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A village. So inactive on the outside you could say it’s abandoned from afar, so small you could mistake it for a noncore area. But it wasn’t just any village, it was far deeper than the norm. Underground, with water and trees, but no sunlight? Yet it was strangely light to those who entered. The townspeople had never questioned the naturality of their life, their whole world. They had never seen above, never known there was anything but this village. Nothing besides a church, houses, a farm or few, and the castle far far away underneath everything. It went deeper, little did the townspeople know. Much deeper. Deeper than anyone would’ve thought so. The village had cottages, a small church, and a small tower far off into the dark outskirts of the village. Still in the crater the world had made for this strange miniworld, but not in the forest either. The village was small, yes, but the crater was much too big for the village to be considered large within. It was a stone snow globe, but no snow. No rain. No storms. The only storm that ever happened within this village was the day things changed, not only for the townspeople, but for the world. Not just their world, but those who didn’t know it all existed. Unwanted exposure.
The townspeople had been having a regular day, like everyday, for centuries, going to their yellow gowned church and coming home to their yellow clothing with yellow carpets and yellow cloth on their tables. Everyone had yellow, it was the only spot of optional colour you’d see in the village. Stone, cobblestone, ceramics, and yellow materials of all kinds. Anything you can colour would be yellow. How did they obtain all this in such a secure world? Who knows. It would’ve been centuries before now then and before. Before anything and everything. It’s existed since the start of particles one would presume, if they knew the darkness underneath. The one they all prayed to. The being that hid, not from the village or townspeople, but from the naked eye. From any eyes at all. Despite Him being hidden away, everyone praised Him as their god, their savior, for making the town, the story had been told as so. Yellow gowns, worn on church everyday, children and adults and the elderly and even infants, sat in the place that was similar to a chapel yet different in its own way. People praised the yellow-ness of their life, their world, Him. They all had heard stories that reached far and wide in the minds of the village of yellow. Carcosa, they had called it. Nobody knew why. The story had been that a preacher had heard the word from Him, from their savior, from their everything and all god. The preacher had helped name the town, though it was never used amongst the common, only officially. People called it The Yellow Village, though it was only a label describing how yellow it all was. Carcosa, it was named. Not The Carcosa Village, or Carcosaville, or anything silly. Carcosa. The word truly had no meaning to outsiders, nobody would’ve ever heard of it if anyone had discovered it after decades. The townspeople though, they saw it as a word of praise and divinity. Describing their god, not the town. It was all about Him. Their homes centered Him, the children learnt his ways of living, the dark truth they had called it. It wasn’t negative though, the townspeople had a different view on life and some phrases the outsiders would see differently. Not understanding their ways. Nobody would. That is why they never explored, never bothered to question “is there life outside of this dome?”. Other civilizations didn’t matter to them, only He mattered. It may seem twisted and unstable of the village to be so obsessive about Him, but they were surprisingly stable despite their lives surrounding His ideologies. That they made up. That had been there for centuries. Nobody questioned, nobody dared, nobody thought to even. Nobody knew better. Not even the knight that protected Him himself. Not even those who saw Him, who seemingly weeped for centuries after death. Those who rotted while breathing. The townspeople who suffered a terrible fate, but no blood had been spilt. Not then, not before, not ever. No spilt blood. All but the knight remained, the one who had rarely surfaced after centuries. The townspeople didn’t enjoy his presence, he was unknown. They didn’t know where He was, they didn’t know that he was His knight. They didn’t even know his name, they simply called him The Odd Knight. He had golden yellow armour, like any other person wearing yellow, except his shined better than any robe at the temple of yellow. He wore your typical armour, but he had a strange helmet. A golden centurion helmet, with red atop of it. Red had never been seen in Carcosa, only yellow and monochromes, yet this knight had splotches of red throughout. He had a red shawl that any knight would wear, and sometimes a red cape whenever he went outside of his hiding. Nobody knew where he went now, nobody knew him now.
