Click Ch. 09

I guess it was around noon when we spotted the singular spire on the horizon. It had to be one of the pillars of Iram. There was a collective gasp from the entire crew when we saw it. He had done it; Nick had found the lost city! We drove on and hit the edge of the city a half hour later. To be honest there wasn't much to see it that necropolis that city of the dead. But I was wrong; something lived in this ancient place. There was a whisper of consciousness tickling the edges of my senses.

'Who are you,' I sent out in all directions.

'I am not alone,' the voice cried out. 'NOT ALONE!'

'Shhhhh,' I said softly to it, to her. 'What is your name?'

'I am Abraxxa, I am the Grand Architect of all that you see!'

'Time has not been kind to your city Great Abraxxa,' I said. 'Time and sand have buried it.'

'I can fix that but first I need something from you,' she said.

'If I can do it,' I said.

'Take me away from this place,' she said pleading. 'Make me your servant and I will serve you faithfully.'

'Well my device does have a spare crystal but can it contain you?'

'Let's find out,' Abraxxa said as attempted to move her consciousness to the crystal. Sixty seven seconds later it was done. 'I have a new Master after all these long centuries!'

'Welcome to the family,' I said and I felt the strength of her personality.

'Thank you Master,' she said. 'How may I serve you?'

'Can you do something about this sand?'

While I was walking around and having my little conversation with Abraxxa the others were also moving around and looking at the dead city and it buried monuments. It was one of the Saudi workers who noticed the storm on the horizon. He told Nick of the approaching storm. We were ordered back to the vehicles to ride out the sand storm. There was the sound of people racing back to the trucks and then multiple echoes of the truck doors slamming shut. Then there was silence but that didn't last very long. Soon there was the howling of the wind, the screeching sound of sand against metal and glass and we were trapped until the storm ended.

'I take it that this is your doing,' I asked Abraxxa.

'Yes Master, it will take hours to free the city of sand,' she said. 'Perhaps you'd like a nap?'

'Nah, why not fill me in on what you've been up to for the last thousand years or so,' I said.

'Of course,' she said before launching into the long history of Iram and its inhabitants.

I closed my eyes and saw the imagery she provided of the unquenched glory that was Iram of the Thousand Pillars. It was the hub of trade and power in this part of the world for more than a millennium. Its residents were mainly human but there were lord and ladies of the other races, including my father's people. The humans fell under the sway of the Elder Ones and became mere servants in this great place. Word spread to neighboring human kingdoms and the lure of unparalleled wealth kindled the flames or war. The rulers of Iram were unprepared and were forced to unleash terrible powers upon the human armies. The witch flame decimated the human ranks but it drove them to not just sack the city but destroy it and its inhuman denizens. The survivors fled the city while the humans pulled down as many of the gorgeously wrought pillars as they could. The rest they left for time and the elements to topple. Though the human kingdoms were crippled in this region the few that survived the conflict fled the area and started kingdoms of their own. Soon Iram became legend and its location lost to time, until today.

'How the hell did he find it,' I asked Abraxxa.

'You mean the city,' she said and I nodded. 'Perhaps he was able to locate the distortion field that surrounds the city.'

'That is the only thing that makes sense,' I said. 'I guess when there is one massive electromagnetic field over so large an area...'

'No Master, there isn't just one,' she said interrupting me.

'Wait, what do you mean there isn't just one field like this,' I asked.

'There are several all over the face of the world,' she said. I remembered the island and the black pyramid; it must be one of those sites. Then my thoughts turned to Bennu the red headed goddess and I felt a deep sense of loss. I had buried my emotions in the arms of other women but deep down I still yearned to hold her in my arms again.

'What is wrong Master,' Abraxxa asked. 'I have detected an increase in your heartbeat and a buildup of tension in your muscles.'

'A memory,' I said. 'Sadly there is nothing I can do about it. I am going to clear my thoughts for a while inform me when the storm ends.'

