4: I Do Not Want This

S'bhuth had a strange habit of appearing whenever I set out on a journey alone, and accompanying me along the way. He would tell me stories about things he had seen, events he had witnessed, or stories that he himself was told by others. The whole episode involving my manuscripts was a trying experience, and I think that he was trying to make up for it by giving as much as possible to me. I think S'bhuth was a terribly frightened creature, sometimes. I think that he had seen too much madness and destruction, and some of the things he told me about made my blood run cold. Stories of cannibals and strange monsters in foreign seas, madmen... madwomen, murderers, and dark tunnels beneath the earth.

He told me he created that fold in space near the lighthouse to hold some of the madness he had seen. When I objected to this, fearing for any man who would venture into the place and be destroyed, S'bhuth reassured me that the place itself would be destroyed by one who would come after him, the same warrior involved with the retrieval of my manuscripts. I think S'bhuth has a very odd sense of humor.

S'bhuth had a strange habit of appearing whenever I set out on a journey alone, and accompanying me along the way. He would tell me stories about things he had seen, events he had witnessed, or stories that he himself was told by others. The whole episode involving my manuscripts was a trying experience, and I think that he was trying to make up for it by giving as much as possible to me. I think S'bhuth was a terribly frightened creature, sometimes. I think that he had seen too much madness and destruction, and some of the things he told me about made my blood run cold. Stories of cannibals and strange monsters in foreign seas, madmen... madwomen, murderers, and dark tunnels beneath the earth.

He told me he created that fold in space near the lighthouse to hold some of the madness he had seen. When I objected to this, fearing for any man who would venture into the place and be destroyed, S'bhuth reassured me that the place itself would be destroyed by one who would come after him, the same warrior involved with the retrieval of my manuscripts. I think S'bhuth has a very odd sense of humor.

I myself had a chance to study madmen on several occasions. I remember most clearly a young nobleman, a younger son of a wealthy but little-known family out of Verona. The young man was a delight to the family, a strong and eager son, keen-minded, and kind to everyone. He even spent time assisting nearby farmers, trying to help them through a difficult time of drought and crop failure. One day, the youth could not be found; the family and servants alike searched the estate. His horse wasn't gone from the stable, but he was nowhere to be found. After a few days, the young man showed up at the front door, supported by a priest from a small church a few hours' walk away. The youth was listless and silent, staring at the floor.

The priest explained how they had found the young man in a small cellar which had been dug many years ago beneath the main cellar of the church, weeping, curled up on the floor. Nobody at the church had seen the young man come in, or what might have happened down there in the cellar. The family saw the young man to bed, baffled by his condition, but grateful for his safe return.

That night, they were all awakened by strange, scraping noises coming from downstairs. They found the young man dragging the body of one of the scullery maids across the floor of the wine cellar. As they watched, mesmerized, the young man stopped, and leaned over the throat of the young woman, which had been slit then pinned open with several of the maiden's hairpins. He cocked his head over the hole in her throat, as if listening, and muttered something to himself. He then dragged her into a new position and listened again... the side of his head was bloody, from repeating this operation over and over. When a servant brought down a torch, they saw a track of blood that wound crazily over the whole cellar floor.

"The voice, the voice," whispered the young man as he feverishly continued searching, using his hearing-trumpet of flesh. The family led him away, and he came, docile, like a little lamb trained to lead, but he kept whispering those words, over and over. He whispered it even as I interviewed him, as the magistrate passed judgement, and as the hangman put the rope around his neck. I snuck into the family crypt a few weeks later, the night after his execution, but I found nothing physically wrong with the young man's brain or skull.

S'bhuth was unsurprised when I told him the story of the young man from Verona. S'bhuth said that, in his observations of humanity, he had seen people driven to madness by many different things: anatomical defects in the brain, traumatic experiences, or what he called 'the old ones'. S'bhuth was reluctant to explain the latter, but I pressured him into divulging at least some information. The old ones are like S'bhuth, in that they come from another world. S'bhuth said that his kin had fought with these entities long ago, driving them out of their homeland, and as they fled, some of them settled here. This happened long before antiquity; the creatures hid themselves away in the deepest recesses of the earth and beneath the oceans.

