Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

"Ulyoath's Black Guardian: My machinations are timeless, Peter. Your life is not."

"After Inspector Legrasse showed Edward's headless body to Alexandra in order to identify it"

"Right before the chapter during WW1, a perfect occasion to find more corpses for the Black Guardian"

"Pious then summons his ancient into the real world, and battle ensues"

"Where emptiness had been, new knowledge now seeped inside. Something happened then, I realized that I was not the only one. That there were many others like me, in other places, other universes, fighting the same fight, all to serve the needs of the great Ancient, and to have my world spared, from Eternal Darkness."

"Flesh. Bone. Bound together with the oddest magickal incantation. This wretched book is where it all began so long ago. Before time, Before humanity. I am doctor Edward Roivas. I am a clinical Psychologist. I am also dead. This is not my story, nor even the story of the Roivas family. It is the story of humanity. Like it or not, believe it or not as you will. Your perceptions will not change reality, but simply colour it. Humanity has been on the edge of extinction for two millennia. Ignorant of so much, and dependent on so few. The guardians grow restless. Their time once again near. Whether by fate or misfortune, my family has crossed their path. And they didn’t take kindly too it. Their attention turns to my grand-daughter. For she is the last of my line, and the last hope of humanity."

"I cannot say what was the true beginning, nor am I sure of its end. So perhaps this is the best place to start: I am reminded of ideas I first encountered in Sir James George Frazer’s book “The Golden Bough: A study in Magic and Religion.” We are overwhelmed by our very human need to weave a web of meaning where there may be none. Since time immemorial, ancient peoples have dressed up their lack of knowledge as gods and demons. I have discovered that sometimes, the fates of gods and mortals intertwine – and legends are born..."

"It is apparent that the endeavors of mankind are mere puppetry at the hands of the Ancients. Whenever a king vows reform, the ancients move quickly to stifle it. Under the auspices of Emperor Charlemagne the Frank, the new Holy Roman Empire was at the height of its power."

"Dreams: Modern psychology offers only unproven theories. Some see them as the meaningless tossing and turning of a brain settling into a restful sleep. Others see them as laden with symbols of our unconscious desires. To still others, dreams represent the upwelling of the archetypes, normally hidden deep within the recesses of the human collective unconscious. Of one thing I am certain: after a brush with the Ancients, our dreams metamorphosize into nightmares..."

"I will not argue that I was shocked by the sudden mention of my ancestors – the distinguished Dr. Maximillian Roivas! It chilled me to my bones! Where had this ancient book come from? How had my ancestor stumbled upon it? I feverishly began to read more, eager to learn his story. It seems that Maximillian had inherited his father’s mansion, just as I had. Alone since the death of his wife, and since his children had their own adult lives, he explored the house to discover his family roots..."

"The Ancient’s influence was incredible. From all walks of life, to all parts of our world, their tendrils crept and wrought their insidious damage. Their prisons decayed constantly as their Guardian’s work continued. I discovered mention of a breakthrough in satellite RADAR imaging that revealed the presence of a hitherto unknown temple mound in the Angkor Thom region of Cambodia. An archaeologist of some repute, Dr. Edwin Lindsey, took it upon himself to investigate the area, to reveal the secrets of history. Unfortunately, the local government at the time thought differently, requiring that Lindsey find other means into the country and to finance the expedition. He found these in Paul Augustine, a collector of rare items who professed an interest in the discovery and agreed to help. After a dysentery-riddled two-week venture, Lindsey and Augustine located the remains of an ancient City Temple, dating back to the 12th Century..."

"In Europe, during the time of the inquisition, paranoia and corruption ran deep. With the fear of devilry running rampant, the Ancient’s corruption extended far beyond the knowledge, corrupting all that could be corrupted. My researches uncovered an interesting incident: A Franciscan monk named Paul Luther was travelling through the region of Amiens during the witch hunts of the inquisition. Now under martial law, the inquisition prevented anyone from leaving the town and its nearby Cathedral, for everyone was suspect..."

