chains that had been holding her began to break apart and fall away. “Over?” She said. “No. Not yet. I haven’t lost yet. I can still win this. I can fix everything. I have that power now.” She looked at Lisa and laughed. “So what if Lisa died? I’ll make a new her! One who will approve of the actions I took to bring her back! And I’ll make sure she stays by my side forever!”

“But you can’t-”

“Shut up!” Nyarlathotep roared, her voice again becoming deep and powerful. “How dare you wear her face! How dare you pretend to know anything about what she would have thought!” Nyarlathotep picked up her sword and advanced on Lisa.

“330… please… please don’t….”

“Shut up shut up SHUT UP!” Nyarlathotep swung her sword through Lisa. Lisa’s body vanished, and in its place was a large, floating eye. Nyarlathotep screamed and swung again, cutting the Eye in half. As it died, so did its universe.

Only silence followed. Yet another Fear had been destroyed. Just three remained. Three, and the Slender Man.

Nyarlathotep spat at the spot where the Eye had been. It did nothing to soothe her anger. Nothing but the continued destruction of her foes would calm her now. They would meet their death soon. She intended to make sure of it.

Nyarlathotep

The scars from Grendel’s revolution still covered the Empty City, in the ruins and rubble from the fighting. The Black Dog stalked through the streets, as the Intrusion’s thousands of insects swarmed around its feet. The Rake watched from inside the skyscrapers, patiently waiting. They all knew that I-330’s path of destruction would eventually take here there. All they needed to do was wait.

They had not accounted for her expecting their presence. As the Rake walked down a twisted hallway, I-330 appeared next to it. It barely managed to step aside before her fist went by its head. Instead she struck the wall behind it, smashing it and the air around it into a hole of emptiness.

The Rake fled, leaping out a window onto the streets. I-330 followed it, jumping out seconds after. Halfway through the jump she regretted the choice, as she looked at the horde of insects below. Her arm became a tentacle and lashed down, shattering the street and scattering the bugs. The Rake had already begun bounding away when she landed, and I-330 attempted to pursue. But when she took a step, her feet sunk into the asphalt streets like quicksand. She smashed the ground to free her foot, but with each further step her feet sank again, slowing her progress. The Rake turned into an alley and was lost from sight, but the Intrusion remained. The swarm had recovered from I-330’s attack, and was racing at her like a black cloud. There were too many to scatter like before, and the sucking asphalt made dodging impossible.

She closed her eyes, and felt everything around her. The air. The atoms spinning and bouncing. Energy moving between them. She focused on that energy, moved it into new forms, then snapped her fingers….

An explosion ripped through the swarm, crushing and burning the bugs. The blast was larger than I-330 had anticipated, and she was picked up and thrown several feet. When she got back up, the City was shifting. Buildings move and streets twisted before her eyes, into alien shapes and forms. As the towers moved, one skyscraper tilted, and began to fall toward I-330. She started to run, but walls grew from the streets around her, cutting off any escape. The building was almost on top of her; no time to think, just react. She held up a hand, and the moment the building touched, she shifted all the kinetic energy from its impact away. It’s landing felt lighter than a feather on her hand, but now she was stuck holding up a massive skyscraper with one hand, and a massive amount of energy looking for an outlet.

A howl echoed through the City, and the Black Dog leapt over the walls, looking to take advantage of I-330’s trapped position. As it came close, I-330 closed her eyes again, raised her free hand toward the Dog, and pointed a finger at it, miming a gun. Just as it pounced, she released all the energy from the skyscraper falling out of the finger. All that energy, focused on a single, tiny point, struck the Dog, and sent if flying. Its body broke through one of the walls, and kept going down the street, without any sign of slowing. The road cracked and windows shattered at the speed of its passing, until it slammed into another building at the end of the road. The whole tower came crashing down on the Dog, creating a cloud of debris that billowed over I-330.

It took some time, but the cloud of dust settled. I-330 had gotten out from under the building she’d been holding, and was coughing heavily. She took several deep breaths, which only caused her to cough more. Now the only question was, had it done any actual damage. It had certainly looked impressive, but….

The rubble flew off, and the Dog emerged, completely unharmed. It growled with a deep sound that shook the dust off it, and ran down the street so fast it looked to I-330 like a black blur. She just had time to mutter, “Oh shit,” before it was on her, teeth flashing. She raised her left arm to protect herself, and the Dog bit through and tore the limb off. Pipes burst from under the street and wrapped around I-330’s neck, dragging and pinning her to the ground. The Dog’s mouth went for her head, so she closed her eyes and started frantically moving as many air molecules as she could. A gust of wind hit the Black Dog and carried it down the street, buying I-330 time for her arm to recover. She broke apart the pipe holding her and got back up, preparing to meet the Dog’s second charge.