S'bhuth explained that these entities would use humans for their own purposes, but he was unable to clearly explain how they influenced humans to do their bidding. Everything about these creatures is different; their physical nature, their mentality, their very existence functions differently than our own. When a human mind comes into contact with one of these 'old ones', the differences drive the weaker mind into madness. The weaker mind in these encounters is almost always the human one, and the young man from Verona was no exception. I believe the best way to describe these creatures, these 'old ones' is demonic... the church views them as fallen angels, and S'bhuth views them as his enemies, banished from his homeland.

I asked S'bhuth why I myself did not go mad from my contact with him, why I only suffered a brief spell of nightmares and did not murder any scullery maids. He claimed that he had been holding his thoughts in check, in order to disturb me as little as possible. My own view is that S'bhuth and I have too much in common for me to be driven mad by contact with him, but I would fear for the sanity of any weaker mind. At any rate, I suppose I should be grateful to S'bhuth for not driving me into madness and depravity. After all, the priests already think I am mad and depraved, and would welcome any little excuse to have me dragged to the stake and burned.

Speaking of which, shortly after I told S'bhuth the young man's sad story, he disappeared for several days. He was curiously silent when he returned, speaking only of 'servicing ancient vengance'. Several months later, I heard that the church where the young man had been found weeping had burned to the ground, in a fire so intense that the stones themselves melted and pooled. Three priests had been killed; the cause was never found. A year later, however, the region was prospering, and the crops were growing healthy and strong after the years of drought that had plagued the areas' farms. S'bhuth remained silent on the matter.

If you are reading this -- you, the one who recovered my own manuscripts -- leave the tome you are now carrying here in the bookshelves, nearby. The information within that tome plays a critical role in S'bhuth's future.

S'bhuth was unsurprised when I told him the story of the young man from Verona. S'bhuth said that, in his observations of humanity, he had seen people driven to madness by many different things: anatomical defects in the brain, traumatic experiences, or what he called 'the old ones'. S'bhuth was reluctant to explain the latter, but I pressured him into divulging at least some information. The old ones are like S'bhuth, in that they come from another world. S'bhuth said that his kin had fought with these entities long ago, driving them out of their homeland, and as they fled, some of them settled here. This happened long before antiquity; the creatures hid themselves away in the deepest recesses of the earth and beneath the oceans.

S'bhuth explained that these entities would use humans for their own purposes, but he was unable to clearly explain how they influenced humans to do their bidding. Everything about these creatures is different; their physical nature, their mentality, their very existence functions differently than our own. When a human mind comes into contact with one of these 'old ones', the differences drive the weaker mind into madness. The weaker mind in these encounters is almost always the human one, and the young man from Verona was no exception. I believe the best way to describe these creatures, these 'old ones' is demonic... the church views them as fallen angels, and S'bhuth views them as his enemies, banished from his homeland.

I asked S'bhuth why I myself did not go mad from my contact with him, why I only suffered a brief spell of nightmares and did not murder any scullery maids. He claimed that he had been holding his thoughts in check, in order to disturb me as little as possible. My own view is that S'bhuth and I have too much in common for me to be driven mad by contact with him, but I would fear for the sanity of any weaker mind. At any rate, I suppose I should be grateful to S'bhuth for not driving me into madness and depravity. After all, the priests already think I am mad and depraved, and would welcome any little excuse to have me dragged to the stake and burned.

Speaking of which, shortly after I told S'bhuth the young man's sad story, he disappeared for several days. He was curiously silent when he returned, speaking only of 'servicing ancient vengance'. Several months later, I heard that the church where the young man had been found weeping had burned to the ground, in a fire so intense that the stones themselves melted and pooled. Three priests had been killed; the cause was never found. A year later, however, the region was prospering, and the crops were growing healthy and strong after the years of drought that had plagued the area's farms. S'bhuth remained silent on the matter.

If you are reading this -- you, the one who recovered my own manuscripts -- leave the tome you are now carrying here in the bookshelves, nearby. The information within that tome plays a critical role in S'bhuth's future.

@@aa@@@`   Abbb@@!°ÅAaab§b@``a </streaming translation: massive failure>