"Much has been written about the exploits of conquerors. In the context of history, one man’s champion is another man’s nemesis: hero or murderer. Much has been written, but what has not is far more interesting. The Tome of Eternal Darkness mentions a Venetian artist and architect of the Renaissance, named Roberto Bianchi. Roaming abroad for inspiration, he was captured by a warlord expanding his empire. He forced Roberto to use his architectural and engineering skills to construct a monument to his greatness. To complete his task, he must survey the site..."

"The “War to end all wars” redefined how mankind looked at war, and the value of human life. Over 19,000 men lost their lives every day in the trenches of the Somme. Some say uselessly, some invoke a higher cause. I read accounts of the slaughter from many journalists who spent time in the trenches, but I found the account of a certain Peter Jacob to be the most horrible of all… His implication about the Ancient’s involvement with the war was hideous, and so obvious… With the horror of the Battle of the Somme scant miles away and the distant echoes of pounding artillery, a young journalist named Peter Jacob researched his latest story from the frontlines. His grim task brought him to Oublié Cathedral, now transformed into a field hospital…"

"My education in psychology did not prepare me. I would like to see how Freud’s view of his mother would change with the knowledge of Chattur’gha. How Skinner would incorporate Xel’lotath in his behaviourists theories. How Jung would accommodate Ulyaoth into his theory of the collective unconscious. Like my ancestor Maximillian, I too had an interest in my family tree. As a psychiatrist, I believed that science could provide answers into my family’s sordid, bizarre past. It was with great excitement that I began my search. The mansion’s history was filled with my colorful predecessors. Everything from convicted and hung witches, to committed madmen, each laying their own peculiar mark on its character. I intended to find their secrets."

"Wherever disaster and death lurk, there is likely to be an Ancient just beyond our senses, waiting. They prey on our misfortune, and exploit it toward their own twisted ends. When hundreds of oil fields are set ablaze on the heels of war, the Ancients grip tightens, knowing that lives will be forfeit, and resources squandered. But a few people make a difference. People like Michael Edwards, a Canadian industrial firefighter hired to put an end to the insanity at the end of the war. Ironically for him, the insanity was just beginning."

"Quickly Alex! We must bind this creature! It cannot be allowed to remain in this universe!"

"It is finally over my dear. The Ancients plans are finished, for now at least. You have proven to be an incredibly courageous young woman. Your mother and father would have been proud of you, just as I am. I’m sorry it had to be like this, it’s not quite the inheritance I had in mind for you, but there was so little time, and so much to do. Goodbye Alex, I will miss you."

"And so it comes to pass. Of the three Ancients, there is nothing. The mighty Chattur’gha has obliterated the insanity of Xel’lotath. The madness of Xel’lotath has overcome the power of Ulyaoth. The boundless Ulyaoth has decimated the power of Chattur’gha. All at once, separate and simultaneous, for the universe is made of many time streams, many possibilities, all in harmonious synchronicity. Only Mantorok remains, slowly dying. Mantorok, keeper, overseer, warden of Ancients, chaos, an entity trapped between the veils of reality, and the enchanted stakes that impale its flesh. Unable to rally its Guardians, it could only rely on its subtle manipulations of the Roivas family to destroy its enemies. Knowing the nature of the Ancients, it used its pawns to play them against each other, resulting in their mutual annihilation. Now it will languish forever, festering in its tomb... Plotting."

"I had no knowledge of what was to come. Nor did I care. How the knowledge changed me... It will also change you. As you read this, you will come to learn fear as I have. You too, will come to understand, or you will perish. To think that once I could not see beyond the veil of our reality, to see those who dwell behind. My life now has purpose, for I have learned the frailty of flesh and bone. I was once a fool…"

"Aeons have passed since then, and I have learned much. Chattur’gha’s power filled me, invigorating my dead body. With a touch, I could level buildings, rend the ground asunder, and channel power such as mortal men could only dream… Face me, and you shall surely perish!"

"Aeons have passed since then, and I have learned much. All at once, I understood. The forces of the multiverse all made sense under the transcending power of Ulyaoth. No mountain too high, no city too far. Face me, and you shall surely perish!"

"Aeons have passed since then, and I have learned much. I was once as naive as a child, but now my mind is sharp. With the power of Xel’lotath, I can now read the thoughts of others and make them raving mad with a mere suggestion. Face me, and you shall surely perish!"