“Hey guys, Avery here! So, today, I’m kinda cave mining yeah? And I found some DIAMONDS! Like dude look at this!” The green jelly man held up a piece of diamond, showing his camera the stack of diamonds he had found inside the stone of his mine. “It’s so shiny too, as if it were freshly made from mother earth man! I love nature..” He smiled at the camera as he held it upside down at himself, waving before turning it off. He was quiet now, looking around the mine as he observed it all. He then picked up the diamonds, dusting them off with his slimy hands and putting it in his backpack that laid against a stone wall. He then picked up the backpack, struggling for a moment before getting it on his back and the straps around his arms and over his shoulders. He started to climb back up the way he had mined downward into a staircase, his flip flops weren’t helping how heavy his bag was though as he struggled to walk up the not so carefully carved steps. Avery sighed, sweating already as he clearly wasn’t the strongest slime out there, resting almost halfway on the steps. His dark blue and white flowered Hawaiian shirt blew in the breeze as it drifted down into the mine. “Windy day, really? Ugh I hate that.. Always makes my slime fly around.” The slimed being frowned, getting up and hurrying up the steps with the bag of diamonds and other things. He finally reached the top, walking outside to the fresh stormy air. A storm was coming, but it was windy for now. “I wonder if there’s a tornado coming, sure feels like it! I haven’t crafted my stuff to like, tell if it's tornado weather yet but I mean I guess I can hide in the mines tonight.. Have my emergency bed anyways!” Avery brought himself to his house nearby, setting the backpack beside his bed as he opened a chest of his to get his pajamas. He then grabbed a torch, putting it in his shorts pockets. The night was going to come soon, so he decided to go back to the mine as the winds blew heavier. He walked down the stairs with pajamas and torch in hand, lighting the torch with his previously lit ones mounted amongst the mine's walls. “Creepy down here..” He huffed once he was at the bottom of the ‘stairs’. Avery looked at his mini room, setting his pajamas on his bed as he placed the torch in a holder near his bedside. He walked over to the chest near his bed too, opening it to find a book. “Huh?” His slimy hands picked up the book, opening it to read.
Page 1/4
Whatever you do, at
the crossroads, don’t
turn left.
Don’t be fooled. It’s listening
You can’t outsmart it
It’s listen tom e
It’s watching me
It isn’t from this world
Page 2/4
At the crossroads
don’t durn left
At the crossroads
DONT turn left
At the crossroads
don’t turn left
ATt the crossroads
dont durn left
Page 3/4
At the crossroads
don’t turn left
At the crossroads
don’t turn left
At the corssroads
don’t turn left
Page 4/4
23-2 29 2, 24 29 10-2
10-3 4, 19 30-4 15, 6
10-2 10-3 10-2
Avery started recording the moment he read it, showing the camera the pages. “Kinda creepy right?” He frowned, sweat running down his slime head as the slime inside him seemingly wiggled. “I’m just gonna…put this back.” The camera aimed at the chest now, as he put the book back into the chest carefully as if it were an ancient cursed artifact. The chest snapped shut with a light smack of his slime hand, looking around nervous and then back at the camera. “I’m going to..try to get some rest. AveryTheMayo out!” He chuckled to himself as he turned off the camera before clumsily dropping it. Sighing, he picked up the camera and checked for any damage, turning it on and recording the torch near his bed. Just then, a gush of wind came by and his slimy body flew about looking like a frantic lava lamp. His Hawaiian shirt jacket flew through the air, still on his body but flowy. His white shirt struggled to keep with his slime, his khaki shorts blowing too. He ran to his room to hide behind a wall, out of the hallway of the stairs. Avery breathed heavily, uncomfortable with the feeling of his slime forming back into its regular chubby body state.
