Planet of the Evil Ones

Chapter 7: On the Other Side

Teleportation - or rather matter translation - is said to destroy the soul along with the body. This isn't strictly true as the soul can survive the complete destruction of the body and mind.

Areex awoke after only a few seconds. The new landscape was like someone had taken Derleth's Moon and altered it. But only slightly. Red dust the consistency of volcanic ash crunched under their feet. A lurid orange sky hung over everything. All around in a row were small buildings of black stone arranged in a row. All of the buildings were attached to something in the distance by large pipes attached to their roofs.

Areex could see something absolutely horrid - what looked to be a massive blob of flesh with leering eyes and a massive mouth - was darting across the buildings. Areex wasn't sure if it was real or a hallucination.

Tom was standing right beside Areex. "Do you ever get the impression that we're being herded? That our destination has already been decided?"

"What, like predestination?"
"No. Something even worse."

It was then that Areex noticed something. Something absolutely massive. As they looked up, they could see the tower.

Strictly speaking, it didn't have a name. It was so massive that it didn't require a name. Thinking of its very presence brought it to the center of the mind. It could be considered a sort of Tower of Babel. Only it had been fully constructed.

As Derleth's Moon didn't have any clouds to speak of, several Great Old Ones formed into clouds most of the time - black clouds of vile hatred. These clouds were gone. Areex could see that the tower apparently stretched into infinity.

"An impressive building, isn't it?" said Tom as he whistled. "Of all the archaeological finds I have seen in my rather short lifetime that has to be the most impressive. Let's see the inside."

The duo then began walking to it as the Great Old Ones watched from within - practically leering in celebration. Everyone was there. Everyone who was everyone.