"Thy time is done, Great Ancient. Forever in shadow will you be, Master of Chaos! And to fade to nothing in obscurity will be thy fate. My master has planned many millennia for this day. It is the true chaos of all things that you now must be entombed amongst the beings of flesh and bone. You have a great monument here, Mantorok. It is a pity that no one will recognize it as yours. May the Darkness claim thee, crawling chaos and damned beast! No longer will thy reign be kept over the Ancients you have kept imprisoned. Thou hast seen the last of this world…"

"So, you are reduced to feeding on flesh and bone, Mantorok. How the mighty have fallen. You will surely fester for millennia to come, a slow and torturous fate for thee…"

"My liege, the future is yours. The light in the Age of Darkness has been extinguished. The Pillar of Flesh has been constructed. The Master of Chaos – the “Keeper of the Ancients” – is long dead. The planets will be in alignment soon. All is prepared for your arrival. I will begin the final incantation that will bring you into our world within days. The next millennia will truly usher in a new age! Your guardians now prepare the gate!"

"[Impersonating Paul Augustine] For years, I have searched for it without success. Here, all along, clouded from us beneath the Great Ancient’s insidious magick! I am very pleased with your performance, Dr. Lindsey… Very pleased… In fact, so pleased, that I will give you an early bonus. [Draws a gun, but Lindsey manage to run away] You are a scholar, Dr. Lindsey – not a warrior. In that regard I have several centuries more experience than you! Don’t be a fool – die quietly, and you will not suffer. [Lindsey takes a shot at him, and Paul turns into Pious] You cannot escape me, Lindsey! This place will be your tomb, just as it is Mantorok’s! Guardians of (name of Ancient whose artifact you selected)! Kill him!"

"I am not your food today! I am your master! Your task is to guard the artifact before you. Let no one touch it!"

"Evil is merely a perspective which no longer concerns me, Luther."

"[Impersonating an Arabian conqueror]I am the Scourge of God, appointed to chastise you, since no one knows the remedy for your iniquity except me. You are wicked, but I am more wicked than you. So be silent! [He turns to Roberto] Now you, architect. You are about to make your largest contribution to this project..."

"Fool! [Spits on Alex's body] I spit at thee! The darkness shall be Eternal!"

"Ugh! The darkness... Is not so easily destroyed... No... My death is just the beginning!"

"Not even these mythical fables can keep me amused. There has to be SOMETHING to do around here... I only wish that something fantastic and of higher purpose could happen to me."

"Do not touch the heart, flesh and bone, lest you become like me: a dead, rotted husk. I have waited many centuries for you. It was not easy hiding from the dark ones as they searched for me. At first they passed by not thinking the heart was inside my dead body, but I was forced to find refuge here. You must seal the heart so it never contacts your flesh, and take it to the Gathering of Light. Take the heart there, or the world shall fall under a reign of Eternal Darkness! The veil of reality can only be pulled back so far, mortal. Take your stand, and fight the Darkness!"

"What sorcery is this? A spell! I am bewitched! If this was meant for Charlemagne, then what will become of him!? I have to warn him of this treachery!"

"The things I do for love..."

"It has been two weeks since the death of my father, and it has finally come to me to look over the mansion. Now I am truly alone, and forced to start a new life, here in Rhode Island. I intend to make the mansion mine, and live in it as my forefathers have, to continue the family tradition. The mansion has its secrets, I’m sure, and in my time here, I have to make them mine."

"The accursed beast was dead, but not without its toll on me. That was but one, and there was an entire city of them... I could not hope to fight them all alone – I knew I had to get help! I knew there was a way – I just had to find it."

"I tried... I tried to tell them... But they wouldn’t listen to me... Damn them! Damn their eyes! They didn’t believe me. Strange creatures... The world in peril from unseen foes... The death... The darkness! Instead, they jeered and threw me into this forsaken place – a place of empty souls and fevered thoughts, reeking of foetor and decay, thinking me mad with delirium! The fools cast away their hopes of salvation, by locking me in this damned asylum! (rushed to and collides with the door) May the rats eat your eyes! I am now lost to your cause ! The darkness comes! It will damn us all!"