He sat on his bed groaning with misery, picking up the curtain from under his bed as he got up going out into the hallway again to set up the curtain in front of the stairs to block the air. Once done with that, he looked behind him at the chest again. Seeing something he hadn’t before. “What’s that opening over there? I didn’t mine that..” He walked past the chest to the back of the hallway, going to the right to see a perfect opening to a cave. He got too curious and walked through the doorway, walking into the mine's darkness like an idiot without a torch. Avery kept walking, finding his way through the darkness, until he stepped on…grass? He was confused as he turned a corner, finding that the cave was lit up ahead. He didn’t dare question the continuing grass and small trees, eager for light and exploration. Walking towards the main light, he realized, where was the light coming from? There weren’t any torches, or fireflies down here. How were there trees growing and grass thriving with no water or anything producing light? Well, something supernatural produces light he thought of himself. “So uhh…” He had a lack of words, walking further into the strange cave. The greenery only grew more, trees growing bigger too as it no longer was just a small light around. It was bright, as if it were daytime in the cave. The trees were thriving, the grass had grown out long in this area. Avery eventually walked into a point of the cave where it was nearly complete greenery, only a few stones. He finally saw a brighter light, in a way, as he turned left and over the corner of it all and saw.. Trees. A whole land, a crater inside the cave. It was maybe over a 30 feet drop. His feet found their way around the edges of the cave, searching for a way to get down safely. Then, he remembered, he was slime. It didn't matter much. With that, he jumped off the safety of the cave's hole and down into the greenery of the supposedly natural but impossible forestry. Avery prepared for impact, unexpectedly landing in a body of water. There was a huge splash, a belly flop had been made. He panicked as the pain surged through him, but quickly became too busy with trying to swim. He didn’t really..know how. Usually he was able to float on water. Maybe he had been eating too much lately? No time to wonder about that, he needed to get to the surface. The water was so heavy, so deep in his mind, as he opened his square slimy eyes in order to see where he was swimming. He pushed his arms out and open in front of him, then backwards. This is how you swim right? He believed so. He kept pushing, his legs wiggling like fat green worms. Avery finally reached up and felt the air, pushing past the deep waters into the air as he took a deep heaving breath. His eyes fluttered open, looking around frantically in search of how he landed in water. He hadn’t seen any water. Looking around now, even when disoriented, he knew his goal was to get out of the water. He lightly swam to the rocky shore, it was a small pond he had dropped into, yet it was impossibly deep. This was like a fever dream..
Avery walked around the forest now, sandals still clinging to his slimy feet. He was confused. So confused. The forest was still light, as if it were daytime. Walking deeper into the forest, he quickly saw a tunnel shaped like a rounded oval gate. It had torches on both sides, lighting it up. He walked from the trees and into the tunnel, not giving a look back until he was midway. “Who’s there?” Footsteps had sounded behind him, only stopping a millisecond after his own. The torches behind his steps had flickered off as if it were as easy as a light switch. No fire blowing, no wind, no huff and puff. Just silenced light. The air smelt of something metallic, perhaps it was the rim of the tunnel, or maybe it was the holders for the torches? Avery didn’t know. Or care really, he didn’t think about those things. A simple slime just ran away from the torches as they quickly started to dissipate in light, until the entire hallway was dark. Avery still had more of the tunnel in front of him to walk, but without light, he kept running. Running in pure darkness down a tunnel made out smooth stone, crafted as if fit for a kingdom. He kept running as all he could hear were whispers, whispers in a language he didn’t know or understand, was it even a language? Were they even speaking? What was this noise he was hearing? He couldn’t question it for long, too caught up in the adrenaline of fear produced by lights going out and strange noises ringing in his ears impossibly loud for him to comprehend in due time. Avery kept running. Running. Running. Falling. Panicking. And a splash was heard again, though, this time, Avery swam deeper. Letting himself sink as he tried to desperately swim away from the unknown danger he had made up himself. There was something after him, watching him. When did it start? When he had read the book? When he had entered the cave, or was it when he started walking into the forest? What is chasing him? He had all these questions lingering in his mind now, as panic kept steering him downward into the waters. Deeper and deeper he fell, not bothering to steer himself somewhere. Was he going to die this way? He shouldn’t think about that should he. He saw a hole that very moment, beginning to swim again towards the hole, only to realize there were holes…thousands of holes. Tunnels underwater. Was it a trap? Where to go? He didn’t have much time to think anymore. Avery swam towards a random hole, presumably towards the left by instinct. He couldn’t stop questioning everything, he needed to know what was happening. What was he seeing? No time to question. There never was time to do that. Avery kept swimming through the tunnel he may have regretted choosing, until he saw a lighter blue place in the water. He swam up into a corner, head poking out of the water and into a small pocket of air. He breathed into the small amount of air deeply, rubbing his eyes that were tainted with the unknown waters. His sandals were still holding onto him surprisingly, though he didn’t care to notice that. Avery took a deep breath before diving back in, with a new purpose now, swimming deeper into the tunnel and taking multiple lefts. Left was always right, right? Swimming endlessly, with occasional pockets of air. Until he reached the end of the tunnel, it went outward, to a larger body of water like before. It was much larger than the forest, which was the size of a tiny village maybe. He couldn’t remember any more.
