The space seems to be tilted, and the roads are completely out of proportion, twisting and twisting in strange directions. The towering, angular buildings on both sides seemed to laugh at the insignificance of all things. Ethan felt that his body was very heavy, and he seemed to be carrying a heavy weight behind him, and he could only move with all his strength. He turned his head, but saw countless tentacles entwined and crowded with each other, squirming with his pace like a tangled giant python, and the terrifying mouth-like organs above were also opening and closing. He raised his hand and saw that the nails were pitch-black and sharp, and the black lines were meandering and spread to his arms, and even his bare body was twisted into some kind of tattoo-like pointed totem. And those black lines were denser under his thighs, causing his skin to lift up into black scales, and his feet were no longer feet, the ankle joints became high and bent back, the soles of the feet Turned into hooves like a goat.
In the dream, Ethan seemed to be quite used to this body and did not feel fear or surprise. He stomped on the flesh and mucous membranes that covered the earth, trudging intently toward the pyramidal temple at the end of the long road. Around him, many giant worms coiled and crawled on the buildings on both sides, strange green frogmen worshipped on both sides of the road, and even the one seen in the abandoned subway station had a back foot, and the whole body was covered with Grape-like lumps of creatures clawed in swarms among the rough stones, and many indescribable clumps of flesh spilled out of the building's "window"-like openings. The deafening drums and the flute with no melody resounded in the sky, and the goddess of procreation, who covered half of the sky in the distance, happily waved her thousands of arms, giving birth to one after another in the boundless sea of darkness deformed life.
It was a celebration, no doubt, and the corrupt and chaotic people cheered and cheered at him.
Ethan saw that the black man appeared in the middle of the road again. He still "wears" Tanisel's face today, but in a gorgeous golden pharaoh's robe, tall and beautiful like a god in the midst of extremely ugly creatures. He held out a hand to Ethan and smiled approvingly.
"You are very near, child. The core of all things awaits you in the temple at the center of the universe, and you will be my most noble offering to the Lord."
Ethan stood in front of him, but only as tall as the waist of the black Tanisel. He looked up at the hollow eye that was still beautiful but had no iris in it.
He suddenly became angry and shouted, "I'm not a sacrifice! I don't know you either! You're not Tanithel! Let me go back!"
"No, you know me, your memory of me is hidden in every cell in your body, and the purification of you by the Goddess makes your body remember me earlier than your soul, and remember this greatness The ultimate kingdom. You belong here."
His words made Ethan very confused, and there was an inexplicable disgust and anger. He felt that the person in front of him would destroy him, so he raised the thousands of tentacles behind him, swung it with open teeth and claws, and rolled up the bloody sand. He snapped, "My name is Ethan Eldridge, and I don't belong here!"
The black man was not frightened by him, but smiled lovingly and reached out to touch the top of his head, "In your universe, you are just a weak, dark, boring and nothing special Beta, you Your mother is now dead, and your father hates you, or rather, he is not your father at all. You are penniless, everyone knows you are a dangerous fugitive, and no one likes you. Except for those who think you are useful Outside of people, no one will miss you even if you die. Your life will never get better, and you will end up dying alone in the gutter like a mouse, probably without anyone to cry for you. "
The cold words pierced into Ethan's heart like a sharp needle, the tone so plain that it was like reading a book, but it showed the authenticity of every word even more bloodily. Ethan wanted to shut him up, but his own hideous face with black lines reflected in those empty eyes made him unable to say anything to refute.
What he said was right, and that was the most desperate thing.
Every child once thought he would grow up to be a hero of the world. When Ethan was young, he would never have imagined that his future would be so humble and hopeless.
The despair and black man exuding from Ethan seemed very happy, he sighed with satisfaction, his tone became gentle, "Only here, only here you are special. So you will accept it, after all you are The only meaning of a sad life is to accept the core of the universe and open the door of my god to the lost land." He said, bending his body and chanting incantations in Ethan's ear, "Everything you want. , including the Eve, as long as you accept it, it belongs to you. Forever, completely, to you."
As if bewitched, Ethan heard himself ask in a dry, mechanical voice, "Accept what? What do you want me to accept?"
"Let your soul be baptized by Azathoth and become his incarnation in the world!"
*********
Ethan sucked in a breath of cold air, his originally closed eyes suddenly opened, and his entire body was as stiff as wood and unable to move. Taniser, who was resting beside the bed, was woken up by his twitching, and quickly sat up to check his condition.
"Ethan? Are you awake?"
Tanisel called softly, but Ethan's eyes were fixed on the top of the bed without blinking, his mouth opened slightly, and there was a suffocating rattle in his throat. Tanithel shook his shoulders, trying to wake him up. When he found that there was no effect, he had to open his third eye, trying to force Ethan out with his mental power.
At that moment, the image in Ethan's mind rushed into his mind. The earth was full of viscera and pieces of meat, and there was a humanoid monster with a height of more than ten stories in front of it. Where it should have been the face, a blood-red tentacle grew out and waved in the air.
