Whispers From The Dark

Into the Depths

There was a small town, on an island in the Atlantic. Not too prosperous or too large, it went unnoticed by most people. Maybe it's for the best. Rumors of strange happenings throughout the town over the years have reached the ears of the superstitious. Midnight rituals, madmen toiling surreptitiously underneath the earth, insanity becoming the norm. Most of the townspeople prefer not to talk about these things. Journals left by visitors and the like tend to say that they just keep to themselves, in some cases even avoiding newcomers.

In this town, there was a small library. There haven't been any "incidents" in this library yet, but who knows what'll happen next. The theme seems to be an unwary traveler visits this hamlet, never to return.... But this library does contain something special. An ancient book, said to go back to times before men roamed the earth. Most would say that there exists nothing of the sort. But certain visitors to the town, historians, scholars and the like, seem to put a lot of stock into these supernatural stories. They called this book the Necronomicon. An ancient tome filled with spells and incantations for those with the talent, or madness, to cast them. Knowledge of immortal beings who are not of this world, strange depictions of illegible writing. This book was kept in the deepest, darkest part of the library, so nobody would find it and use its power. At least, that's what the villagers want you to think.

There have been sightings of strangely robed men, carrying a large tome through the darkness of the night, and strange noises echoing from the library. All this would culminate around one man. A historian named William Mason came to the town, seeking knowledge about the Necronomicon. He went into the library one day, only to find it was empty, save one man sitting at a desk. He had a sickly pallor to him, and large glassy eyes, and wore a long coat and gloves as if to hide something underneath it all. Mason came up to the man and said, "Hello. I...er...have been looking into the...stories surrounding this town. I was told of a very old book being kept here, and being one of scholarly ilk, how could I resist a tome of such...infamy?" The man sitting at the desk says to him, "You wish to find the Necronomicon. Do not." Mason, quite confused, says "Do not what?" And as if the librarian was never there, the desk lies empty. Now, Mason didn't want to stick around during the wee hours of the night, so he decided to only stay for an hour or two. Two became three. Three became four. Four became five... He couldn't control his excitement, books supposedly lost were found here, scrolls from kingdoms long past, manuscripts written during the Hellenistic Era, he wanted to read them all!

As Mason looked out the window, he saw the moon, shining down through the glass, beams of moonlight flooding the library floor. One beam seemed to focus on one spot. Brighter and sharper than the rest. Mason walked up to the beam's end, and saw that it focused directly on a moldy, desecrated book. Could this be the Necronomicon? he thought. He was wrong, upon pulling on the book all the candles lighting up the place burned out, and it immediately grew cold and dark. He swore he heard whispering behind the shelves. But of this he was not certain, as it was a language he did not understand. Mason was terrified now, and wanted, needed to escape. He tried for the door, but it just wasn't there. Another bookshelf had just appeared out of nowhere! The whispering grew louder. Mason lit a spare candle so he could at least see what he was doing. The rays of light from the window were gone. The shadows seemed to move towards him. He backed into a corner, the darkness creeping ever closer... And then, as he leaned against the wall, shadows at his side, he fell backwards into a small stairway.

As he got to his feet, he could hear a window breaking and the howls of a beast on the upper floor. He had no choice but to proceed. Face death in the library, or venture into the unknown before him. Who knows, maybe there's a way out through here, he thought. Mason, candle in hand, started to walk, ever deeper into the unknown. After only a minute or two, his candle began to splutter and fade. He had to move quickly now, with the light, ahead of the dark. He wouldn't give the shadows a chance. As he proceeded down the stairs, he was faced with a large bookshelf. There was a small opening in between them, so Mason squeezed through and found himself in a dark hallway formed by towering bookshelves, with no discernible path through. He was in a maze. A maze of knowledge. Funny, he thought. He knew that the writers of the Necronomicon believed knowledge was an endless trap, so he found this labyrinth quite fitting....Yet also terrifying. He made his way through the darkness, seeing dusty boxes hidden away within the shelves, most likely full of strange artifacts. He had no time to look, though. He had to stay ahead of the shadows. After a long trek through the labyrinth, he found a small room, and as he walked forward, torches began to burn on each of the walls, revealing a large black book sitting on a pedestal. It seemed to radiate some sort of energy, as if the book wanted to be read. The closer he got to the book, the larger the room seemed to get. This has to be the Necronomicon, he said to himself. He laid his tired hands on the cover, thick with dust and grime. He opened the tome, and the torches on each wall began to go out, two at a time, drawing shadows closer to him, faster and faster, the darkness sped towards him. The whispers grew loud. Grew impatient. Grew angry. As if he should have died already. As the shadows drew ever nearer, he looked into the book, and disappeared. And then there was naught but silence in the dark.