Swimming up to breathe, he looked around to see that the shore was gravel and there was..yet again, another forest. This one's trees looked the exact same all around. He quickly swam to the shore, the majority of his sight still being water all around himself. Avery crawled onto the shore, and onto the grass. Looking around, he saw three chests, one of which was broken off its hinges. He breathed heavily, still trying to steady it after what felt like maybe 20 minutes of pure panic. It’d been just five minutes in reality. Getting up with a deep breath, stabilizing his breath, he walked towards the chests and noticed two small stacks of dirt. One of which had grass growing on it. He was..quite puzzled by this random scene. Unusual, but not as strange as what he’d previously seen. Walking around, nearly pacing with his nerves and recollecting his thoughts. His slime dripped as he got nervous, unsure what he was getting himself into now. At first, it had been the simple adrenaline that drove him so far, but that adrenaline has been used up. What would he do now without it? Walk around endlessly? You are correct. Avery walked into the forest without a second thought, walking, running, walking. He didn’t know what else to do but move in the forest. He slowly got paranoid as he heard footsteps. Multiple. How many? Too paranoid to tell. Looking around like a dog in headlights, he couldn’t find the source of any of the footsteps he was hearing. Until he spotted something yellow. He spun around, searching for the sight of it again. He just ran a random direction when he couldn’t find it again. Running into a sign, he fell over. Getting up, he ran another direction, running into another sign. Same repeats, another sign. Was he stupid or clumsy? Not even he knew what himself.
“You need to turn back Avery.”
“Who?!-”
“Go back to your home. You need to for your wellbeing.”
Avery spun around frantically, looking for the deep hollowing voice he was hearing. “Show yourself! I’m not afraid!”
“You will realize soon you are.”
He huffed, unsure if the voice was actually trying to lie. Seemed accurate, though he didn’t admit it out loud or to himself. He didn’t want to try to figure out what made him scared. “You need to go back to the holes. Go back up. Climb a mountain if that is what it takes.”
Avery sighed and kept looking around hopelessly, until spinning around again and getting startled enough to fall. “Why are you so close?!”
“I am serious. This isn’t a joke Avery, not an adventure like your usual.”
“How do you know my name dude?!” He backed away from the stranger, on the ground getting defensive without any defense. Getting up clumsily once far enough from the yellow knight, not bothering to brush off the dirt on his clothes. “I asked how you know my name..” The knight stood still, eyes unseeable, yet the staring was a clear sign it wasn’t budging. Until it spoke.
“I know it all. All of you, all of this, everything. You need to go back. I’m not asking.”
“But I’m so far, I could-”
“Stop your plans and go back. For your own..sanity.”
He frowned at the knight in yellow, taking a step forward when realizing he wasn’t a threat. Just a blockage to his adventure. “I’m going whether you want me to or not stranger.” Avery walked right past the knight, deeper into the forest as footsteps followed behind him. What was this person up to, and surely it wasn’t telling the truth was it? Knowing everything, impossible! It was just overly confident. “Why are you following me?”
“You ask unimportant questions Avery.”
He rolled his eyes, huffing as he continued to walk, slower though to talk to the person in yellow armour and red accents. “What do I call you huh? You little stalker.” Despite the knight being much taller than Avery himself, he dared call him little. Though, the knight didn’t have a problem. Maybe. It had no comment on it.
“Knight. Remember me as the knight in yellow, AveryTheMayo.”