There was a profound silence when I awoke. I looked out and saw the whole of Iram revealed by the power of the sand storm. What would have taken weeks or even months was performed in a matter of hours. The wonder of it all was not lost to me. I opened the truck door and stepped outside. The firmament was filled to capacity with a billion stars. The city kid in me was so overwhelmed by the simple beauty above. I heard another door open and saw Nick get out and head for the temple. Damn it, there would be no retrieving Abraxxa's crystal now. I had Abraxxa call up a schematic of the city and display it over the ruins. I found there was an entire sub city below the main one. Well, while Nick was busy with the temple I would explore the lower chambers and see what I could find. With a helping hand from Abraxxa showed me the way to the nearest door to the underworld. I headed for the sole survivor of the upright pillars. It was here that I pressed a series of characters provided by Abraxxa and watched the stone door come grating open. I stepped into that stygian darkness and let my eyes adjust to the absolute lack of light. The spiral stairs led deep into the bowels of the dessert until it opened onto a singular chamber of cyclopean dimensions. The ceiling must have been at least a hundred feet high and the walls was at least that long and wide. A dozen or so pillars supported the ceiling and each was carved in the likeness of some non-human beings. I recognized the style of the creatures at once they belonged to my father's people. I wasn't terribly surprised to find their hand in the creation of this city. I walked to the center of the room and found a dry well with the faintest of illumination at the bottom.

"How the hell am I supposed to get down there," I said my voice echoing off the walls.

"You needn't bother," a voice said from behind me. I turned to see one of the tentacled horrors detach itself from the stone where it had been hiding. The thing slithered over on a series of serpentine limbs and stopped a few feet from me. "Welcome brother."

"I don't understand," I said and the being smiled, I think.

"That is because your father has left you in the dark," it said. The voice was neither male nor female but carried the qualities of each at different times. "He has had his plans in the works for millennia. You are part of his end game as it were."

"Still not understanding things," I said. "If I am only a part of this there must be another puppet of his in play."

"He has many irons in many fires," the thing said. "Immortality is a heavy burden for those not born to it. To see so many of your mortal kin grow old and die can wear away at even the strongest of wills."

"Wait, are you saying he is influencing the Eternal Master of the Order?"

"You are as clever as your father told us," it said smiling again. "This man is weary of his burden and is going to pass it onto your friend. He in turn will see that humanity as it stands needs some severe changes. He will seek to purge mankind of its aggressive nature just in time for the arrival of the black sun. You see all is going as your father wanted."

"He is using someone I know to change humanity," I said trying to figure out who could possibly shift things on a global scale. "Nick, it has to be Nick. But what is this black sun you are talking about, an eclipse?"

"No, the arrival of a dark energy sun into this solar system, it will merge with Sol and change the very nature of matter and energy in this region of space. All of the old cities will return from the limbo into which they were cast. The shift of power will occur and we will once more be the dominant life form on this world."

"What will happen to humanity?"

"I don't know," it said. "They might survive the ghost storms or they may become extinct. It doesn't matter though all the humans you know will be long dead."

I sat down on the cool stone floor and thought about it. Was there anything I could do to stop it? Should I stop it? There were vast forces at work here and my meddling would only skew things and anger my father. I looked up at the things which had altered its appearance to a slightly less disturbing form. I was so damn confused and it stood there patiently watching me. I had to stand back and let things happen as they would. I had no other choice. This black sun was on its way and nothing could stop it. I had to make the best of things. I would keep the people I loved in the dark so that they didn't have to suffer. I had to bury my hopelessness deep and go on like everything was okay.

"Follow me," it said. "The others want to meet you."

