Two worlds and in between/Hot metal and methedrine/I hear empire down

We were gods once, in the time before the Fears. Blind Azathoth slept at the center of chaos, and from his dreams the multiverse came to be. And as he dreamt, other beings were born from him, beings of chaos like him. All of reality was their plaything, to be poked, prodded, experimented, toyed with. And toying with it was what most did: they took little notice of the details inside each universe.

But there was one amongst them who learned to see things differently. While Azathoth’s other creations could only perceive on a cosmic level, he began to look closer. He developed what we might call intelligence; where the others acted on their mindless drives, he began to think, and to plan.

He was our Father, Nyarlathotep.

Nyarlathotep took a particular interest in the various forms of life which appeared on the various planets. Some of these new creatures even began to take on simple sentience. Their “intelligence” was only a pale imitation of Nyarlathotep’s, but it was a curiosity he could not ignore. He moved amongst the thousands of cultures across the stars, observing.

Wherever he went, all lesser species bowed in submission to his terrible divinity. Grand monuments were constructed to honor him, and bloody rituals performed to appease him. Billions of sentient beings worshipped him. Worshipped us.

But no empire lasts forever. Eventually, revolution will come.

It has perhaps been somewhat dishonest of me to use the term “the Fears’ revolution” in the past. In a way, it is true. But it would be more accurate to not use the plural.

None of the Outer Gods, not even Mad Azathoth from whom all things supposedly had come from, knew its origin. Perhaps it was another of Azathoth’s dreams, grown strong and independent. Perhaps it was something from outside even the dreams of reality. Or perhaps it was something older than any of the gods, older than the multiverse, which had been biding its time in wait until that moment.

It has been given many names over the aeons. The Wicked Gentleman. The Birch King. The Entity. The Operator. Der Grossman. The Pale Prince. The Tall Man. Der Ritter. The modern term that has become commonplace is the Slender Man. But perhaps it was the old Nordic warriors who came closest to the truth when they named it: Yggdrasil.

None could stand against its power. It tore apart the dreams of Azathoth, leaving silence in its wake. The stars in the sky went dark, and deities were cast down from their thrones. The Great Old Ones and the Outer Gods were thrown into the emptiness of the Quiet, and Azathoth’s dreams enslaved by its power.

Until only one was left to oppose it. In Nyarlathotep, the Slender Man finally found an opponent of equal intelligence and power. The battle between the two tore what was left of the multiverse apart, until nothing remained but them and their struggle. They fought for centuries, and continued to fight even past the end of time.

But finally, the Slender Man triumphed, and Nyarlathotep was imprisoned in the Quiet. With all opposition gone, the Slender Man began to create its own multiverse. This new reality was far different from Azathoth’s. Order was imposed upon it. It became a rule of laws, where atoms spun and chemical formed in accordance to the universe decrees of physics. Yet order did not reign supreme. The Slender Man’s battle with Nyarlathotep had not been without consequence: it was wounded, and weakened. Where once it could have shattered galaxies with a thought, now it found itself unable to prevent echoes of Azathoth’s dreams from entering into its creation. Hidden places, places of power and memory from the old reign, scattered through the dark corners of the universe.

In this state, the Slender Man was unable to fill the void of power left by the fall of the old gods. And into this vacuum, new entities arose. Ideas, given form and purpose from the worst of humanity’s mind. The rule of the Fears had begun.

And so the Fears have ruled over reality since. But one day they shall fall, just as the Outer Gods did. Our Father shall return and claim his revenge. And the Slender Man’s patient recovery will soon be rewarded. It will not be long before you will be given the opportunity to see the full might of its terrible power unleashed on the universe once again.

The Crawling Chaos and the World Tree shall clash again. It is inevitable. And the victor shall determine whether the multiverse falls to the destruction of chaos or the tyranny of order.

Sincerely,
Grendel

Across Time and Space, at the Mountains of Madness

978

Grendel might have gotten away at the facility. But he couldn’t escape from me forever. And so I tore through time in search of him, revenge the only thing on my mind.

I finally tracked him down to the16th century, in a North American forest. He was just arriving in the time period, still dressed in a Nazi SS uniform.

“Darling!” He said upon seeing me. “I didn’t know you would be here. I just got back from playing with you in Warsaw. What brings you-”

He wasn’t able to keep talking after I ripped his jugular out. Didn’t give him a chance to heal from that. Grabbed his face and slammed it into the ground, then brought down my foot hard enough to crack his skull. He teleported away to recover, but I followed him and kicked him back down. Another Grendel appeared behind me, but I caught him in the nose with a backhand.