"Corpses! Lumbering, rotting cadavers! What contrivance could have wrought this... this... this abomination?!?! Diseased science...?? Blasphemous occult rituals? How can something so... so dead, yet be so alive?!?! And hungry..! They lust for flesh... Human flesh... And feast upon all the sweetbreads a man has to offer!!"

"These wretched creatures, these flayed corpses! Wandering, decrepit soulless vessels, content only to gnaw on human meat, to spill human blood... Even...even headless, their hate for the living grew in propensity...flailing maniacally in their blood lust...killing anything close!"

"Neither the embalming salve of their wrappings, nor the numbness of death, could override the dominating madness that is Xel'lotath. Controlled...prodded into an existence by an incessant cacophony of voices, penetrating every level of their psyches, these corpses are coerced into life... Ambling... Moaning... SHRIEKING!"

"Rotted from within. Worried apart by the ravening fish and parasitic foetor of their sunken graves... these drowned zombies emerged, spilling their festering entrails and slooping fluids with each pain ridden step... Each step hoping to bring an end to their pain by spreading it to others."

"There are worlds beyond this one, world as we've never seen...nor can we... Our eyes do not open far enough... Try it...try holding your eyes open...you can try holding them open as much as you want, but you'll never see...never ever see... The world beyond the veil... The Veil of Reality... It's there to protect us, from them: the Ancients...the Darkness...that...which...we...CANNOT...understand. Nor should we... Welcome the oblivion of ignorance!! For to have knowledge...is to be DAMNED!!"

"They ARE amongst us! I knew they would come after me... Knew their devices... Their depraved methods! Creatures wearing human skins as we wear clothes - to cover their hideousness from our eyes! So they might consort insidiously with our species, infiltrating, manipulating, playing us against each other. DAMN OUR EYES!!! WE ARE BLIND TO THEM!!! But I knew... Oh yes... I knew! I knew they were there - plotting behind that door! One has to be careful... One must separate their heads from their bodies. And yes! Fire is the key...to purge their souls from this earth... sending them whimpering to their masters in the Beyond!!!!"

"The devils inside the servants' skulls were trying to kill me! They plotted behind doors locked and barred and planned the downfall of the human race! I took care of the ones around me... Stopped their plans. There are others, I'm sure... Out there... Manipulating us... Secreting madness inside our very heads, while our souls are pushed into the corner's of our skulls...watching as our hands do task that we have no control over! Oh horrible...horrible...things... WE MUST PURGE THEM FROM OUR MIDST!! Kill them all!! CUT THEM! BURN THEM!!! It's the only way... I know... I've done it... It...works..."

"They are so close their stench fills the air! You can smell them, I tell you!! Somewhere between the spice of vanilla and the bitter sweetness of pustulent rot! Those creature inhabit the bodies of men and women...exorcising the human soul and replacing it with their own putrid spirits. But they couldn't fool me...no...not at all... I could smell them, you see... They were all around me... Dear god! All around! I knew what I had to do...they had to go... By blade and bullet I had to get rid of them! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!! Dear god, I had to do it...had to... You believe me, don't you? ...Don't you?"

"Oh, the Horror! The HORROR!! A behemoth of hatred incarnate! What manner of creature is that? A ton of flesh and sinew wielding muscles thick as ropes strung onto claws that could crush stone and sever metal as thought it were threshed wheat. Crushing, cutting... The walls shook with each step it took!! Oh, the HORROR!! An abomination... Its physiology remarkably abstract...no real organs or anything... It shouldn't work, but it did!! And the mouths...those gnashing scythes of teeth - I tell you, it existed ONLY to EAT!! To consume! To gnaw! To bite! To DEVOUR!!"

"Eyes! Rot their eyes...! Their staring sees through your soul like looking through a window... And the lids... festooned with tiny, hook-like teeth...that gape and gnash... It doesn't make sense...no anatomy would form like that...but it has!! Was it natural? How could it be? Oh unholy beast, thou must be killed, lest you corrupt my world!! Have at thee! HAVE AT THEE..."

"They have no eyes...! But they CAN see, I tell you!! No eyes...no! No eyes at all...but you can feel it LOOKING at you!! It stares through you...like looking through empty air, and you can feel it...raking you innards with their "touch"...! The shiver of their senses combing to your bowels through empty space...! Oh horribleness!"