In the Wake of Cthulhu
A short fan fiction inspired by the world of H.P. Lovecraft
Written May 2020 edited March 2024
The manicured sidewalk, brick inlay and cement boarders that used to be 5 blocks from the sea wall now stinks of high tide. I look up at the trees, it’s cool under the shade. I feel, haunted, the small specs of light that pass through the canopy to the sidewalk give away our unusual circumstance. Though the solar eclipse ended years ago a strange phenomenon took hold. Bent light, noticeable only under the trees. The half-moon shapes cast down on me were dazzling when they formed during the apex of the solar eclipse but as we all noticed just minutes after it was over, the bending light that should have returned to normal, didn’t.
Since then, an overall reduction in energy reaching our planet has plagued our largely solar powered society. The strange phenomenon ushered in a new era of political accusation and brought us to the brink of war with our geothermal powered international competitors. Experts agreed you can’t force an eclipse lensing to maintain after an eclipse ends, but there it is, plain as day in the shadow of every tree. Some say it’s a sign from god, others a sign from mother earth. Theoretically, it could only occur if a massive object was permanently perched in the path of light from our sun. But, how could it hide from view and block solar energy? How could it defy all detection by our advanced instruments and still bend the light?
Fall 2061, on the day of the solar eclipse, our species ushered in a new era of technology and energy freedom. We officially powered up our first commercial fusion reactor. In a few short years all of New York was powered by it’s plasma fusion core spinning at thousands of meters per second and 200 million degrees. It’s teal light fills the building that houses it downtown. The key to sustainability is to burp it every 12 hrs. The excess neutrons that destabilize the plasma shouldn’t be there and baffle scientists till this day. The solution, expel them straight through the top of the building into space.
Some conspiracy theorists think an alien craft with advanced cloaking has taken an orbit in front of the sun, hiding in the glare. Who knows, maybe that’s true. The only giveaway is light passing through the leaves. Me? I’d bet the neutrino burp could attract all kinds of attention. The videos online are compelling, energy waves from solar flares appear to show a large sphere about 1 million miles from earth. To create the phenomenon it would have to be massive, more than twice the size of the moon at that distance. After the Antarctic melt down on the western plane and sea level rise in 2053 we discovered an ancient civilization deep in the Trans-Antarctic Mountain Range. Similar discoveries were made in the early 1900s, though passed off as just myth and lies. The Cthulhu Cult hailed it as evidence of his return and the eclipse shadow was further proof.
Something called me after the eclipse, something I can’t explain. It dragged me out of my home and onto the ocean. I became obsessed, eventually I sailed to a small island shrouded in myth and legend. I found what I was looking for and soon wished I hadn’t. Those are some creepy bastards. Human sacrifices, ruins of eons past, mass graves of odd skeletons. The island was in the pacific, about 500 miles southeast of Fiji. I almost lost my life on that journey; a club to the temple destroyed my left eye. I never should have been there but the constant drumming in my head drove me to dig deeper into the truth. If it wasn’t for a passing tanker, I would have drifted until I starved or worse.
At the base of my skull, it sits heavy and cold griping my sanity. “Our father thou art in heaven...” Ha Ha Ha Haahh rrrrr, A rumble in my psyche, a growl from oblivion pulls me back to that night on the deck of my sailboat in the pacific. A memory seared in my mind forever.
The wind howled and rain pelted the boat, 6ft waves slowly pushed us along in a forceful rolling motion. The boat will do this for an eternity, I thought, she’s a good ship. I heard a distant rumble and climbed out on deck to check the squall but saw something strange. A fast-moving rolling front of smoke and lightning glowing... Green? It’s below the grey overcast sky but the rain seems to pass right through it. It was on me before I could think, must have been moving 100 miles per hour.
A bolt of lightning next to the bow and another! I fell to the deck as the boat was electrified, glowing green with Saint Elmo’s Fire, but it doesn’t arc like I expected. On my back I struggled to see through the rain. Looking up at the swirling billowing mass, Eyes! Big Red Eyes stared down at me. Tentacles reached out of the cloud and ensnare the boat. “Rrrr eeaahhh!” A scream deafened me. How did it know! “O God! It’s really here!” I cried and plead to myself but all is lost. “Cthulhu! No please, god no!” With that outward recognition it paused and then descended, a god incarnate, The Old One. It bent, snapped and tore the rigging and sails from the boat. All along screeching that horrible sound. I rolled to my side, fetal, clutching my ears crying in pain and fear. What have I done! My memories flash; Rachel, my dear wife; Essie, my daughter, I will never hold them again.
Laughter and the rumble in my brain gave way to what I am convinced are my final moments. The blackness flooded my psyche, an ancient power no one can imagine. I could feel it passing through my memories, my soul. Oh God help me, Rachel! Essie! The beast pauses and is still for a moment. He knows them now! I mustered the courage to do something, anything to defend my family. I opened my eyes snapping back to reality and looked into its eyes. “You bastard! You leave my family alone!” I screamed at the top of my lungs but all I saw was cold indifference, all it wanted was praise and worship. No matter who it claims. In a flash it dove into my brain, I felt the energy pass through my foolish eyes and a grip tightly around the base of my skull. The sheer force knocked me unconscious; I drifted in the void surrounded by its cold embrace.
Ten years now he’s tortured me. Tonight is no different as I kneel in front of the fire. Alone in the tower of an old Victorian house where I rent a small room, I can still hear the screams in my head. Wild and angry. The cobwebs in the corners, cold winter air creeping through the rickety boards and wooden structure keep me up tonight. On the wooden floor in front of my alter to Jesus Christ, a few crosses, some holy water blessed by the local deacon, a bible and an artifact from the crusades are my only protection and last hope. Sometimes I can hear it laughing in my mind, it doesn’t like it when I pray. It writhes and rolls around in my brain. I never went home after waking up on the deck of the tanker that rescued me, its horn blasting me into awareness. Cthulhu left me alive. The ancient one spared a life? Never. It wants me to worship and bring other subjects, willing or not. But I refuse to let my family be sucked into this desperate madness; it can’t have them. So, I rot in isolation. I just pray to god my wife and daughter have moved on.