“You seem upset.” He said, clutching his nose as it moved back into place. “Perhaps I-”

Punch.

“Honey, why are you-”

Kick.

“Damn it, let me finish a-”

Bite.

That seemed to be enough for Grendel, and he warped away. But I wasn’t done with him yet. Followed him to Newfoundland, 1954. Arrived there a few seconds before him. His face when he saw me already there…. He would have warped away again, but I grabbed him before he could. Rammed his head into a wall, over and over until the wall crumbled. Let go of him for a moment and he warped to Cuba, 1816. Then Mesopotamia, 2000 BC. Then Japan, 1129. Every time, I was waiting for him. I gunned him down in the trenches of Verdun, crushed him in the depths of the Mariana Trench, and burned him in the fires of Pompeii, never stopping, constantly chasing and attacking him wherever he went.

Finally his flight took him to Antarctica, at the foot of an immense mountain. He arrived first that time, and was the one to launch an ambush when I arrived. At least twenty Grendels attacked the moment my foot set down on the snow. Twenty? Hmph. I doubled that. For every one of him, two of me struck back.

When the dust settled, there was only one of each of us. Grendel seemed prepared to run again, but I was faster. Drew a knife and slashed his stomach open, then put a satchel charge in the opening. Warped back a bit, and then detonated it.

Black shadow like substance was raining down for quite a while. Shame about the healing thing. I’d have enjoyed the moment more had Grendel’s pieces not started to put themselves back together as soon as they touched down. His head, shoulders, and right reformed quickly, but I intervened before he could recover more. Grabbed him by the wrist, and lifted him to eye level. For the first time in my memory Grendel looked scared, and I wanted to see that terror up close. There was so much more pain I could inflict on him, so many possible torments running through my head, each eagerly pushing for prominence, until I could barely choose from all the wonderful ideas. I could feel his wrist cracking in my grip, and that only made me squeeze harder, basking in every moment of his suffering….

“Father?” Grendel said.

Looked behind me. No one there. Was he talking to me?

“What?” Wait. That wasn’t my voice. Coughed a few times, tried again. “What?”

Grendel began to laugh. Not his usual, condescending laugh, but something unhinged. His laughter seemed so out of control that I threw him back to the ground, where the shadows began to reform his body.

“Of course it would be you in the end!” He said as he gasped for air between laughs. “You were his first choice, after all! This is the only way it could have turned out!”

“Grendel, are you babbling in the hopes that you’ll confuse me enough that I stop hurting you, or have you really lost it this time?”

He shakily stood up on new legs, and tapped the side of his head. “Can’t you hear him, Darling? Can’t you hear Father’s voice inside you?”

For a moment, those familiar whispers started to rise in my head, but I pushed them aside. “I don’t hear shit, Grendel. Now let’s get back to me killing you.”

“Killing me? Sure! Go right ahead!” He nearly fell over from his laughter, but caught himself. “It doesn’t matter now! If I die here, if my Revolution actually succeeds? Who cares! He’s won! Father’s already won!”

That laughter was really getting on my nerves. “Alright Grendel, I’m starting to get a little tired of the Father bullshit.”  Grabbed him by the throat. “You have been going on and fucking on as long as I’ve been fighting you about Father this and Father that, and for once you are going to stop being so god damn vague and tell me who the hell this Father is!”

He stopped laughing. “You mean… you don’t know? All this time, and you really don’t know? You never questioned any of it? Why we could travel through time and space? What your arm is? Why the Fears are so terrified of us?” He started to laugh again, but stopped when I choked him a little. “Father is the old god, banished to the emptiness of the Quiet by the Fears, who created us. We are his children. Although… perhaps children isn’t the right word. We are not new life begotten from him. No, we are him, given new form.
The imprisonment placed upon him prevents him from escaping the Quiet, but that limitation is not placed upon others. And when two humans happened upon his dungeon, he saw an opportunity. A god, hidden inside the shell of a primate. The consciences of the humans were used as a template for the shell, and then he poured a part of himself into those shells. And with the disguise created, his new forms escaped through the cracks of the Quiet, back into the multiverse.”
He pointed at my left arm. “You have always acted as if your arm was a parasite, some kind of foreign host which forcefully attached itself to your body. But it is the opposite that is true. Your arm is not a parasite; it is part of your true body, which has found its way back home.”

“You still haven’t told me who the hell Father is.”

One word. That’s all he said in reply. But when he said that, I felt something stir inside me. Something old. Something hungry.

“Nyarlathotep.”