As I walked and it slithered across the smooth stone floor I began to wonder how all the possible crossroad decisions I had made had led me here. Had I been skillfully maneuvered to this fate? Was there really any choice available to me that could have prevented this? No, things had been set into motion long before I was even born that, like gravity, was unavoidable. The more I thought about it the more I realized that it was beyond anyone to change. The anger and guilt fell away and all that was left was acceptance of a role anyone could have played, it just happened to be me. I was no one special I was just a piece on the chessboard that was as faceless and powerless as any other. My anger and sense of betrayal were based upon a human spectrum. My father was none of these things and operated on a wholly different paradigm. He saw things in the long range goals that spanned millennium. I was simply along for the fucking ride. There was that anger again. It was pointless to get pissed off at a being who was as alien to me as I was to humanity. I was only human on the outside on the inside I was something terrible and ancient. Maybe it was time I accepted that fact and quit whining and took an active role in things. I looked around at the carvings in the walls, the floor and the pillars. Humans saw beauty in the symmetry of things. Here beauty was turned on its side and seen as formless and ever changing. The pale light cast unsteady radiance upon the bas reliefs and gave them a sense of movement and shifting of both shape and texture. As we moved down the spiral ramp that led ever downward I felt as if the place was alive and breathing. The radiance grew steadier and stronger the further down we went. I could see side passages and chambers that were attached to the ramp and in them were more exotic figures like the one by my side. The upper levels were sparsely populated but the further down we went the more of the creatures appeared until I knew they numbered in the thousands. I don't know how long it took to get to the very bottom and the source of the illumination but at last we reached it and I wasn't prepared for what was before me. I thought that the light came from some sort of crystal or device that was producing the weird radiance but I was wrong, dead wrong. I shook my head as I peered into the gap between spaces. It was a tear in the very fabric of reality and it was here that the unholy light slipped free from. I walked around it and no matter what side I looked it showed only one vantage point of the chasm of worlds. I looked at the top of the thing and saw what appeared to be bubbles drifting up from the tear and disappearing into the very air. But there was no childlike joy at seeing the bubbles pop. No, there was a growing fear of the contamination those spheres carried with them from outside our known universe.

"Is it not glorious brother," one of the things asked me.

"What is it," I asked my eyes locked on the breach in reality.

"Not what but who," it said. "This is Yog Sothoth." The name triggered a memory from Yg. All the knowledge she had poured into me and there was a dire warning. The gate keeper of the lower dimensions was called Yog Sothoth. It was said that when the dark gods returned it would be through this very being before me. I felt powerless before such a potent force. This was raw power that predated the fiery crucible that forged this world. It was calling to me and I must answer. Everything slowed down as I was drawn moth like to its hellish flame. Each step was a thousand years and every breath an epoch of time. Ten thousand years later I crossed the threshold and fell into the rift hgg. I felt every shred of my humanity torn away until there was just my father's legacy left. I fell into the light. I became the light. My individuality was destroyed in an instant that lasted a billion years.

"Steve," a voice called out from a terrible distance. "Are you alright?"

I opened my eyes and was face down on the desert floor. I managed to get to my knees and look around. It was still dark outside and Akira was kneeling next to me.

"Here, let me help you to your feet," she said as I struggled to stand. "Let's get you into the temple. There is a pool of water there it will help restore your strength." I could only nod as we made our way into the darkened structure. As we entered I could feel the cool spray of moisture on my face and I looked and saw Nick swimming around in the pool Akira had mentioned. At the center of the pool was a dark obelisk identical to the one I had seen in the black pyramid. I stripped down with help from Akira and half slipped half fell into the pool. I took a deep breath and sunk below the water's surface. I could feel the regenerative properties of the water and drank it in with every pore of my body. I felt its power fill every cell in my body and I was reborn. The shock and trauma of my encounter with Yog Sothoth washed away in mere moments. The memory remained but at least I would survive. I came up and looked around. Akira was in the pool now and a dark thought crossed my mind. If I killed Nick here and now I might thwart a portion of my father's plans. But in the long run it would make little difference so I stayed my hand. Besides there was Kat and the others to think about and I couldn't bring them any more pain than they had already been through. Of course I could tell Nick and warn him but again would it really matter in the end. It was like a fucking cosmic train wreck and I had to watch it all powerless to change its course.

"You look so serious," Nick said as he leaned back against the outer wall of the pool. "What's on your mind?"

"Train wreck," I said without thinking.

"Huh," Nick said looking concerned and confused.