The ground shook slightly as the City shifted again. Buildings were sliding aside, creating a grand avenue. I-330 couldn’t understand the purpose behind the change, until she saw what was at the end of the avenue. At first, she thought she was looking at a black wall. When it moved, she realized it was a horde of insects, larger than any she’d ever thought could exist. The Empty City was moving to make way for the entirety of the Intrusion’s swarm to fall upon I-330.

The Swarm from one end of the street, and the Black Dog charging from the other. The City kept shifting, closing off alleys or other escape routes I-330 could take. She would have to stand and fight there. Her mind raced, trying to figure out her options, attempting to narrow down to the best one….

She punched her tentacles through the street, and started to spread them under the road. A sound came over the City, the sound of concrete and metal screaming. The Dog and Intrusion kept coming at I-330, ignoring the sound. I-330 didn’t react to them, keeping her attention focused entirely on the ground. The two were only a few feet away from her before she moved. Dozens of black tentacles broke out from beneath the street, ripping apart a hole in reality larger than the entire City block. The Black Dog and Intrusion were caught in the hole, and the sound of the Dog howling and thousands of insects dying shrieked over the City as both were consumed by nothingness.

As their dying screams faded, everything became quiet. I-330 barely dared breath, expecting the Black Dog or Intrusion to suddenly reappear and resume their attack. Nothing of the sort occurred. Even the City had stopped moving. The two Fears really had been destroyed.

That last attack had pushed I-330 to near her limit. It took most of her remaining energy to move the molecules in the remaining streets to create a bridge she could walk on to get out of the circle of emptiness she’d made. When she reached the end of the bridge, she nearly collapsed. Manipulating matter and energy was hard. But at least the fight was over….

The Rake appeared behind I-330, and stabbed it’s claws through her stomach.

W-what is… what just… happened….

The Rake dropped her body, and brought down its claws at her face, tearing out her left eye and leaving her blinded. She started to scream, but the sound was cut off when the Rake’s teeth tore into her throat.

I can’t breathe… why can’t I breathe….

The Rake’s claws cut across I-330 over and over, mutilating her body. She made no motion to fight back, only laying still as her flesh was torn open.

I’m tired… I just… want… to… sleep….

It was an interesting experience for I-330, watching herself die. She felt her lungs stop puling in air and her heart beat its last time as if they were outside events that had no connection to her. She saw the last few brain waves dying away, and her body becoming nothing but inert, lifeless meat. And the moment her body died, her conscious broke free.

Kill them all.

Nyarlathotep moved her hand so fast that the bone in her arm snapped under the pressure, hitting the Rake in the face and throwing it off her. Her body rose up, not standing up, but lifted up as if by a string. Her mouth opened, and she roared with the fury of a supernova. Black tentacles burst from her back, then more out of her arms, face, all over her body. Her skin slid away, revealing a twisted, chaotic mass of shadows, covered in bright red eyes and roaring mouths. The Crawling Chaos grew in size, rising above the skyscrapers of the Empty City. The fires of chaos grew around Nyarlathotep, then exploded out over the City, destroying everything in its way. The Rake was struck and burned away in an instant. The wall of fire quickly covered the entire City, leaving only oblivion in its wake.

When nothing remained in the universe that had once been the Empty City, Nyarlathotep’s body compressed into human form. She looked similar to how I-330 had, or rather, how I-330 had seen herself in the desert lake’s reflection. All the signs of her old injuries were gone, including her eye patch. Two bright red eyes illuminated her face, outlined by heavy Egyptian eyeliner. Her black suit and coat remained, but they had been joined by a golden circlet crowing her head. Her hair was dark as the emptiness of space, and it floated behind her in ways which seemed to pay no heed to gravity. When she smiled, teeth sharp as blades shone out. The shadows and tentacles that had been her left arm were gone, replaced by what appeared a human limb. But under her skin, darkness writhed.

The fires which had destroyed the City came back to Nyarlathotep, condensing into a sword of fire. She grabbed the burning hilt, and with a single swing, tore open a path to the next universe she would destroy.

The Dying Man

Seen a lot of pocket universes recently. There was one filled with rolling, flower covered hills, and soil wet with blood. Another was an abandoned, overgrown playground, where I could hear the faint cries of children calling for their parents. Then another looked like a decrepit medieval village, with diseased corpses stacked in the center of town. And yet another was a cavern, walls covered in grey fungus, and the constant sound of strange echoes in the distance.

I destroyed all of them. I will not let any trace of the Fears survive.

