Trilby's Notes: The (Un)Official Novelization (Chzo Mythos #3)

Chapter 2: The Clanbronwyn Hell

       You may say I imagined these things, and I thought that must have been the case.
       Was I going out of my mind? Was the hotel really changing into some nightmarish twin?
       Was I the only one who could see it?
       If I was hallucinating, it was too complex. The harsh wooden floor beneath my feet felt real enough. The horrendous stench of rotting flesh that reached my nostrils could not have been conjured by my imagination. I decided I had to find John DeFoe's idol as soon as possible. If not that, then at least the painting Chahal had mentioned.
       I was convinced that some connection lay between DeFoe Manor and this sudden madness.

       The hallway looked as the room had when I had the aforementioned shift. The wall was yellowed, the floor was some sort of cracked, rotting wood that made me fear falling through with every step. In my disbelief, I turned back into Abed's room, some sort of vain attempt to return to the world I knew. However, going back only made things worse. The room matched with the same yellowed walls and rotten floor, but that wasn't where the disturbing aspects ended. Both tables were stained with gore and skin, a ripped and bloody couch, a red-stained stone alter in place of a bed, and the letters "C" "H" "Z" and "O" spelt out in gore on the wall.

       I shortly left the room and carefully left for the stairwell, made of concrete and also liberally stained in blood. I tried to go up first, towards the roof, but there was no door or exit of any kind. In its place was a large mannequin torso held onto the wall by unknown means. The words "Bring Her Back" were spelled out in blood. I made a note of it and descended deeper into the madness, the stairs as if someone had been working their way down the stairs while bleeding out profusely. The smell of rotting flesh was getting stronger as I made it to the main floor, and I soon found the source. Just behind the staircase that ran from the main floor to the first floor was an impressive pile of gore and splatter. My days at DeFoe Manor returned as they did with the nightmares, and the "RUN" spelt on the wall in blood seemed to jump out at me like a horror cliche. When I pulled myself away and looked at the body, it was that of a young, muscular man wearing some kind of old-fashioned military uniform complete with blue tunic and riding boots.  More to the point, his head was missing and his hands were worn down to bloody wads of flesh and bone. I noticed a collection of handwritten pages on the floor near his body, appearing to be entries from a diary. They are enclosed here with this report.

"July 18th
Felicia and I took shelter from the storm in a decrepit old hotel in the forest. It seems to be completely deserted, so we bedded down on the floor of the lobby for the night. It is so peaceful here. The noise of the storm seems far away.

July 19th
Exploring the hotel, it has become increasingly clear that the place is not as innocent as it first seemed. We found ancient corpses and evidence of terrible deeds in several of the rooms. The storm has cleared and we intend to leave as soon as possible.

July 20th
I am certain now that devilry is at work. Every path we take through the forest brings us back to the hotel. We spent a whole day trying routes to no avail. Felicia keeps talking of a demon she fancies she saw in the hotel kitchen last night.

July 21st
Felicia is dead. I was too late to help her. I saw her murderer, just as she did. Perhaps I will be next. I am beginning to understand.

July 23rd
The murderous figure in black, the one whose body is savagely stretched into a mockery of form, is not the architect of this nightmare. Rather, this is the work of that hideous lord of forbidden lands. Gods forgive me.

July 25th
I built a shrine to my captor in the lobby in an attempt to appease it. Nothing has changed. I have no more food. The horror is starting to affect my mind.

July 28th
i am certain my mind is going. i imagined for a moment that the hotel had changed, had become finely decorated and welcoming as it must have once been in the past. i blinked, and it returned to its normal hateful self."