“Okay man, that's crazy, why are you calling me by my username??” It didn’t reply. “What are your pronouns at least? For all I know I could be talking to a cute girl under all that armour bro.”
It sighed, taking lead in walking within the forest, as if guiding Avery further without knowledge itself. “I am a he. You should realize that with my voice Avery.”
“Girls can have deep voices too. Or like..yeah.”
“Yeah? What are you thinking.” For once Avery was the one to not respond. Knight didn’t continue the conversation either as they both walked through the forest, Knight leading him to a tree oddly. He then took out a pickaxe, breaking the wood quickly by the root as if it had never been connected. He moved the wood to the side, disconnected from the tree to reveal a hole.
Knight grabbed Avery's hand suddenly, slipping down the large hole, dragging Avery down into its depths.
“HEY! WHAT ARE YOU-” He squeaked, getting dragged into the darkness again, but by Knight this time instead of his own curiosity. All he saw was darkness for a small moment, before they appeared in a dark hallway. All he felt was the cold, not a winter cold, but a stillness that was unnerving. Knight had landed on his feet, the metal clanking on the stone harshly while Avery’s scream cut off with a grunt as he hit the ground. His slime splattered lightly on the stone before reforming to his chubby body. Knight stood before him, looking intimidating in the light darkness. Like every other place Avery had visited in this strange new world, the world was light but only enough to see some things. Such as Knight, himself, and some details of stone and moss growing in the stones. It was dark, but light as if his eyes had automatically adjusted to the darkness completely, which it hadn’t. It was just naturally strange like that. It made Avery nervous of what was to come in this stone place. It looked constructed instead of a stone cave, the stone was polished, and that made Avery confused on why Knight brought him here either. “Knight why are we-”
“Pick your way. Remember the book.”
“What book-”
“The book and quill Avery. What I had written.”
Avery was confused still, looking around before remembering back to that strange book in the chest. What had been written in messy handwriting, as if it were rushed. “That was you?” The knight in yellow nodded in response, still standing still, waiting for Avery. He got the memo and got up, stumbling a little from the falling pressure on his back. “Oww..” Knight snickered a little, the first time he had shown any emotion even if it was short lived and only slight. Avery huffed towards him, walking forward past the knight and into the wall. Even in this strange light darkness he didn’t see it.
“This is the crossroads. Pick your future, if you know it well you will choose the right way.”
Avery felt the walls now, being careful as he found his way into what he assumed to be the maze. His fingers touched moss, flinching away at the strange texture that he didn’t expect. Still, he walked forward, getting to a two way path. “Don’t turn left..?” Avery turned left after saying that. Whether it was out of curiosity, genuine stupidity, or not knowing which was left or right, is unknown to himself really. He just turned whatever way he wanted. Which ended up being left. Knight followed closely, not piping up about the left turns. Avery just kept walking, unable to exactly see where he was going honestly. “So uh, you said you wrote that book? How’d you know about the book though, that I had read it?” It was silent again, his footsteps and the sound of metal footsteps only heard in the dusty maze.
“Affirmative.”
“Why shouldn’t I go left?”
The knight grunted quietly, out of annoyance of the question. “If you go left another time you will regret it all in due time.”
That had only made Avery more curious about what happens going left.
He would dig his own grave before laying it, turning left again, coming across a giant gate. Still stone and still light darkness, but a mix of cave and manmadeness filled the large room. Avery wandered around. Taking in the three levers sitting between him and the giant gate door thing. He wasn’t sure what it was. But he was too eagerly pressing the levers to care. Knight stood in front of the elvers, closer to the door, watching Avery mess with the levers.
“You need to turn back. Though what is the point now.” He sighed within his helmet, a light breeze passing to make his red cloak on his shoulders flow a little, showing every rip and tear in it. Turning his back to Avery, he could notice the giant rip in the back as if half of the back had been ripped off, half of a cape showing holes occasionally in the mess of ripping.
“What have you been through?..”
“Horrors you cannot start to imagine. Don’t try.”
Avery frowned, getting a bland answer and unable to figure out this strange puzzle. There was giant writing above the giant door, but it was random letters.
