The Misery Protocol

It was hot. Too hot. A blinding glare obscured the vistas all around. Two figures emerged from the light into the shade of a great machine. One was old and frail, the other still on his way up in life. "Quite the weather we're having," said the elder of the pair.

"Almost unnatural. The island hasn't seen temperatures this high since the 40's." replied the other.

"What could be causing it, I wonder? Climate change, fluke of nature, God's wrath?" The elderly woman raised an eyebrow as she spoke.

"I think you need to throw that letter away. It's filling your head with nonsense."

"I don't see you studying the occult for eighty years. Wait until then to criticize me. Besides, you're the one who called me. What could a reputable man of science like yourself want from a madwoman who's never stepped foot in an observatory?"

"Don't make me regret this. It's the others. They... You'll see." With that the two entered the machine. The room resembled a giant dome, being a shield for the technology inside. A single giant lens, the largest of its kind, stood on a platform to pierce the heavens and divine its secrets. Several corpses leaned against the wall, their emaciated forms covered in eldritch symbols. One denoted Yluthtig, another the Woodreamer. Just one survivor remained, some poor soul who had yet to gaze into the face of oblivion. "Are you marked? Do They know where you are? You'd best hide before They find you. Creator knows I'm already doomed." As he said this, he produced a revolver and aimed it at his temple.

"Wait!" The interlopers attempted to stop the man too late, his life ended. Particles of brain-matter floated unnaturally, coalescing into a single entity that swam through the air as if it were submerged in water. It hovered before the eyepiece, beckoning. Just looking at it was hypnotizing, drawing the mind into a submissive lull. Without word, without thought, the younger of the two was ensnared in a death spiral, orbiting the machine, growing closer with each revolution.

At last, he reached the center. "I see it," said he, "I see it. I see it! I see it, I see it, I see it, I see it! IseeitIseeitIseeitIseeitIseeitIseeitIseeit!" His skin burned, his flesh boiled. "Our beginning has ended, and our ending has begun!" Unfortunately for him, his ending had come to a close as the occultist snatched the gun from the survivor's corpse and drove round after round into her last living relative's heart.

She then destroyed the machine, ensuring that it would be impossible to gain the forbidden knowledge which had desolated its crew. It was only a matter of time before authorities arrived, barking threats in Spanish. Poor little thing, thought she could stop the coming storm.

✦ ✦ ✦

"Do we have contact?" The room, ordinarily clear of smoke, was presently enveloped in a haze of stress and tobacco.

"Unfortunately." Were it not for the anxious muttering of the crowd, a click might have been faintly heard.

"Unfortunately? What do you mean by that? Shouldn't it be cause for celebration?"

"Voyager 1 has been hijacked by something on the edge of the solar system. The telemetry data stems from an encounter with a previously undiscovered nebula far too small to exist by natural means."

"If it's not natural, how does it exist? And why is it so close to us?"

"I have reason to believe it is alive, rather like a malignant tumor. It has commandeered the probe and is using it to stun its prey." The room fell silent. Nobody could believe a word coming out of the man's mouth.

"Are you insane? How is any of that possible?" With a grimace the man rolled up his sleeve. Burned into his skin was a sigil not unlike those found after the incident in the Canaries. "It can't be!"

"I saw the nebula with my own eyes," the martyr elaborated as he removed his sunglasses to reveal empty sockets, "It nearly claimed me but for some reason I survived. I knew it had let me go. I am afraid I might have become the herald of the apocalypse, sent on a mission to spread the word. Even now it has a death grip on my soul. Should you choose to ignore my warning, humanity will be doomed."

Before everyone's eyes, the man started to melt once his speech was over. Whatever this entity was, it was listening. None of the astronomers present survived for the doors were locked. Their screams got louder and louder until one by one they were snuffed out.

✦ ✦ ✦

Madrid, July. The sun only continued to intensify its attacks on Earth. It was as if the temperature was being ratcheted up so as to cook its inhabitants. All the better to eat them up. Locked up somewhere in the city's prison was an all too familiar face, one unaccustomed to life behind bars. "What're you in for? Jaywalking?" asked another inmate, chuckling to himself.

"We don't have much time."

"Time? Until what?"

"The end of the world. Are you religious?"

"The hell you mean the end of the world? Come on, you're scaring me!" Suddenly, sirens burst into wailing.

"That. Don't look out the window." He did the exact opposite of what she said, gazing into the depths of insanity. Something in him snapped. A presence filled the cavities in his now emptied soul. Out of thin air a crimson suit materialized over his prison garb.

"So we finally meet," said the Man in Red, scarlet eyes shining in the darkness, "You have no idea how long it's been since I've taken an avatar. Feels nice. Almost makes me reconsider consuming this Earth. A real shame your universe had to be the one to go. But a god's gotta eat. Hope you don't take it personally."

"Misery, you are more human than you think. Even the self-chained First Dreamer is stronger than you. That great being uses a miniscule fraction of her power and it still dwarfs your full strength. You are pathetic as a god and as a man." This enraged the god, who had his avatar strangle her to death. She was right, he didn't even have the ability to claim her soul. A mere mortal had enough protection to resist his influences. The rest of humanity, however, was doomed.

✦ ✦ ✦

The Misery Protocol was an effort to preserve Earth from cosmic horrors actively trying to destroy it. Bunkers were constructed to isolate people from exposure to the signal, and every power plant in the world was shut off to stop that infectious transmission from getting through. It was all too late. Pathetic as he was, Misery was still a god capable of leveling entire planets in a heartbeat. Humanity still existed solely because he enjoyed the suffering of others.

This particular world was an experiment in virality. All he had to do was simply let the population consume itself and become part of him. With a snap of his tendrils the sun fizzled out. Soon enough they'd turn towards his maddening light for guidance. Maybe if they knelt and begged him to spare them he'd preserve them in a state between life and death, blessed with the gift of eternal despair.

✦ ✦ ✦

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the worms are turned inside out. A blind, deaf beggar traverses a desolate Earth. He sleeps in dank places and consumes incomprehensible beings for sustenance. In place of eyes, two balls of red flesh writhe contemptuously. Rather than clothes he wears the ragged corpses of past meals. Once this wretch was an important man. Now he is a nobody. Soon he will pass on, the last sapient being in a vacant universe.