"I am facing a train wreck of epic proportions and I don't know what to do," I said. "In the end nothing I do will really make a difference."

"Then don't try," he said. "It sounds like you are facing some sort of volcanic eruption, an act of nature that is quite literally unstoppable. Face it, you can't control much in this world except whether you choose to be happy or not. Just let it go and be happy. The world can take of itself." I felt like I had been hit between the eyes. He was right. There was not a damn thing I could do so worrying was a waste of time and energy. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The emotional weight seemed to just melt away. Sometimes it just takes another point of view to make things clear. Then the strangest thing happened, Nick climbed out and told us work would begin in the morning. I could see the pained look on Akira's lovely features. I swam up to her and laid my hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, are you... UNNNNN," I said as she turned and grabbed my cock gently. Then she slowly stroked me as she pressed her tits against my chest.

"Just shut up and let me have this," she whispered in my ear. I nodded and let her do whatever she wanted to. "That's a good boy; now sit on the edge of the pool so I can suck you off."

So there I was sitting on the cool stone with my cock buried down the Asian's throat. She was attacking my cock as if it were the last time she would ever have sex. I clenched my teeth together as she drove her head down onto my length. I grabbed her by her soaked hair and began pushing her head further down as I felt my cock ready to blow. Instead of complaining she just purred as she waited for the cum that was about to flow. As hard as I tried the cry echoed off the temple's walls as I shot down her throat. I wrapped my fingers around her throat and lifted her up and out of the pool in one smooth motion. Akira's eyes rolled up in her head as she climaxed. I bent her over the wall of the pool and took her from behind. I hammered her from behind with little regard to if I hurt her or not. I was sure that she would tell me if I crossed a line, she never did. I dug my fingers into her ass flesh and thrust relentlessly into her soaked cunt. She was squeezing her pussy around me as I drove my cock in and out of her. I cursed at her and she began thrusting her hips backward as her second climax got closer and closer. I reached around and cupped her tits and began teasing and pinching her sensitive nipples. The harder I pinched them the louder her breathing became until her voice screeched off the walls. I could feel her pussy clamp down on me as she came. I ground against her as her entire body shook.

"Should I stop and let you catch your breath," I asked as she looked over her shoulder and gave me the dirtiest look. "Okay, you're the boss." I began thrusting again and her eyes rolled up into her head and her pleas for more got me harder still. There was something about a gorgeous woman begging for my cock that was addictive. I pulled my dick almost all the way out, paused and then slammed it home. Each thrust gave a satisfying slapping sound. Akira pushed her ass higher into the air offering her body up to me. What the hell was wrong with Nick? He gives me great advice on how to be happy and then leaves this beautiful creature here for me to please since he was unwilling.

"My ass..." Akira whimpered. "Please mister will you fuck my ass?"

"I don't know... maybe I should let you do it what do you say?"

"MMMMMMMMMM Okay..."

I eased out of her, sat on the edge of the pool and let her do the rest. She moved in front of me, turned away and pulled her ass cheeks apart. I took my cock in hand and held it for her as she impaled her ass onto my erection. We both let out a slow low groan as I pierced her to her core. Then Akira was fucking me with that tighter hole of hers.

"I love getting my ass fucked," she said as she rode me. "Your cock is so damn hard! I need it so bad!"

"Less talking more fucking slut," I said and she nodded.

"Sorry Mister, here take that and that," she moaned as she drove her hips backward faster now.

"Oh shit little girl that ass of yours feels amazing," I cried out as I felt my orgasm building up. "You are curling my toes."

"Shoot your load deep in my ass mister," she said as she slammed her body against mine now. "I can feel your dick getting bigger inside of me, are you going to cum?"

"UHHHH HUHHHHHH," I grunted as our bodies met. "Almost there... almost... FUCK!" Akira howled as my sperm painted her insides. She ground her ass against me as I climaxed inside of her. Once I caught my breathe she started to stand up. I grabbed her by her wrists, stood up and pulled her arms behind her. Then I was thrusting inside of her again. "Where the fuck do you think you're going?"