OMCTSTJBHTHHAHUBWLVQCVYOML
PCUIGVITUHQADUSSJHEWWAFABD
CVDAVOGHPHAFHMUIGHGHGOOTH
IUCCHNEPBGJLHCTAOHTHIJH
Knight repeated the cipher while Avery read it in his mind, taking a moment to register that Knight had read the letters he was seeing. “What does that mean?” He was silent for a moment before clearing his throat, his voice lower and more hushed. “Just a message about Him.”
“Who?”
He was silent again, this time he changed the subject it seemed. “Beneath the sky of melting gold, ancient echoes of a shepherd's mold. An old decay if left one goes, is unseen truth all but faux.” The knight had exhaled deeply after saying that, his posture growing tired. Avery tried to wrap his slimy head around what the knight was saying, but he just got annoyed by the unknown phrases he was saying.
“Look if I’m going to have you around, you have to answer my questions! What if I get hurt because you didn’t warn me?!”
“I already warned you multiple times, Avery. You do not care now. You will regret it all soon.”
“Stop being so, so secretive! I don’t know what you are talking about, what will I regret? Why would I regret exploring this weird place?” Knight didn’t reply, instead walking towards the door and through a hole Avery hadn’t seen before. Avery quickly followed, afraid of being alone in the darkness in this strange place. Knight seemed familiar with it. “Wait up! Please, just, answer one question..”
“What do you inquire.”
“Do you know what danger might be ahead?”
Knight kept walking, now it was a hallway behind the door. It was a lit one, just like the one at the beginning. The one that had voices. “Yes.”
“What is it?”
“You said one question. One question has been answered.”
Avery huffed, stubborn but not admitting he was right about that. They both kept walking, Avery stopped once seeing what was at the end. “Is that a village?”
Knight stayed quiet, walking into the village.
It was dark out, the light posts in the village were still burning bright while it seemed like night. There were many small houses, cottage styled and made out of stone bricks. Yellow was seen around frequently, the fountain in the middle being made out of a pale yellow gold material. There was a huge church, a few farms that were long dead, pieces of ripped paper scattered around every so often as Avery and Knight walked towards and into the village. “What happened to this place?”
“Your curiosity is a disease, Avery. Don’t let it spread.”
“Wha-”
“Keep to yourself. You found the village, this is the end of your journey.”
“Bu-”
“You need to go back now Avery. You have seen too much, more than you should have.”
Avery tried to come up with words, but all that left his mouth was murmurs even he himself couldn’t understand. He stomped his foot, annoyed by all the confusing secrets in Knight’s words. “I’m going to explore everything I can see in this village, whether you like it or not!” He took out his camera, it was soaking wet from being in his pocket this whole time. He turned it on, it surprisingly worked, and recorded fairly well once wiping the lenses. “Avery here, I found this yellow village underground that THIS guy,” Avery pointed the camera at the knight in yellow “led me to. Even though he keeps telling me to turn back or something.” Walking around, aiming the camera at various structures across the abandoned village. Even walking into some, recording it all. Knight followed after Avery closely, trying to warn Avery not to record such a sacredly forbidden and abandoned place. Saying that he needn’t be here for good reason, that he should stop, and that he’ll lead him back to the surface if he just stops recording. Why was the knight so desperate to stop Avery from exploring, from recording, from being here? He had always been so stoic, until now, he showed slight worry. “I’ll be okay dude, stop babying me.”
Avery walked around looking at the abandonment of the unknown village. He walked into one of the homes to go upstairs in order to get a view, once arriving he looked out the window seeing the village as you’d expect it. Though, he looked past the cottages and church, deep into the corner of the cratered village. The only non yellow house, cast far far away. It looked like a mini cathedral, a tower of sorts, a thin church. He smirked, getting interested as he rushed down the stairs. Knight was at the bottom of them, causing Avery to crash into him, them both falling like dominos. Knight held Avery for safety reasons, ensuring he didn’t get hurt as if he could with his slime. Knight’s armour clanked when hitting the floor, sounding like it hurt yet he didn’t make a sound, only a small grunt before hitting the ground. His grip was tight, protective. It was a simple small action, but anyone could tell he genuinely wanted Avery to be safe. Avery didn’t really care though, being too focused on that tower as he got up and out of the knight in yellow hostage, running out of the home and towards the distant tower.
