A Walk Through My Mind
The path up to the door is fresh and clean, it looks as if it has hardly ever been trodden on. The house before you is a small shack, quaint and friendly, that sits squat in the middle of a garden. The garden itself is a marvel, colors and plants of all variety grow in ample majesty. However, if one would look closely one would discover that everything was a little grainy, as if these were images projected on a screen. Every so often they would skip a little, in the manner of film in a camera. Still, you press on and knock on the door which opens immediately. You step in, and find that this isn't a house. You find yourself in a strange land, barren plains of grey silt stretch on for miles in all directions. Your feet sink in the dust, and the air is hot and humid, choking your breath. You may, if you look carefully, see a structure of some sort in the distance little more that a blot on the horizon at this place. You dutifully trudge forward, stirring up clouds of thick dirt as you do. You quickly become acquainted with the only wildlife you see in this place as swarms of insects, like tiny loucusts, pepper your flesh in an attempt to consume you. You flail at them, which only increases their fervor, so you run. Bolting across the stygian andscape, you see that the structure is actually a large dark manor. Without even knocking, you throw the door open and fall to the polished marble floor. You kick the door shut just as the ravaning arthopods reach the landing. Short of breath and covered with stinging welts, you look around at the foyer. It is lavish and richly adorned with gold guilding, jewel-studded tapestries made of spun-silver thread, Crystal chandiliers glitter overhead to cast dancing pixies of light across the Turkish carpets that cover the floor. It is then tat you realize you are not alone. A stately man in his late middle-years stands by the winding stairs the lead to what looks to be another wing of the house, he is decked smartly in a black housecoat with white kid-gloves.
"Good evening, I'm glad to see you've made it. The master was afraid you had been...detained... It's so good of you to come, the master gets guests so rarely and, if I may say so, needs the company." He strides over and offers you a hand up, which you hesitantly take. You ask where the master is to which he replies, "He is in his sitting room on the third floor, and will see you momentarily. However, before that the master begs that you take a meal...you must be famished after your journey. Please, follow me." He leads you through a carved wood door to a long hallway lined with pictures of men and women. The pictures to the left dipict singular individuals in an almost sancified manner, however the pictures on the right show these same people engaged in perverse and horrific things. There are placards beneith them, most likely names or titles, but these are written in a language you cannot discern. You pass by several doors, but only one of them catches your interest...for it is the only door you've seen with no adornment, and from behind it a strange noise softly issued. It is a hiss or grinding noise you cannot place that stirs your curiousity, but your guide doesn't even pause. Finally you enter a parlor with a small round table set for one, you descend upon the food with great panash. The man smiles and says, "Eat your fill, I'll have the cooks send more. I'm afraid I must leave you, but I shall return shortly. Please stay here, the master keeps strange practices and it can be dangerous for one to wander unguided. My name is Noigel, the head of the household staff, if you need anything simpley use the telephone and ask for me." He bows his head and touches his brow before leaving, closing the door behind him. You finish your food and more is brought, delivered by a pretty young girl in a black dress. She says nothing, and her eyes are pale and lifeless. After attending to her duties she leaves with as little fuss as she came. You eat in silence, listening to the faint echo of the sounds from behind that plain wooden door in the hall. Without warning, you find yourself leaving the comfort of the parlor and moving to stand before it. The brass knob gleams at you knowningly, as if laughing at a silent joke you are subject to. Your hand reaches out to wrap around the warm metal, and you turn it slowly...
A blast of hellish heat hits you as the door opens to reveal a room with the air shimmering from heat. The noise is an assault. The abyssmal sounds are near deafening, you are stunned that a simple door had held back the onslaught of this vile cacophony. You see countless machines pounding and turning and hissing and grinding, great cogs and pistons moving flanges and driveshafts for some unspeakable purpose. The room is huge, much bigger than the space should have allowed, and everything in it is covered with spiderwebs of such maddening complexity that it hurt to look opon them. With a jolt you realize that every available surface is moving. Opon closer inspection you find that it is not the surfaces moving, it's the spiders. Countless millions of the dark arachnids crawl over everything, over the floors, over the webs, over the machinery. They tirelessly work, perhaps tending the machinisims, or perhaps some other diabolical purpose. They are large and black and hideous, covered with corse bristles with jaws dripping a yellow ichor that sizzles on the hot machina. You stagger back, throwing up your hands against the visions before you. The spiders have noticed you now, abandoning the cyclopian wonders of the machines and press forward towards the open door.