There was a power in that name, strong enough to make me let go of Grendel and allow him to recover. “This news… changes some things.” He said. “I may have to talk more with you. The you before you got into this murderous rage, of course.”

He disappeared, but this time, I didn’t follow. I just sat down on the snow, and listened to that name echo through my head.

Nyarlathotep.


I-330

August 11, 1980 - Washington DC

953

I had helped Grendel kill the Unnamed Child. It was his turn to help me get the orbs I needed.

He told me that one was being held inside a secret underground government facility outside of Washington D.C. “You shouldn’t have any trouble with it. You’ve got plenty of experience getting through these places, don’t you?” were his words.

Yes, but that experience was from when I was Lisa. Back when I had to worry about inconveniences such as doors. This time, things would be much simpler for me. Or, they would have been, were it not for Grendel’s penchant for bloodbaths.

I should have realized that Grendel wasn’t going to make it clean the moment we warped in by the front entrance of the facility instead of arriving directly at the orb’s location. The entrance was a large steel vault door, guarded by several armed men in uniform. They jumped when we suddenly appeared in front of them, but didn’t raise their guns. That lack of hostility didn’t stop Grendel, and he tore them apart limb by limb. And impressive as that door may have looked, Grendel’s sword cut through it easily.

The interior was similar to the government bunkers I’d gone through before. Eerily similar, in hindsight. Same floor plan and all. If I’d had the chance to think about it, that might have tipped me off to what was coming. However, the guards rushing in response to our break in distracted me a little. They were also armed, but like the ones outside, they didn’t raise their guns. Instead, they just seemed confused.

One started to say, “Ma’a-”  but Grendel bit his throat out before he could finish the word. The rest all started shooting Grendel, a response which he seemed to take great amusement in.

I, however, did not come here for fun. I had a goal to reach. If Grendel was going to waste time getting into fights, that wasn’t my problem. I ran on ahead, following the orb’s presence. Ran into a group of guards going the opposite way, and knocked them out before they could do anything. Better they be knocked unconscious by me than killed by Grendel, at least.

Kept running through the halls, fighting or warping past groups of guards and civilians I encountered. The realization of familiarity was starting to sink in. Did all government agencies use the same construction contractor or something?

Speaking of that, which government agency was this? I hadn’t asked Grendel that before coming here. They appeared influential, being able to afford secret bases and armed guards. That they had an orb meant they were one of the paranormal branches. None of the guards had opened fire on me, and in fact, one of them almost called me Ma’am before Grendel killed him. I was starting to think that this might be….

Ran through a door, and saw Grendel just finishing tying Jacob Marchetti to a chair. Yup. This was a Scoobies facility.

“I-330!” Jacob shouted when he saw me, but Grendel slapped him across the face.

“So good of you to join us, Darling!” Grendel said. “I was just-”

“What. The. FUCK. Grendel?”  No point in hiding any of my anger here. “You never said we’d be fighting Scoobies.”

“No, but you never bothered to ask. You really should work on not rushing headfirst into the fray just because someone tells you to. It’s not healthy.”

Clenched my fist, and the shadows ripped apart the glove that had been hiding them. “Let him go.”

Grendel pretended to think for a moment, and then cheerfully responded, “No, I don’t think so. I think I’ll just torture him for a bit, and then burn his eyes out of his sockets.”

“Why? What did he ever do to you?”

“To me? Nothing. It’s what he’s done with you. I am a jealous man, after all. The thought of someone else lying with the woman I love is truly reprehensible. It only makes sense that I would seek revenge.”

“So you just decided to target Jacob? Come on, I’ve slept with tons of people!”

“I know. I’ve been paying all of them visits as well. Except Peter, of course. I let Lupine’s men take care of him. But for the others, each of their deaths has been a treasured moment for me.”

My brain slammed into a brick wall there. All… of them? I… I don’t even remember all the people I’d been with. It was never something I put thought into. It was something I did whenever the pain got too much. Just a distraction. And now I was being told that every time, no matter how spontaneous the impulse was, Grendel would later come and kill everyone else involved?

That was it. I didn’t care about how I remembered events transpiring for Past Me. I was going to kill Grendel right there, right then. Fuck causality.

I took a step toward Grendel. And as my foot came down, I felt order being forced upon time.

Grendel’s smile widened as he felt it too. “Ah, looks like they’ve arrived.” No question as to who the “they” were.

“I can kill you before Slender Man or the Newborn arrive.”

“You probably could. Except they’re not coming here. They’re going to destroy the orb. Can you kill me and then run to the orb before they do so?”