Knight swiftly got up and followed after Avery, calling out his name in distress. Serious distress now, full of emotion. “AVERY! STOP THIS NOW! YOU MUSTN’T GO TO THE TOWER!” He sweated under all that armour, running with the clink clanks of his armour against the gravel, against grass, against stone. He ran as if his life depended on it, though it wasn’t his life that would be in His hold. Avery ran into the tower, giggling like a mischievous child who had found a way to get to the cookie jar at last. Knight ran in directly after Avery, grabbing him and trying to pull him away and out of the tower of darkness and despair.
“LET GO OF ME!”
He was silent still, pulling Avery harder and more insistantly. “Avery He is watching, He is listening, you needn’t see the depths of this tower it isn’t worth it one bit.”
“What are you keeping me from?! Who is He?!”
Knight held Avery close, trying to keep Avery away from the tower as much as he could even if they stood in the doorway. “The king, please listen to my warnings Avery I can’t lose you to stupidity, stop this nonsense..”
Avery looked more nervous than angry now. A king to be warned about? “The king, he is watching and listening? Is he in this tower?”
“Yes, yes, yes, please end your exploration here. Please.” The knight in yellow sounded as if he were about to cry, his voice cracking and sounding hoarse already. His voice hadn’t been used much, not for years, centuries even. Not ever since the village had gone cold for eternity.
“What..happened? Why is the king a warning? Is Knight even your name?” The air fell silent. Not even a breeze could be felt or heard. He let out a shaky breath, his gloved hands reaching up to hold Avery’s face by his chin, making him stare into the darkness of his helmet. No visible face or eyes. Nothing to look at but the void.
“I am formerly Lord, the now knight for Him. The King In Yellow. Hastur. He is not one to be dared to meet, to talk about, to mention even. We are already far too deep, we need to go back for your safety Avery.”
“Formerly Lord? What happened to change that?”
“..I was the chief knight for a kingdom. Until I traveled here. Never to return with the few men I brought with me. They’re all dead because of Him. Their curiosity killed them, so please, let us not have you suffer the same fate.” His voice heightened towards the end, cracking every so often. Avery thought it was a sign of him lying. He immediately became distrustful, trusting his own assumptions better than that of a knight who claimed to protect the danger.
“I’ll see your truth myself. You could be hiding riches for all I know.” Avery pushed Lord away, running into the tower again and searching around hastily. It didn’t take long for him to find a basement door broken open already. “Jackpot!” He ran down the stairs into the supposed basement, only to find that it was a stone hallway that slowly descended into pure darkness.
“AVERY STOP YOU CAN’T, YOU JUST CAN’T BE DOING THIS!”
Avery heard the knight call from behind himself, knowing he didn’t have much time nor could he go back and admit he was possibly wrong. He ran. Into the darkness he went, stepping on stone faster than he realized it had turned into the void. No walls, no floor, no ceiling. Nothing but empty void, yet he still ran further. Lord was getting desperate, yelling his name over and over, begging for him to go back to safety before he saw Him. “I’m not going back Lord, I need to see-”
“YOU DON’T, PLEASE, AVERY STOP THIS!”
Avery was the quiet one now, continuing to run into the void as Knight followed shortly behind him with the gold armour clanking with each step, the shuffling of his body loudly deafening. Avery kept running, until all he could see was void for what looked like miles, unable to see the stairs at the beginning, or any stone matter of fact. He came across a golden door within the darkness, bright yellow and creaked open just a tad bit. It was huge, larger than any building Avery had ever seen or dreamt of. It looked endless, he couldn’t see the top of it though he did see the void above him so he assumed it ended at some point. Knight caught up to him because he had stopped in his tracks to stare upon the yellow door. “Avery, you need to get out of here. Please listen to me, I’m trying to protect you from Him.”