There’s still more of these pocket universes out there. I can feel them. I can feel… everything now. When I look at my hand, I no longer see just a hand. I see a massive collection of subatomic particles spinning around each other. When I take a step, I’m fully aware of the reaction that transfers energy altering my nervous system that my foot has touched the ground. It’s weird, but somehow it feels so natural.

I can also sense the Earth. It’s still there. Just a single timeline, the last remnant of the entire multiverse, being held together by the Manufactured Newborn. I’ll return there soon. Once I’ve dealt with everything else.

As I moved through these universes, I found another Fear. Although this meeting was rather different from my last encounter with their kind.

The universe was a wasteland. Black, cracked ground went on for miles without any variance or even change in elevation. Looked even more boring than the desert had been. I walked around for a while, hoping to find something interesting before I destroyed the place. That was when I heard the voice.

“Well, well, you finally decided to pay my humble home a visit, boss.” The voice sounded like someone trying to gargle phlegm while simultaneously swallowing a fist full of gravel.

Given the recent hostility I’ve been encountering, I immediately got ready to fight. “Where are you?”

“Where am I? Why, I’m right here. 

And over here.

And here too.

I’m everywhere.” I’m assuming the sound that followed was laughter, though it sounded more like someone coughing up their lungs.

In response to that, I punched a hole in reality.

“Alright, alright, jeez.” The voice said. “No sense of humor. Well then, allow me to introduce myself. Hello, Nyarlathotep, my name is the Dying Man, and it is ever so pleasant to meet you.”

Still no sign of where the voice was coming from. “Yeah, yeah, nice to meet ya too, now stop fucking hiding and get out of here.”

More of its laughter. “And just how to you expect me to do that, boss? I’m a body surfer, and in case you hadn’t noticed, there aren’t any bodies left anymore. EAT snatched up the last few humans before the world ended, the bastard. And while I usually would leap at the opportunity to take over such a fine young lady as yourself, that fleshy container is already hosting an Outer God. And I don’t fancy my chances tangling with you over ownership of your little meat shell, boss.”

Still kept looking around, expecting some kind of attack. “I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t call my body a ‘meat shell’, kay thanks.”

“Hey, I’m just calling it like I see it. You wanna keep yourself stuck in that thing, I ain’t gonna judge.”

My teeth were grinding in frustration at this conversation. “The fuck do you want? I’ve got a lot of stuff to destroy, so I’d rather you not waste my time.”

“Woah there boss, no need for this anger. I was just hoping you and I could have a little chat, something for me to pass the time before I disappear.”

That last word caught my attention. “What do you mean, disappear?”

“Exactly what it sounds like I mean, boss. What am I supposed to do now that everyone’s been killed off? I’m the Dying Man, not the Dead Man. Corpses are useless for me. What good is the embodiment of death when there’s nothing left capable of dying?” More of its hacking laughter. “What did one of you humans say? Oh yeah; And with strange aeons, even death may die.” Another round of laughter, which slowly died away. When the Dying Man’s voice came back, it was much softer. “So how’s this gonna go down? Are you going to smash the whole place up and kill me quickly? Or just walk off and let the damage you’ve already done finish me off?”

I looked at the hole I’d made in reality. Cracks were already spreading from it, expanding the emptiness. I hadn’t spared a second to thinking about the consequences when I made it. It was just a spontaneous act of anger.

“I… I didn’t….”

“What this, boss? The great Nyarlathotep shouldn’t be feeling doubt. I’m a Fear, aren’t I? The hated foe! Hurry up and get to the manslaughter!”

There was a part of me that wanted to do just that. But mostly I just felt uncomfortable about the whole situation. Yeah, the Dying Man was a Fear, but it wasn’t doing anything to me. Before this point, I don’t think the Dying Man and I had ever actually met, which is a big difference when compared to all the Fears who kept actively trying to screw up my life.

As if reading my mind, the Dying Man said, “Can’t do it? You never did got the cold blooded murderer thing down. You always needed some excuse to justify it first. I’ve seen it a million times before. People like you who need someone to be pointing a knife at them before they’re willing to shoot.”

“Shut up.” Can’t exactly say it was wrong. I just wished it would attack me or something. It would have made the whole thing simpler. “I need a drink.”

“Then why not make one, boss?”

“Oh, yeah, I’ll just wave my hand and magically make one appear out of thin air, shouldn’t be too hard to do in this empty wasteland.”

“Yeah, why not do that?”

I just stared at the spot I’d last heard the voice from. “I was joking.”

“And I wasn’t. If you want something to drink, just go and make something to drink. There’s no reason you can’t, boss.”

“No reason except its fucking impossible for me to just make things spontaneously appear out of thin air.”

“Is it now? How did you get that little notebook of yours, then?”