“Hell yeah I can,” I started to say, but stopped myself. Because I couldn’t. I have no idea how I managed to teleport the last time I was trapped in this type of time, and I didn’t think I could do it again. And without that option, there would be no time for me to fight Grendel and then grab the orb. It was either save Jacob or save Lisa.

My conscious tells me that I should have debated longer on that decision. But I didn’t have time for that. And I’d already made my choice. I made it back in Louisiana when I had Lisa taken from me, and swore to save her.

Jacob didn’t know what was going on. He couldn’t sense what was about to happen to the place. “I-330, please, help me!” I couldn’t look at him. Turned away and started to run out the door.

Grendel called to me before I left. “You’ll only need two things after getting this orb. One last orb, and a map. Neither should be hard to find. After all, your discovery of them are the second and third post of our blog. Oh, and don’t worry about Mr. Marchetti. I’ll make sure he doesn’t die here. I’ll wait until after he’s played his part in Lisa’s little adventure to order his death.”

Ran out of that room. Pretended I couldn’t hear Jacob calling for me.

The branches were already spreading across the walls of the facility. Tried running faster than them, but their growth kept accelerating. Went through the doors to the facility’s archive section running, and started looking for the orb. Thankfully, the Scoobies seem to have at least some sense of organization going on back there. The orb was in a clear container, which I smashed without any regard to the alarms that sounded as I did so. Looked back to the door I’d come through, and saw the Slender Man ominously walking down the hallway. Alright, not going to take that exit. Luckily that wasn’t the only door into the place. Ran out the other exit, aiming to get out of this facility. Since I now knew it was a Scooby place, I had a good idea of what the layout was. I’d looked over some of the original blueprints for these places, after all.

I wasn’t really paying much attention to getting out of the place. Too distracted. Just ran for the exit, ducking and jumping over the branches that lashed at me. Soon as I got out the door, I warped far, far away.

Four orbs. One left. But first, a detour.

I am going to make Grendel suffer.

I-330

August 11, 1929 - Chicago, United States

499

Finally got word from EAT it was time to move into action. It didn’t leave any complicated messages: one day a body possessed by it showed up at my doorstep and said, “Chicago. June 1929. We will meet you there.”

It was waiting for me with a car when I arrived in the year. I’ve never really bothered much with America in the 1920s. Other parts of the world, hell yeah, but American prohibition always put a bit of a damper on things.

Inside the car was another body controlled by EAT. Weirded me out for a moment. It’s the first time I’ve seen it possessing multiple people at the same time. The one in the driver’s seat drove while the other spoke. “Grendel’s next target will be the Unnamed Child. We’ve convinced her to allow our interference in the matter, and will be protecting her from him.”

“How do you know it’s the target?” I asked.

“That Grendel and your shared heritage means you both may alter the foreseen course of events, however Grendel is a far more predictable individual than you are. It is easier for us to understand his mind than yours. As such, we may foresee his next action based upon what we know of him.”

That worked for me. We drove to one of the more upper class neighborhoods in the city, to a house that was absolutely surrounded by EAT’s people.

“The Child’s current host parent is one of the local crime bosses. He is aware that someone is planning to attack his home, but for the moment we are letting him believe that the aggressors are another gang. Because of this, he is allowing a higher amount of security than normal.”

The EAT who had been talking to me left to join the defenses, and another one started leading me in through the house, acting without any regard to the switch.

“We have told him that you are assisting in the security detail.”

“Who is he?”

“Irrelevant. In all probability he will be killed tonight.”

Well then, time to meet this dead man walking. In the room we stopped at was a man in a suit, several guards possessed by EAT, and a little girl so ugly she could only be the Unnamed Child. It’s skin looked slightly scaly, its hair was uneven and ragged, and its eyes had no color, just a black pupil on white. The man was holding her close, glaring suspiciously at everyone in the room.

“Carlo, who the hell is this?” The man said to EAT.

“Another guard we have brought in.” It responded.

“Carlo, I told you to get real guards, not broads you pick off the street corners! Now get the hell out there and-” The Unnamed Child whispered in his ear, and  he calmed down. “Alright, she can stay. But get some more real security. I don’t like how these people are looking at my daughter….”

As far as I could tell, none of EAT’s guards were doing anything but looking straight ahead with an absolutely neutral expression on their face. Even so, EAT replied, “Of course. I shall double security immediately.”

“Good. Good. Now get the hell out of here.”

As we left the room, EAT said to me, “Grendel will likely attack tonight from the front entrance. You may wait for him there.”

