Strange stories

To Apόlytos (part 1)

Based on a dream I had.

"I'm going to see him." repeated endlessly in Daniel's head as he rode in the elevator up to the top floor. The elevator was lit by a sickly yellow fluorescent bulb that buzzed in a low tone drowning out other sounds. The air in the elevator was cold and stale, as if it had been sitting in disuse for weeks. It was also slow. His school shirt was itchy and his deep green jacket was not keeping him warm in the elevator. Neither were his high waisted black pants or brown loafers. In his left hand he was clutching the letter from his father. His head was hung low. His flip phone sat snugly in his back pocket. "I'm going to see him." Repeated once more in his mind. The elevator's labored crawl began to slow. Finally it screeched to a stop and the doors rolled apart. A bell dinged. Daniel clenched his teeth and his hand crushed the letter. He strode out of the elevator.

"I'm here." Daniel spoke into an empty room.

A well furnished empty room, kept immaculate and without dust. His anger subsided at the emptiness. In front of the elevator lay a colorful persian rug on a gleaming white tiled floor. In front of him sat a large and dark wooden desk. A feather rested in an ink vial on the green cloth covering the top of the desk and several small piles of papers sat organized beside it. The chair behind the desk seemed more like a throne than an office chair. Daniel looked around. To his right was a large, ordained wooden cabinet that stretched almost the entirety of the wall. The cabinet had a stained glass front door. Inside were strange shapes that seemed to toy with Daniel's eyes, holding no form that he could link to an object. To his left was another, larger room, also seemingly abandoned. Behind the chair was a balcony with old black railing that was somewhat obscured by white curtains flowing inwards. "Do I have the wrong room?" He looked down at the letter again.

"Hello Daniel. Visit me at my office. Urgently." followed by an address and signed "father.".  It infuriated him. After leaving him 6 years ago, this letter was all he had heard from his father since. Not even an explanation. 

Daniel turned his attention to the larger room on his left and buried the letter in his pocket. When he walked into the room his attention was immediately drawn to the bathroom like stalls. All along the left wall were stalls as if from a public restroom. Seven of these stalls stood next to each other. He went to the closest one and peeked in only to find an absence of anything. Inside of the stall was a hook on the wall with a set of clothes hanging from it, and a chair in the center that was wobbly. When he turned to come out of the stall, he saw that the door of had an engraving on the inside, "Wrath" it read. Hanging from the roof was a coarse hemp rope tied into a noose. "That must be what the chair is for then." Daniel whispered to himself, staring upwards. Only when he walked out of the stall, did Daniel notice all of the plants. In every corner, hanging from every wall were many plants with large leaves. On the far wall, was a dresser cabinet that upon inspection, had nothing inside of it save for some supplies for caring for plants. A cool gust of wind blew over him and rustled the leaves of the plants in the room, only then did Daniel turn his attention to the balcony.

Across from the stalls, was a large balcony with white curtains hanging from the wall on both ends of the inside. Daniel walked towards it and saw that the sky was entirely covered in dark gray clouds as far as the eye could see. He also noticed two giant and heavy chains that were linked to the balcony itself by some strange architectural feat. The chains trailed upwards, further and further and disappeared far into the clouds. They barely swayed. There was also a hemp rope that was very similar to the ones in the stalls, leading in the same direction as the chains, although it swayed far more. The closer he came to the railing the more clouds he saw. "I could have sworn it was a clear day." Daniel mumbled to himself.

A cold and wet gust of wind blew past and Daniel cringed away from the railing as he heard the chains rattle against themselves. Startled by the loudness of this he looked towards the left chain and noticed an engraving on the chain itself.

"The will of her children" Daniel read out loud, squinting.

 He looked to his right and walked over to the second chain, past the rope. Daniel found another inscription and recited it

  "The will of life."

Looking to his right from the chain he saw the balcony behind his fathers desk and saw that it also had a chain linked to it. Daniel walked back inside, past the curtains and past the stalls and back into the other room. He walked past his  fathers giant desk and out onto the balcony. Surely enough he found another inscription.

"The will of things to come." Daniel said.

More and more questions were piling up inside of him. Another cold and damp breeze blew past and Daniel heard papers rustle behind him. He turned and walked back inside to see a paper had blown off of his fathers desk and onto the floor and had prompted Daniel to squat and pick it up off of the floor.

In giant black and uneven letters stood "Daniel, look inside the desk drawer".

Another gust. The wind was starting to pick up. More papers blew off of the desk. All of them had the same text as the paper in Daniel's hand scrawled on violently in dark ink. Daniel felt suddenly very cold. He checked the top drawer of the massive desk. Sitting neatly and preserved in the exact middle of the drawer, was a folded letter. Daniel sat down on his knees and reached in to gently pull out the letter. Once he opened it with trembling hands he could make out the text. It read :

"Daniel, if you are reading this letter then I am afraid that time has run out. I have left to quell Apόlytos. In the second drawer of the desk you will find everything that you need to know in order to prevent Apόlytos from bringing about the final extinction. Our company has worked in secret to prevent this disaster from happening.

In the cabinet near the wall you will find several artifacts that we have collected that have confirmed everything written in the the codex gigas including some lost pages. The secretary will know how to get you started. Do everything in your power to weaken Apόllytos with our sin, lest apόlytos take us all into our dark good night.

- Father."

Daniel stared blankly at the page. Everything that was written on it seemed like gibberish and excuses. Daniel could feel the tears dripping down his cheeks. His hands started to tremble. He pulled in breaths in gasps. Daniel breathed deeply and then yelled "You senile old man! You leave for 4 years only to tease me with a bullshit insane note! You really were good for nothing!" . He sat on his hands and knees Fuming, Sobbing and sniffing.

Eventually, Daniel had calmed himself enough to think reasonably again. He walked towards the cabinet and meekly opened the glass covering to glare at the 'artifacts' inside.