That is... the real body of Nyarlathotep, the messenger of Azathoth, the core of the universe, the main god he believes in...
For a moment, Tanisel felt that he was being stared at, unable to move. His forehead was sweating, and he felt that the faceless god was peering into his fragile soul, with a sinister smile on his nonexistent mouth.
"Tanither, servant of the Lord of Stupidity, if you are as loyal as you say, what are you delaying?"
A high-pitched noise suddenly resounded through his mind, and Tanissell exhaled in pain, rosy blood gushing out of his nose and ears. It was not a thought beyond reason that a person could bear at all. It was not the first time he had experienced it, but he still couldn't get used to the pain that his mind would explode every time.
"The time hasn't come yet..." Tanisel struggled to convince the ancient evil god, but he also knew that his situation was precarious at the moment.
"Are you trying to deceive the originator of the deceiver? My poor lamb." Nyarlathotep's thoughts sneered and rushed into Tanisel's mind again, tearing his brain arrogantly. Tanisel bit his lips and blood began to ooze from his eyes, and responded in his mind, "No! The great prowling chaos, please don't question my determination! It's just not the best time. , he's not ready, and doing it now will only hurt him!"
"Is he not ready? Or are you..." The tentacles on the top of the huge monster's head suddenly extended towards him, wrapping around his throat a little bit. The skin that was touched seemed to be wrapped in a red-hot iron, and Tanisel let out a scream, her beautiful face distorted in pain. But the monster still asked with a smile in his mind, "Or did you have some kind of shallow and boring feeling?"
Without waiting for Tanisel to answer, suddenly all the illusions disappeared, Tanisel almost collapsed next to Ethan, his neck was burning with pain, and his face was covered in blood.
And Ethan seemed to be waking up slowly, his eyes focused a little bit. Tanissell quickly wiped off the blood on his face with his sleeve, gently brushed away the sweaty hair in front of Ethan's eyes, and watched the pair of green eyes focus his gaze on his face little by little.
The two were speechless for a while. Taniser did not know what kind of image Nyarlathotep saw in Ethan's dream.
"What's wrong with me?" Ethan asked.
"You have too much entropy in your body, so it started to collapse. If I didn't come back in time to inject you with the solution of the Progenitor's Egg, your life might be at risk now." Tanithel stared at Ethan seriously, "Why? Didn't you take your medicine on time?"
Ethan coughed twice, and then said, "Didn't you say that the medicine is soothing, I thought it wasn't that serious..."
Taniser's brows seemed to have a bit of anger in his eyes, and Ethan also noticed that the priest's face was abnormally white, and... Is there blood under the nose
"If you want to live longer, listen to me in the future!" The priest's voice was more severe than usual, and he was quite imposing. Ethan was not frightened, he laughed and coaxed, "Okay, I promise to be obedient in the future."
"That's good." Tanisel turned around and took a cup of amber liquid medicine from the cabinet beside the bed, "Drink it."
Ethan obediently drank the contents of the cup in one go. He watched as the priest took the empty cup and put it back on the tray, then stood up and tucked the quilt for him.
"How is Samuel?" Ethan asked.
"He's all right, Terry Dawes is taking care of him. He's almost past his estrus."
"Ah, that's fine."
"Don't worry about yourself in the future, and don't look at your own condition. Samuel is not a minor, he knows how to take care of himself." Tanisel sighed, his tone softened slightly, "Hungry? I asked the kitchen to prepare something for you?"
It was only now that Ethan realized that he seemed to be feeling a little hungry. It was strange. This feeling seemed to be rare recently, and the feeling of tiredness that had been lingering had also diminished a lot. He smiled a little embarrassedly, "A little."
"Wait a minute, I'll call someone." Tanissell said and left.
As soon as the door closed, Ethan on the bed changed his expression slightly. The smile disappeared, and it became a little dim. He remembered the content of the dream, because the dream was so real.
He remembered what he had become, and would he have ended up like that if Tanisel hadn't helped him? And the black man, who he felt more and more strange.
Why does he always say he knows him? And why, he did vaguely feel that he seemed to be no stranger to him. Who is he
Why does he know everything about himself? Even knowing that his mother was dead, something he couldn't be completely sure about himself, and knowing that his father wasn't his real father, something he couldn't believe at all. Is all this really just your subconscious, or did you enter a dream created by a more powerful intelligence
No... That black man is not just as simple as the messenger of the core of the universe, there must be something more important that he can't remember...
The black man... the faceless god of many faces... walks alone in this universe... tempts and deceives mankind with a devilish smile.
But is that really cheating? Isn't what he said true
In this universe, I am nothing but a worm in the gutter. It's only there that he's special...
Just accept... you can have everything, have Taniser...
Ethan looked down at his hands. He remembered that his nails had turned black before, but now they look normal again. He looked around, and the feeling of being stared at before was gone. He listened carefully, and the breathing sound that followed him was also gone. It seemed that everything was normal except for the weird layout of the room.
But he began to doubt what was normal and real. Did he see it now, or did he perceive it before he passed out