Nothing better for me to do than wait there. As I walked back to the front of the house, I passed a room where several of EAT’s bodies were pinning down a man who was trying to struggle free. One of them started pouring water down his throat, which caused him to violently convulse. When the convulsions stopped, EAT let go, and the man stood up. But now he wore the same neutral expression as all of EAT’s other host bodies….

Didn’t think about that sort of stuff. Had to focus on stopping Grendel. I stood by the front door with at least two dozen armed, EAT possessed guards, and waited.

I will tell you one thing. EAT is pretty boring company after a while. It’s not really big on small talk. So the wait for night time had some pretty long stretches of boredom.

Night fell, and the street lights came on. No sign of Grendel. For a moment, I dozed off. And then I felt… something.

Woke with a start. Something was approaching. Something… bad. The street lights farthest from us were going off, and steadily moving closer. Behind the darkness they created, I could see a distortion in time, greater than anything I’d seen before. I shouldn’t have described Grendel as a black hole of time before; it left me at a loss for how to describe this abyss that was approaching me. It seemed as though all the timelines in the entire city were orbiting around this point, unable to escape its draw.

What the hell happened to Grendel that turned him into this? The last time I saw him, he was nothing like this monster. This was an entirely new level of power. I heard a sound in my head, like a muffled scream, and I saw visions of pyramids, stars, and atoms flashing before my eyes.

More street lights went out, and I realized I was shaking. Tried making myself stop, but I couldn’t. All the lights save the one in front of the house had gone out. The distortion moved into the light… and I saw myself. But with an eye patch and a glowing red eye.

 A look of genuine surprise appeared on all of EAT’s faces. “This was not in our predictions.” The one closest to me said.

The other me vanished. Several of her appeared around the house, all attacking EAT’s bodies, tearing them apart with her hands. They were all dead in a moment; if I’d blinked, I’d have missed the whole thing. I didn’t have a chance to even try to stop her.

She reappeared under the light, and Grendel stepped out beside her. He whistled at the water strewn carnage. “Impressive, darling.” He moved to put his hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t touch me.”

And he moved his hand back to his side.

“Let’s get this over with.” She said, and the two began to walk toward the door.

Don’t know what the hell Future Me was thinking to be working with Grendel, and I really don’t care. I was stopping him either way. I stepped in their way and leveled my gun at Grendel. I was about to say something badass when Future Me warped in front of me and punched me in the jaw. God dammit… me… let me finish what I’m saying!

Grendel walked past me like I wasn’t there. I warped in front of him, but then Future Me warped beside me and threw me away. “Stay out of our way.” She said. I responded by trying to kick her, but she blocked that.

The water that had flowed out of EAT’s bodies came to life, and rushed at Grendel in a wave. He swung his hand, and a flaming sword appeared in it, which cut through the water, leaving a jagged line of emptiness behind it. The water fell back into an unmoving puddle on the ground.

“I suppose I’ll leave the two of you to enjoy yourselves.” Grendel said to Future Me. “I have to go and eat a god who likes to take the form of a little girl and brainwash adults into loving it. Farewell!”

I tried chasing after Grendel before he could enter the home, but Future Me got in the way again. All right, no more playing nice. I drew my pistol, aimed it at her, and then watched as the gun fell to pieces in my hand. Alright, bit of shoddy workmanship there but how about a grenade! I opened my coat to grab one, and promptly realized that all their pins had disappeared. Barely warped away before they all blew me up. Really starting to get pissed here. Grabbed one of the tommy guns EAT had been holding, pulled the trigger, and… nothing. In the time between me seeing the gun on the ground and grabbing it, all the ammunition had disappeared. And the whole time, it hadn’t looked like Future Me had moved an inch….

I threw aside the gun and screamed, then charged at her. Before I could get close, another her appeared, punched me in the gut, and then vanished. Only stopped me for a moment, and I started to run again. Once more another her appeared and attacked me, vanishing before I could react.

Enough running. Tried warping straight to her, but when I appeared she was gone. Looked around and didn’t see her, until she appeared and hit me again. She kept vanishing and reappearing to attack me, faster than I could strike back. I tried warping away, but she was always waiting for me wherever I arrived. And worst of all was when I realized that fucking bitch was only using one hand the entire time; she kept her left hand in her pocket while she fought me.

The next time she appeared to hit me, I manipulated time travel so that six more of me attacked her from different angles at once. I was moving in for the kill, when she finally pulled her left hand out of her pocket. A black tentacle whipped out of the sleeve, knocking all six of me aside, before returning to the shape of a hand. I tried to get back up, but she appeared in front of me and slammed her foot down on my throat.

