CHAPTER VIII: "OF GODS AND MEN"
I am the murderer of Professor Raymond Knowles. I am also responsible for the disposition of his body in a shallow grave on Ujelang Island. But, this tale is far from completed and there is much to say in a very short amount of time.
Ward and Crawford tended to the injured Japanese sailor. As he became clearer of mind and realized we meant him no harm, he and Edward had rudimentary conversations.
As the sun rose over the island, Edward had amassed a considerable tale told by the sailor, which was relayed to the rest of as this:
His name was Yuki Takamura, a submariner of the "Mikage Maru". He said that on July 19th, a heated undersea battle ensued with an American sub which had sank it near Ujelang Island. Although the sub was left for dead, several men survived in pockets of the sub which contained a fair amount of air. He further stated that the Mikage Maru came to rest upon a large, rocky obelisk which had penetrated the hull almost in two. This left several sections of the obelisk visible to view- as they contained carven images of strange and unknown anthropoid creatures. He stated that within minutes,
strange creatures, neither man nor fish, began slithering into the flooded hull leaving a thick and odiferous oil-like substance in their wake. The "O-Wata-Tsu-Mi" as he called them began taking the few survivors deep into the abyss. Yuki stated that he managed to escape and make it to Ujelang Island.
Since that day, he had survived on the natural fruits and had discovered the temple. Once inside, he pieced together a version of what we had already begun to suspect. Of particular interest, was the fact that he had seen the dark man, coming to the island during the nights- rummaging through the decrepit debris. Yuki saw the dark man fly in fury around the building, baying in an inhuman cry that frightened him so that sleep was impossible during the dark hours. He said he saw slimy, misshapen, gelatinous creatures coming from the sea and engaging in some rhythmic communion on the shores.(25)
After Edward had completed his conversation with the sailor, he and I decided to go and retrieve the provisions left near the beach and destroy what was ever in that crate. Crawford stated that he was going to work on the solving the carvings and explore the building looking for clues.
Edward and I made our way through the foliage near the beach and discovered most of our equipment and belongings. The crate, to our utter horror, had been smashed open. The wooden shards were pointing outward and their appearance was that what was ever inside of it had broken out.
The crate, wooden in construction, was internally sealed by a thick rubber lining. There was the smell of sea water and of a strange and nauseating hint of decaying matter emanating from it. We noticed a thick trail of black, oily residue leading from the interior of the crate and out onto the beach. This trail, as we observed it, was periodically dotted with some type of mark or depression indicative of some sort of non-bipedal locomotion.(26) Whatever was in that crate was now gone into the sea.
Upon returning to the building, Crawford stated that he had a significant find regarding the timeline carvings on the walls. He explained his notions point by point through each carving plate one by one. The carvings, were as we suspected, a representation of the history of the Old Ones. Interesting enough, the carvings seemed to pass our era in time and proceeding into the future. We could not even guess if this future was eons from now or if it was being witnessed now.
The last few panels depicted a great city in the sea, rising above the waters having indescribable creatures coming from their catacombs and spreading death and chaos in thier wake. The final panel was of a human-like figure standing on one side of what appeared to be a doorway and a fish-man thing on the other. We all concurred that this final carving must be the final clue as to how to release the ancient things.
Using a pry tool from our equipment, Edward and I began prying the stone tablet from the wall. As it fell, a small chamber could be made out behind it. Reaching inside, I found the remaining fragments of the Book of the Dead. We placed the pages flat onto one of our boxes to examine them properly.
The pages were fully illustrated and was written in many languages from many different ages. There were images of human sacrifices and devil-things dancing in joy of the spilling of the blood. There were signs of stars and planets, which were seemingly scientifically accurate- a contradiction in such that they existed in a book of such supernatural anti-science.
The second page contained a disturbingly accurate depiction of the dark thing Phillips. Encircling his right hand was the image of a man, whilst around his left hand were four images of men. The four men were hanging upside down with their throats cut with their blood filling some type of vessel below which was surrounded by a blob-ish image.
The Japanese sailor, upon seeing the strange drawing said, "O-Wata-Tsu-Mi!"
Crawford and Ward had already begun to translate, as best they could, what the sailor had pointed to. They said that some was in Greek, some in Latin and some in Aramaic.
"In what the eons of births brought forth, the first children of Dagon will be led by the Last."
They said that was the best translation of the first line they could do, it's hidden meaning was something altogether different.
They then proceeded to read what was inscribed beneath the drawing of the dark thing.
"The Last will bring the forth the Messenger of Dagon to Great Cthulhus Throne in R'hley. There, bathed in the blood of reason, at last- when the stars are right, the Great Priest Cthulhu will hear that the world is once again his."
"The Latin, I can't quite understand...'penitus nex'...'inner death', Crawford stated.
Ward responded, "Here, this next line...'Pessum ire... universitas'. What's that middle word, Crawford?"
"I can't make it out, it's smudged or something...", was his response, "...'destroyer of worlds', maybe?"
I said that the images in the book around the dark man was obvious that it required a human lackey to assist him in his task, while there also needed four blood sacrifices to the messenger which, I supposed, was in the crate. Ward, Carter, Crawford and myself knew that it was to be us, our blood to bring forth the message sent by Dagon to Cthulhu.
"There is but one true God in this Universe, my friends," I said to them, "These things are not gods, nor devils- they are living creatures from beyond."(27)
"Burn the pages!", Ward cried.
"No! Finish reading them and see if there is a way to destroy the dark man. It's got to be him or the thing in the crate that must be destroyed to stop the chain of events from occurring, right?", Crawfords voice was shaking.
"The dark thing will be back tonight for these pages. I want to kill it and then destroy the pages."
We all stood around the pages, hoping there would be an answer within them. By the end of that day, none of us would have known what doorway to Hell had been cracked opened and we would glimpse the truth of a cosmic madness.
NEXT CHAPTER IX: "A BATTLE AND A GLIMPSE INTO HELL"
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