Mr-Calma
This short story "Lingering Terrors" follows Jonathan Clifton as he visits his former colleague, Evan Miller, after receiving a disturbing message. Clifton finds Miller drastically changed, unkempt and trembling, consumed by his terrifying scientific pursuits. Miller reveals that he has found a way to perceive worlds beyond human senses using a celestial cube. Despite Clifton's initial reservations, curiosity gets the better of him, and he allows Miller to activate the device. As the cube emits strange waves, Clifton begins to experience a vortex of sound, motion, and distorted visions. He sees jellyfish-like monstrosities floating through the air and solid objects, and he realizes that these creatures are responsible for the disappearance of Miller's family. Miller, now consumed by hatred and madness, reveals that he has harnessed the shadows that stride from world to world, and that these entities are now hunting them. He taunts Clifton, forcing him to witness the horrors of the unseen world. The story culminates with a shot fired in the laboratory. The police find Miller dead and Clifton unconscious, arresting Clifton initially but releasing him after determining Miller died of apoplexy and Clifton shot the celestial cube. However, the police never found the bodies of Miller's family, and Clifton is left haunted by the horrifying truth he witnessed, forever bearing the burden of his knowledge of the chaotic realm and the power of the Carcosians.
(Part of the Transfinitian Myths Universe/TMU)