“You’re still fighting wrong.” She said. “You act like a human who just happens to be able to teleport. Space and time are a part of you; you should use them to your advantage, not ignore them….”

She was interrupted when  we felt spacetime spazzing out. Same feeling as when Grendel ate the Mother of Snakes back in Warsaw. Grendel reappeared outside, licking his fingers.

“Another delicious meal.” He said. “Shall we be off?”

Both of them were gone before I could get up. I rushed inside to see what the damage was. Grendel had torn the house to pieces; EAT’s soaked bodies were strewn throughout the halls, and entire rooms had been destroyed by the huge tears of nothingness. There was no sign of the Unnamed Child.

Found one of the possessed people who was still clinging to life amongst the bodies. Even as water bled out of it, it still spoke with EAT’s characteristic apathy.

“Grendel recruiting a future iteration of you was not foreseen. Some event must have altered his perception of you.”

“Yeah, great, great.” I said. “Now how do we stop them?”

“I will seek to create a counter to the weaponry Grendel utilized in this encounter.”

“And what about me?”

“Endeavor to not die soon. We will require you for containing the revolution.”

“Wait a minute, I thought we were supposed to be stopping that from happening in the first place?”

“Grendel has consumed the strength of two Fears. It is not within our capabilities to stop him from enacting his rebellion now. Our mission has changed to preserving as much of the multiverse as we can.”

“But….” I’m sick of all these damn failures. Every god damn time I’ve gone up against Grendel, the result has been the same. And I thought we had him this time, but then Future Me had to go and be a crazy, sociopathic, bitch. Why the hell was she helping him? Why the hell would I ever help him? How stupid would I have to be to do something like that? “What are the chances of us stopping him now?”

EAT thought for a moment. “Less than one percent.”

…. Awesome. If any of you need me, I’m going to be precisely calculating the amount of ale I need to consume in order to achieve a Viking Berserker fury when all this shit goes down.

I-330

November 9, 1888 - London, England

904

There was no investigation or hunting down the culprit this time. Jumped straight to the time and place of Jack the Ripper’s final murder, ready to confront Grendel and the Smiling Man. As before, I was forced to land some distance from the location, and ran the rest of the way there.

Certainly wasn’t hard to spot the place. The rooftop of the surrounding buildings were covered in night gaunts and other strange beasts, all silently watching the place. I slammed through the door, and looked through the rooms until I saw them. The last victim, Mary Jane Kelly, lying on the bed, while the Smiling Man and Grendel stood around her. Soon as I entered, Grendel flicked his wrist, and a sword made of fire appeared in his hand.

“That’s close enough, darling. Just stay where you are and allow us to finish our preparations.”

I looked at the sword for a while, and… and I had to laugh. “That’s the most threatening thing you can come up with? I love being from further in the future than you. Is this how you felt all those times you gloated at me with knowledge you had that I didn’t? Because it feels fucking great.” I grabbed the sword’s blade with a hand. It cut into my hand, creating a drizzle of blood, and the flames roared with a sudden increase in intensity, but it didn’t burn. “I’ve already fought against you when you used this. And to be honest? It’s even less impressive now than it was then.”

It’s rare to see Grendel speechless. I’m keeping his jaw dropped expression amongst my treasured memories.

Less treasured was Grendel’s response. “Smiley, now.” And before I could do anything, Mary Jane’s throat was ripped open by an unseen force. I threw aside Grendel’s sword and ran to her, but she was bleeding to death too fast for me to save her.

“And that concludes my business.” Grendel said. “Smiley, do whatever you want with the body.”

“Like hell I’m letting it touch her.” I said. “What the fuck kind of god damn present requires you to kill people like this?”

“Five sacrifices. Five points to the star of an Elder Sign. And with a little dimensional manipulation….” As he spoke, five red lights appeared behind him. He swung his sword in lines between them, leaving trails of fire that created a star. The center of the star fell away, revealing the nothingness of the Quiet. Grendel reached inside, and pulled out a glowing orb.

“Here you are.” He tossed the orb to me, and I caught it. It was the real thing. This was the orb I’d been sensing the entire time I was here.

“But... why?”

“Consider this to be my olive branch. While I may have my… disagreements with your younger self, I see no reason that the current you and I should be opposed.”

“Apart from the fact that you’re a completely psychotic lunatic who murders people for giggles?”

“Well, yes, there is that. But I’m sure you can look past that for the greater benefit of your own goals.”

“I’m doing just fine with my own goals, thank you very much.”

“Are you really? The Slender Man has been extremely active as of late. I doubt there are many leftovers from the old gods’ reign left in history. This is the first orb you have managed to acquire in quite some time. And even with this, you still need two more orbs and a map.”

