>>53093
As promised. No relation to the main story of GIG, etc.
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'Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Suwako Moriya wgah'nagl fhtagn.'
That line, uttered by your colleague Aya ten days ago, was the last
thing she ever said. She died on that fateful night--struck down by an
invisible force, right before your eyes. The doctors say she dies
months ago, but after having witnessed
that, you're not sure what to believe.
Still, the words linger in your head. They're the only lead you
have. It took a lot of doing, but after a long and hard battle the
police finally let you into her house. The place was stripped bare by
them during their investigation. They took everything but the
furniture.
Thank God for that, too. She kept her precious notebook hidden
beneath the top drawer of her dresser, where she kept her
undergarments. No man but you would ever dare to look too closely at
it. Pull the wooden tab in the back right corner, and it falls to the
floor. Like clockwork.
Yet upon opening it, you were horrified by it's contents. Last you
had seen it, she had written pages upon pages about the secret love she
shared with you. Now, it's filled with scribbles and drawings depicting
an ancient beast--a terror unknown to modern man.
Her obsession with it was sudden. One page she declares her love,
the next she announces the existance of a monster. An elder God of the
Earth. The pages describe it as appearing not too dissimilar to a toad.
With it's head full of eyes, it's massive size--greater than that of
even the tallest of buildings--and it's bloated and speckled form, this
creature would truly be a sight to behold. It's written that it sleep
eternally upon the highest mountain, waking only to end the world. The
writings describe others, as well. One--a human woman, her form twisted
and warped to something far more sinister. She serves as the creature's
protector, living a life of servitude in return for life eternal. The
other is far more fearsome than both. A demon of immense power, with
the ability to transform the stars and sky, it exists only to torment
the sleeping God of Earth.
And during your search for clues to this thing's whereabouts, you wound up here, in this stinking fetid marshland. The
Genbu,
the locals call it. A strange lot, them. They dance around, night after
night, performing the same ritual in attempt to please their guardian
deities. You inquire time an time again about these Gods, and their
response is always the same. They tell you that the Gods are among the
oldest creatures on this Earth, and that they are of untold power.
Pretty much the same crock any religious group would tell you.
The stench is overpowering, something akin to rotting fish. It
burns your nostrils and makes your eyes water. The mountain looms just
ahead, hidden by the marsh's thick fog and the night sky. You hold your
compass forward, rechecking your heading. Due North, as it should be.
Something catches your attention out of the corner of your eye. A
large rock formation comes into view just to your left. You carefully
approach it, making sure not to step too deeply into the snarled layer
of peat that seems to cover the entire landscape. One wrong step and
you'll sink right under it.
You hold your lantern up to the rock, examining it's surface. As
if created by the cooling of magma, the face if it is segmented,
forming a tortoise-shell pattern all across it. It looks anything but
natural. You carefully begin to scale it's face, climbing to the top of
the structure and shining your burning lamp on it's surface.
Carved into the rock face in clear English, are the words
'Suwako fhtagn.'
'Suwako waits', the book said it meant. You're so close you can
smell it. The reason why Aya died lurks just ahead, and you'll be
damned if you let it get away!
A strong wind knocks your lamp over. You scramble after it as it
rolls over the face of the rock, falling and sinking into the marsh
below.
The flame burns brightly as the glass casing floods with water,
and is quickly snuffed out, leaving you surrounded by this impenetrable
darkness.
The wind blows again, carrying with it the sound of frogs
croaking. The sound pierces your ears, sending a chill down your spine.
Slowly, it grows louder. The light of the full moon shines through
the thick fog, illuminating thousands of pairs of tiny eyes just at the
bottom of the rock. The way the light reflects off them, it appears as
if they're looking right at you.
But that can't be true, can it?
Among the high-pitched whining of the frogs, the sound of a much
deeper call emerges. The sheer magnitude of the noise causes the air
around you to vibrate.
That stench. You smelled it earlier. That earthy, rotted wood
stink. It grows close as the moon illuminates a set of much larger
eyes, hovering just behind the small army of frogs. It glows green in
the blackness.
Around it appears another set of eyes, and then another. They
continue to multiply as your heart begins to race. The answer to Aya's
death.. Was it worth the price of your life?
The mass of eyes draws close, slithering up the face of the tortoise-shell rock. It calls to you.
"Kero?"