“A yellow door, it could be gold like your armour, there could be gold-”
“Only He sits upon his throne of golden void.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Avery please. I have kept you safe the entire way. Why not save your curiosity, save yourself, your life, your eyes, your mind and brain. Spare yourself and turn back. Now. I’m begging you Avery.”
Avery didn’t reply, set on seeing if he was telling the truth himself as he stepped forward towards the door slowly. The knight in yellow tried to grab Avery’s arm to pull him back, but he expected him to do so. Avery smacked his arm away from him, giving him a dirty glare. “I’ll see if you’re lying or not, Lord.” He slowly walked towards the door, until he reached out and touched it, gliding his hand across the yellow gold. Bright against the void, almost blinding. His eyes lingered on the patterns, curious but unknowing of the dangers that lurked behind the golden madness. Beyond his comprehension. Avery walked towards the crack of the door, walking into the room. Initially he could only see darkness, like the voided hallway, getting startled by the yell of Knight.
“AVERY!”
Avery had been startled so much he had backed into the room further, cocking his head towards the crack of the door where he had come from, before looking into the room.
There stood a creature, upon a throne of unknown. It was too much. Everything was too much all at once, sudden knowledge flooding Avery’s brain as soon as he saw Him. Too much is all he could think about willingly. He knew everything. The past, the future, the present, what happened to the village, Lord, The King In Yellow. Hastur was its name. It had existed since the beginning of atoms, of space, of particles, of everything. It knew everything. It was everything. It is everything. It gave him everything. He was frozen, unable to hear the knight in yellow speaking to him, unable to feel him grip his shoulders and shake him, too still to be dragged away from His vision. Yellow. The king, his gowns draping over his disfigured body like an abstract art piece. Yellow is all he looked at. That face. No face. Just as he had seen Lord. It opened its eyes slowly, white with a black circle, like any common basic drawing of an eye. It was unsettling. He couldn’t even think of any of this though, knowledge still flooding his head making it feel like an explosion, like a bomb had entered his body and didn’t bother ticking a countdown to blow up. He didn’t feel alive anymore, didn’t know what was around him, who he was staring at, what was happening. It was overwhelming, but that small word was a severe understatement of what he was experiencing.
“Avery-”
“Ghgrrhhgh…”
Knight didn’t speak after hearing that noise from Avery. He had been silent this whole time, still staring at the king with no crown. No real one any way. He was a lanky figure, that changed with every breath of you. His cloaks and gowns covered him making him look huge, but who knew what was under there. His tendrils crept around everywhere, the corners, the sides, behind him, around him. Black shiny tentacles wriggled about, curious of the breathing. His crown shone above his head, floating in the void above him and shining brightly. It looked unreal, like a still image, something that didn’t belong in life. Avery shed tears without realizing he was even breathing still. He finally managed to understand something. He knew too much. Collapsing into Lord's arms, as he held Avery close with safety and comfort in mind, as there was nothing to protect him from any more now that he had seen Him. The knowledge was the danger, seeing Him made that happen. Lord had seen such a terrifying being, long ago, and been trapped here ever since by will. He needn’t go back home any time with this knowledge, knowledge of how his kingdom would’ve fallen in hundreds of years after his death, of the corruption and failure of society, of the modern world. He understood it all, even when he learned it all in the medieval times. How was he alive? Only him and The King In Yellow knew. And Avery now. And the townspeople who had died shortly after gaining the knowledge. It was unknown if Avery would suffer the same fate, or stay with The King In Yellow and the knight in yellow. For now, Avery laid suffering in Lord’s safety, in front of Hastur as His eyes closed yet again. Satisfaction had rung through Knight’s mind, knowing that the king was satisfied with another soul being cursed, as the king had implanted the message into his mind above all else. Avery cried out in mental pain, his head aching harder than any lobotomy, staring up at Lord with his head in the knight's lap as they sat in the voided room of the king's presence. His vision blurred with tears, still overflowing with knowledge and unable to handle it all. He could only focus on the singular eye he saw in that helmet he hadn’t before. The same eye Hastur had two of.
“Rest Avery.” A voice cut through the echoing mind of Avery’s, and he didn’t hear it from Lord. It was Him…