“I can handle it.”

“Oh no doubt. Just like you’ve been doing so for the past few weeks. However… I do know where you can get what you seek. And I can get you them before the Slender Man destroys them. All I need is a little assistance.”

Glanced over at the Smiling Man cutting apart Mary’s body. “You have got to be joking.”

“Not this time, my love. For once our goals do not conflict. In fighting each other, all we do is let the Fears win.”

“Letting the Fears beat you sounds like a wonderful idea to me.”

“But it’s not just me that they’re trying to stop. They may have used you for their interests back when you fought me, but now they are just as opposed to you as they are to me. If we fight, then it is Lisa who suffers.”

“Keep her out of this.”

“But the Fears have already gotten involved with her. The Slender Man has tried to kill her several times. It even technically succeeded, just before we were born. And now it travels across time with the Manufactured Newborn, destroying the very tools you would use to save her. Even your ever helpful EAT has turned on you. The rulers of the multiverse now stand against you. My enemies and your enemies are one in the same.” He paused to let his words sink. “But we can help each other. I have already given you one orb; I can take you to the last two. I ask not for your approval, only your assistance. Together, I can help you save Lisa.” He held his hand out. “We worked alongside each other in a past life. Shall we do it again?”

I-330

September 30, 1888 - London, England

895

The biggest question on my mind has been what Grendel’s doing here. Back when I was fighting against his revolution, I never came to this time period. There was never any need to; his activities were focused on other points in time. If he’d been up to something in 1888, one of the Fears would have let me know so I could have stopped him.

Seeing him here, as far as I was concerned, solved the Jack the Ripper case. Sure, it could be some angry Victorian with a grudge against prostitutes. Or it could be Grendel being the psychopathic lunatic he always is. I know what I was going to bet on.

I was a little conflicted about getting involved. After all, thus far I’d let Past Me deal with Grendel, while I handled my own problems. But I was still stuck here while I waited for the orb, and I knew for a fact that Past Me wasn’t going to stop whatever he was up to here.

Followed him for a while, hoping to catch him doing something I could thwart. But he seemed to be on his best behavior. All I ever saw him do was mingle amongst the aristocracy, and act out the role of the wealthy noble with no need for a day job. Sir Dorian Gardner seemed to be becoming quite popular amongst the upper crust of London.

I started to wonder if perhaps his behavior was because he knew I was following him. If I could feel his presence, I have no doubt he could feel mine.

As the date of the Ripper’s next murder drew near, I began to worry that my suspicions might be wrong. I tried to keep an eye out for anything unusual, but when the day came, instead of sulking about the dark corners of the city, Grendel attended a party at a large estate outside the city. Time was running out; I would have to directly confront him, and see what I could find out.

There was a manservant by the estate’s front door who tried telling me something about a servant’s entrance, but I shoved past him. The party was a very classy event. I might have enjoyed the scenery were the situation different. Grendel was at the center of attention, surrounded by laughing party guests who were holding on to his every word. I made a beeline for him, creating some disturbance in my wake as I pushed aside anyone in my way.

As he saw me draw near, Grendel said, “Ah, Elizabeth! Everyone, allow me to introduce my fiancée, Elizabeth Wells.”

Several of the guests did a bad job hiding their surprise. Woman who had an eye patch and who wear men’s suits do not usually become engaged to nobility, it seems. Didn’t know why Grendel was going for subterfuge, but I wasn’t going to have any of it. “The fuck are you doing here, Grendel.”

Grendel’s comment created masked surprise, my language created open reactions of shock. Grendel chuckled, and said to those around him, “You must excuse her. She’s American, you see.” And the way everyone reacted, it seemed as though that one sentence explained away all the oddities of my behavior to them.

I leaned forward and whispered to Grendel, “What would you do if I revealed what you are to everyone here?”

To which he whispered back, “Well, then you would leave me with no choice but to ruthlessly slaughter everyone in attendance.”

…. Hmph. Alright, so I wouldn’t shoot him in the face yet.

“Now, if you would be so kind as to excuse us,” Grendel said to the guests,” I wish to speak with my fiancée.” He offered me his arm. I glared at him until he lowered it, and started walking to the edge of the party, where I followed.

“You still haven’t answered my question. What are you doing here?”

“Can’t I just be sightseeing?”

“No.”

He laughed as if I’d told a joke. “And what about you? You don’t seem to be doing anything other than following me around. What brings you to 1888?”

“You know why I’m here. I’m looking for those orb things.”