The door slams as Niogel throws it shut. You don't know when he arrived, but the look on his face is terrible. It passes quickly though, leaving a cool mask of servience. "I thought I said it was dangerous to go about the masters rooms without aid? No matter, no harm done. The master will see you now." And without further words you are whisked back to the foyer and up the stairs. The air is colder up here, your breath creating small puffs of cloud. You bypass the second floor completely, with only a glimpse of a hall that looked as if it were twisted over and over on itself. Had you have gotten a better look, you're sure that you would have a severe headache. The third floor consists of a landing and a single varnished door. You turn to ask Niogel a question but find him scrawling something of a piece of paper, which he then hands to you. "Here, you'll need this to enter the master's quarters. I'm afraid I must leave you know, my duties are left unattended," and he quickly starts down the stairs before you can question him. The paper itself makes little sense to you, it reads: ".ytinretE fo ykS eht ma I ,segA fo aeS eht ma I"
The hall behind the door is long and horrifying in its eldritch manner. The air is bitterly cold, biting like a viper at your unprotected skin. The walls are frosted over, but seems to be made of jagged metal like random trinkets and utensils had been stuck all around and all had rusted. Everything in this hallway is inhospitable and the floor is uneven, threatening to dump anyone using it into the sharp grip of the walls. Slowly, ever so slowly, you begin your trek to the end of the hall, sometimes crawling to avoid the painful rending of the frosted passage. You brace yourself as you reach the final door, and bravely you turn the knob. The door does not open. You pause, examining the door for several minutes before you remember the paper. Unsure if you are correct, you slide the note under the door. A minute later there is a click as the bolt slides free and the door opens. The wave of stench that hits you is so indescribably nausiating that you immediately spill the food you so readily wolfed down on the floor. Eyes watering, you look with unshrouded horror at the blasphemy before you. A great bloated mass of gangrenous flesh sits in the center of a room that once may have been as rich as the rest of the house, but now wilted in rotting slime. This huge canker of living tissue pulses and shiveres as forces beyond your conception wrack it. Upon its bulk crawl numerous small creatures resembling imps. Clawed hands, small wings, tiny horns, and forked tails...these beasts feast on the meat of this cancerous mound, and on their bodies were words you recognize but later will not recall. The mass percieves you and begins to turn, you realize that you've been looking at the beast's back. The face of this place's master is a mass of writhing tentacles below a pair of cruel red eyes, its arms bloated and black with infection but adorned with long talons. It stares at you with those eyes, and you scream. You bolt back down the hallway, sliding into the walls that gleefully rip into you. But you don't notice, all you care about is getting away from that Horror. You throw yourself down the stairs, half running, half falling and rip open the front door. You are aware of a howling sound behind you, something hideous crying out with rage. But you don't stop, you run until your lugs burn and your legs are liquid fire. There, the door you first came through...you dive into its warm light and find yourself in the garden before the small house once more.
You're safe now, but the memories haunt you...it isn't until much later that you think of something you hadn't noticed before. The creature on the third floor looked like the projected garden hiding the barren land, grainy and skipping slightly. Did you really see the master? Or was it another facade? You may never know, for never again will you willingly set foot in the house on the barren plain, with its spider machines and silent servents...and its terrible secrets.
"Good evening, I'm glad to see you've made it. The master was afraid you had been...detained... It's so good of you to come, the master gets guests so rarely and, if I may say so, needs the company." He strides over and offers you a hand up, which you hesitantly take. You ask where the master is to which he replies, "He is in his sitting room on the third floor, and will see you momentarily. However, before that the master begs that you take a meal...you must be famished after your journey. Please, follow me." He leads you through a carved wood door to a long hallway lined with pictures of men and women. The pictures to the left dipict singular individuals in an almost sancified manner, however the pictures on the right show these same people engaged in perverse and horrific things. There are placards beneith them, most likely names or titles, but these are written in a language you cannot discern. You pass by several doors, but only one of them catches your interest...for it is the only door you've seen with no adornment, and from behind it a strange noise softly issued. It is a hiss or grinding noise you cannot place that stirs your curiousity, but your guide doesn't even pause. Finally you enter a parlor with a small round table set for one, you descend upon the food with great panash. The man smiles and says, "Eat your fill, I'll have the cooks send more. I'm afraid I must leave you, but I shall return shortly. Please stay here, the master keeps strange practices and it can be dangerous for one to wander unguided. My name is Noigel, the head of the household staff, if you need anything simpley use the telephone and ask for me." He bows his head and touches his brow before leaving, closing the door behind him. You finish your food and more is brought, delivered by a pretty young girl in a black dress. She says nothing, and her eyes are pale and lifeless. After attending to her duties she leaves with as little fuss as she came. You eat in silence, listening to the faint echo of the sounds from behind that plain wooden door in the hall. Without warning, you find yourself leaving the comfort of the parlor and moving to stand before it. The brass knob gleams at you knowningly, as if laughing at a silent joke you are subject to. Your hand reaches out to wrap around the warm metal, and you turn it slowly...
