Monuments

IV: Augur

As I gazed at myself in the mirror, a queer thought seized me. This Mayor, Ryan Kirk must have never spent a night in The Marlin, otherwise he would have had this mirror destroyed with the rest. It was then that I noticed something so torturously predictable that I actually laughed aloud. Inscribed into the surface of the mirror, in the top right corner, was that devilish symbol which haunted my dreams in the night.

I am still unsure if my next action was some form of arcane predestination or just a plain error of judgment; however, in that moment, I felt an intense desire to reach out and touch that blasphemous symbol as I did in my dream. And I did, drawing my fingers across its jagged surface. As I traced its rough edges, I must have nicked my finger, for with sudden rapidity the unnatural curves of its shape welled up with blood. Like a sponge parched for water, the carving drank my lifeblood until it overflowed, the excess running off its edges like a morbid imitation of condensation.

Watching this process with grisly fascination, I then heard a familiarly alien and implacable voice echo violently in my head like a thunderclap.

"AUGUR!" It spoke in its multitudinous voice, which was immediately followed by another earth shaking sound that rocked me like a delicately balanced house of cards. Somewhere outside, a siren wailed with reckless abandon. Its earsplitting severity acting as an obvious portent of my coming struggles.

As the siren wailed outside, the room jerked and shook violently. I watched in horror as the garish floral wallpaper began to wilt and peel, revealing hideously scarred and rusted metal beneath. Linoleum tiles shifted and distorted below my feet, while the granite countertop I had been leaning against for support crumbled like rotted wood, leaving me splayed on the ground in a whirling daze. Looking out into the main room, I witnessed the worn old mattress bloom into a garden of severe and bloated-looking flowers that appeared marginally similar to a rose. Behind me, the bathtub overflowed with a thick, ichorous liquid that stank of copper, pouring over the basin's edge like an oozing waterfall. Revolted by the putrid slime that pooled around me, I scrabbled across the floor on all fours in a desperate gambit to escape its vile touch. However, reaching the bedroom offered little solace as I watched a similar process of rapid decay corrupt the remaining portions of that room as well. As I felt the floor below me continue to deform into a porous, rock-like surface of abrasive and pockmarked quality, I whiffed a scent like that of charred plastic emanating from somewhere else in the room. Looking around to identify its source revealed a singed and still-smoking message engraved across the sickly crimson metal of the far wall.

"I have a head but bear no feet.

I have a mouth but cannot speak,

although many say I talk.

What am I?"

The charred black words read. A riddle, I concluded, but for what purpose, I could not conceive. Rising to my feet, I approached the strange message with apprehensive steps. As I closed the distance, I noticed a feature that was not immediately apparent from my kneeling position. Below the quizzing quote was a small divot that measured about an inch in diameter. Running my fingers along its grooves like I did the symbol previously resulted in nothing. However, I did feel some sort of indefinable hum coming from the wall behind it.

Unsure of what purpose the query served, I decided to ignore it for the moment in favor of gaining my bearings and further exploration of my new and disorienting surroundings. Judging the current room as being as thoroughly investigated as it would get at that juncture, I decided to venture out into the rest of what I believed was The Marlin Inn.

What I discovered outside of that pestilential room was no better. To my left, directly adjacent to the door of my room, was a window of leaded glass encased in a cage-like lattice of rusting iron. Pressing my face against its rough surface to peer outside did little to inform me of what resided outside, for all that was visible was a fog so thick and oppressive that the building I was in felt like an island amongst an interminable abyss.