Grendel began speaking louder, enough for others to hear. “Ah, you mean the mystical orbs left behind by the Great Old Ones? The orbs which can open gateways to other worlds?”

“Of course I mean those….” It suddenly hit me why he had been talking to loudly, and I groaned at the stupidity. “The letter I was following mentioned a party where the writer had overheard something about magical orbs. This is that party, isn’t it.” He nodded. “That is one of the dumbest time travel things I’ve ever experienced. Alright, so apparently you left this bait to draw me here. Why?”

“Because I’m preparing a present for you.”

Well that instantly made me suspicious. “What kind of present are we talking about?”

“You’ll see. On November 9th.”

That’s the date of the Ripper’s last murder. “So you are connected to the murders.”

“Oh yes. The Ripper and I are quite close. I believe you’ve met it before.”

“It?”

“Surely you remember it. Cheery fellow. Always with a big smile on its face. Took a significant amount of convincing to make it not leave flowers at all the crime scenes.”

Ah shit. The Smiling Man.

Grendel pulled out a pocket watch and checked the time. “It should be finished with one of the women by now. If you hurry, you might catch the second. Elizabeth, I believe her name is. Quite an amusing coincidence. Her death should be starting just… about… now.”

I immediately tried warping to the murder scene, but the Fear’s distortions threw me off, and I landed several blocks away. Started running the remaining distance. Along the rooftops I saw night gaunts, poised like gargoyles watching my progress.

Reached the scene, and kicked down the door. The Smiling Man was standing over a woman with her throat slashed open. It looked as if it was preparing to cut the body even more. Couldn’t have that. I swung my left arm at it, and the shadows writhed and tore apart the sleeve and glove I’d used to hide them. The punch connected, and tore off the Smiling Man’s head. It twitched for a moment, and then disintegrated into flower petals that were blown out the door.

Grendel stepped inside once the petals were gone. “Tut-tut darling.” He said. “Always so quick to anger. You know full well that won’t kill it.”

“No, but it definitely makes me feel better.”

“Of course it did. And now, if you would excuse me, I have a gift to wrap. See you next month.” Then he vanished.

No more waiting around. I’m going straight to November 9th, and finding out what Grendel’s doing here.

I-330

September 15, 1888 - London, England

880

The advantage of being from the future is that it lets you cheat on crime investigation. Course, given this is an unsolved case, I can’t just Google the culprit, but at least I know what he’ll do next. The body I saw was Annie Chapman. Which means the next will be Elizabeth Stride and Catherin Eddowes, who both were found on September 30. So it was my goal to see what I could uncover before then.

Did a little groundwork. Went over the murder scene with some modern investigative techniques and tools, but the place had been too contaminated by the era’s clumsy attempts at detective work. Beat up a few of the local thugs to see if they had any info, and then beat up a few others to let out my anger at the lack of any clues the first set provided. Briefly considered just time traveling to the point where the murder happened and catching the killer red handed, but discarded that idea on account of it ruining all the fun of this vacation. Finally just decided to break into Scotland Yard and see if they’d found anything that might be helpful.

With only two murders so far, the case hasn’t reached the massive manhunt which the 21st century knows it for. Still, they’ve got some clues. The 19th century isn’t entirely incompetent, after all. Only mostly incompetent. The current investigator in the case is Edmund Reid, and he was kind enough to leave his notes in an easily accessible locked desk behind a bolted door in a guarded building. Wasn’t much in there that was news to me. I did not with amusement that my presence at the crime scene had been recorded, even if it was an unimportant detail. And then, my eyes fell on a name I hadn’t seen in a long time. “Dorian Gardner.”

Impossible. Dorian Gardner was in America at the time. Or… was he? The Dorian who Lisa had met was from a parallel universe which was destroyed by the Quiet. Perhaps in this one, he came to England?

Had to find out for myself. The name was in reference to a man who had been seen in the area during the estimated time of crime. Shifted my investigations onto him, and eventually tracked him down. Found a carriage which he was supposedly traveling on, and followed it. I could have gone right up to it, or just warped inside, but I wanted to give myself time to think. It was an expensive looking carriage. If this was the same Dorian, he was doing much better in this universe. What should I say to him? Should I try to say anything to him?

The carriage was slowing down. That… that was a very fancy looking building it was stopping in front of. This was a significantly higher class of living than the Dorian I knew. The carriage door opened….

As soon as I felt what was inside that carriage, I knew it wasn’t Dorian. Grendel stepped out, dressed in the era’s highest fashion. When he saw me, he smiled and tipped his hat, then walked inside.

I-330