A blast of hellish heat hits you as the door opens to reveal a room with the air shimmering from heat. The noise is an assault. The abyssmal sounds are near deafening, you are stunned that a simple door had held back the onslaught of this vile cacophony. You see countless machines pounding and turning and hissing and grinding, great cogs and pistons moving flanges and driveshafts for some unspeakable purpose. The room is huge, much bigger than the space should have allowed, and everything in it is covered with spiderwebs of such maddening complexity that it hurt to look opon them. With a jolt you realize that every available surface is moving. Opon closer inspection you find that it is not the surfaces moving, it's the spiders. Countless millions of the dark arachnids crawl over everything, over the floors, over the webs, over the machinery. They tirelessly work, perhaps tending the machinisims, or perhaps some other diabolical purpose. They are large and black and hideous, covered with corse bristles with jaws dripping a yellow ichor that sizzles on the hot machina. You stagger back, throwing up your hands against the visions before you. The spiders have noticed you now, abandoning the cyclopian wonders of the machines and press forward towards the open door.
The door slams as Niogel throws it shut. You don't know when he arrived, but the look on his face is terrible. It passes quickly though, leaving a cool mask of servience. "I thought I said it was dangerous to go about the masters rooms without aid? No matter, no harm done. The master will see you now." And without further words you are whisked back to the foyer and up the stairs. The air is colder up here, your breath creating small puffs of cloud. You bypass the second floor completely, with only a glimpse of a hall that looked as if it were twisted over and over on itself. Had you have gotten a better look, you're sure that you would have a severe headache. The third floor consists of a landing and a single varnished door. You turn to ask Niogel a question but find him scrawling something of a piece of paper, which he then hands to you. "Here, you'll need this to enter the master's quarters. I'm afraid I must leave you know, my duties are left unattended," and he quickly starts down the stairs before you can question him. The paper itself makes little sense to you, it reads: ".ytinretE fo ykS eht ma I ,segA fo aeS eht ma I"
The hall behind the door is long and horrifying in its eldritch manner. The air is bitterly cold, biting like a viper at your unprotected skin. The walls are frosted over, but seems to be made of jagged metal like random trinkets and utensils had been stuck all around and all had rusted. Everything in this hallway is inhospitable and the floor is uneven, threatening to dump anyone using it into the sharp grip of the walls. Slowly, ever so slowly, you begin your trek to the end of the hall, sometimes crawling to avoid the painful rending of the frosted passage. You brace yourself as you reach the final door, and bravely you turn the knob. The door does not open. You pause, examining the door for several minutes before you remember the paper. Unsure if you are correct, you slide the note under the door. A minute later there is a click as the bolt slides free and the door opens. The wave of stench that hits you is so indescribably nausiating that you immediately spill the food you so readily wolfed down on the floor. Eyes watering, you look with unshrouded horror at the blasphemy before you. A great bloated mass of gangrenous flesh sits in the center of a room that once may have been as rich as the rest of the house, but now wilted in rotting slime. This huge canker of living tissue pulses and shiveres as forces beyond your conception wrack it. Upon its bulk crawl numerous small creatures resembling imps. Clawed hands, small wings, tiny horns, and forked tails...these beasts feast on the meat of this cancerous mound, and on their bodies were words you recognize but later will not recall. The mass percieves you and begins to turn, you realize that you've been looking at the beast's back. The face of this place's master is a mass of writhing tentacles below a pair of cruel red eyes, its arms bloated and black with infection but adorned with long talons. It stares at you with those eyes, and you scream. You bolt back down the hallway, sliding into the walls that gleefully rip into you. But you don't notice, all you care about is getting away from that Horror. You throw yourself down the stairs, half running, half falling and rip open the front door. You are aware of a howling sound behind you, something hideous crying out with rage. But you don't stop, you run until your lugs burn and your legs are liquid fire. There, the door you first came through...you dive into its warm light and find yourself in the garden before the small house once more.
You're safe now, but the memories haunt you...it isn't until much later that you think of something you hadn't noticed before. The creature on the third floor looked like the projected garden hiding the barren land, grainy and skipping slightly. Did you really see the master? Or was it another facade? You may never know, for never again will you willingly set foot in the house on the barren plain, with its spider machines and silent servents...and its terrible secrets.