I pulled the book out of my coat pocket. “This? I got this when I was being held by the government.”

“Really? That’s pretty impressive boss. Holding onto the same notebook after all you’ve been through. Most people would have dropped it during that whole apocalypse business. But you held on! Even when you threw away the coat that you had been keeping it in, you still somehow kept it!”

“I….” I had taken the journal out of my last trench coat before I’d thrown it away, right? And then I must have just carried it in my hands until I got my new coat…?

“But that’s not even half as impressive as your ability to keep writing utensils on hand! One would expect any regular pen’s ink to have dried up by this point, but you’ve managed to keep on writing anyways!”

Pens? Um… yeah, I… I had lots of pens. I had to have them. That’s how I’ve been writing things down. I just couldn’t find or remember any of them at the moment.

“But most amazing of all has to be your writing speed! You’ve been hunted almost nonstop since the Slender Man tore down Red Cap’s place, but you’ve still written pages of material in the brief moments of calm! It’s almost as if the words are appearing on the paper!”

I started flipping through the notebook. I could remember thinking about writing everything in it. But for the last few entries, I couldn’t remember actually writing them down. And yet they were right there on the pages. “But… I mean… how….”

The sarcasm finally left the Dying Man’s voice. “Because you’re a god. You wanted a record of what’s happened to you, so it became reality. It’s the same principle with making a drink. You want something. Now make it exist.”

Pondered that for a while. Then I tried thinking “I really want a drink” as hard as I could. Nothing happened.

“It’s not working.”

“Well of course it’s not, boss. You keep trying to think with that meat shell’s brain instead of your own mind. Just pull back from it, then give it a whirl.”

Didn’t understand exactly what it meant, but I tried following the advice. Don’t know how to describe the feeling exactly. It was sort of like letting go of my own body. And suddenly, I could see the molecules all around me. Making things out of them was so easy. I just had to move a few atoms around, form some chemical bonds, and….

A small globe of whiskey appeared a few inches from my face. It instantly fell, and splashed on the ground.

“Ah, yeah, you should have made a glass too, boss.”

I almost didn’t hear the Dying Man. I was too excited about what I’d done. It had been so simple! “This is… this is amazing! There’s so many things I can do with this!”

“Glad you think so, boss. Now you’ll be ready for when the Rake tries jumping his little ambush on you.”

“…. The Rake what?”

“Oops, did I say something? Nah, just ignore that. I didn’t say anything about the Rake getting the Black Dog and Intrusion together and waiting to attack you in the Empty City.” A chuckle.

Okay, cool, four Fears all in the same place. That would speed up the process of wiping them out. But one thing I had to know first. “Why are you telling me this? Why help me?”

“Don’t look at me like that, boss. I can already see you trying to go and put me in a neat little ‘Good Fear’ category, so you can differentiate me from all the ones you put in the ‘Bad Fear’ box. That whole black and white morality thing you keep trying to push on everything is just plain creepy, especially given what you are. Just because someone helped you doesn’t mean they’re a good person. Especially considering you’re not exactly a shining paragon, Mrs. Genocide.”

“The Fears were the ones who killed all those people!”

“I am a Fear, boss. And while I can’t speak for the others, I was certainly content to just laze around and slowly murder people one by one, up to the point where you went and blew up two universes at once.”

“I had to save Lisa!”

“Of course you did. And I’m sure all those people who got caught in the collateral damage would perfectly understand. You might even get a chance to explain it to them when you meet with Archangel. You’ve certainly been a boon to him, considering all those billions of souls you kindly sent his way.”

“If you don’t shut up right now I will tear this whole universe down.”

“Ooh, you’ve got me quivering in fear, boss. Eh? Get it? Fear?”

This time, I was fully aware of what the consequences would be when I smashed another hole in reality. This one was much larger than the last, and within seconds it was spreading across the universe.

As the sky fell apart like glass, the Dying Man spoke, so quietly I almost didn’t hear it. “Why did I tell you about the Rake’s ambush? Why not? They’re going to die soon. Even if it’s not by your hands, their time is almost up. So many of us Fears are determined to live forever. But I know better than them all that’s impossible. Nothing lasts forever. Everything dies. Everything except… you and the Slender Man.” It paused, and I expected more of its laughter, but none came. “That shell you’re in, that’s going to die. I can see the timer ticking down. Not much more time left on it, boss. But you… the Crawling Chaos, Nyarlathotep… there’s nothing. When I look at you or the Slender Man, I don’t see any sign of death. No decay. Nothing lasts forever… except for the two of you. When I look at you, it’s like I’m looking into eternity. And that terrifies me.”

Those words were still in my head as the universe collapsed and I had to move to the next one.