The book of the sea

The book of the sea.

Michael Smith log, 1921, September.

Entry 25.

Investigation: strange book of the KDS cult.

I took some time to reflect and think before making this entry, I wanted to measure all that had happened very well inside my mind and to make sure that I have not gone mad. The fear I had experienced left me without an ability to speak and I had to take a temporary leave from my job. Only after a week has passed since the end of the investigation, if I can call it the end, that I began to make some sounds again.

It all began at the end of summer when the historian and archeologist John Grimstone invited me to his home. John was very concerned about the growing numbers of the secret cult in the city of Hathtom, the Khul Duhl Suhl cult, or simply KDS cult. I suppose it wasn’t even secret anymore since the numbers were rising so rapidly and the scary part was that we were cut of from the rest of the country, it was always difficult to notify authorities from outside the city and get help in time.

Upon my arrival John made us tea and helped me relax as even he could see my anxiety reflect in my features. As we sat in his soft comfortable chairs sipping tea, John told me about a book that his young informant told him about. According to this young man, this was a book written by older worshippers of Khul Duhl Suhl. When this book was read it could enchant or hypnotize those around and the reader could control them, not only that, but it was also used for summoning creature known as Daggathossos, and if that was true, there was a chance that this monster now dwelled near the city, or in even more horrifying scenario, beneath it.

John wanted me to find the terrible book and destroy it, but first bring to him to make notes. Thinking about this task brought pain behind my eyes and pressure in my ears, but of course, I agreed, there was no other way. I wasn’t going to leave the city and run, I have made a choice to try and save as many people as I could from this evil cult.

First I had to go back and find some of the original files on older cases involving the cult, I found the names of those who now were elders, but started in the cult young. Apparently they used to gather in an abandoned church on outskirts of the city, where the cliffs were and our once most beloved attraction, the large red and white lighthouse. I then realized that perhaps the keeper of it could known something as well.

Armed with a revolver and my resolve I went to the rugged part of town. The streets there were even more depressing than the rest of the city, the fact that I was walking alone through them made me feel crazy and my anxiety was raised to devilish levels. Only time police came here was in groups and when informed of something major happening, these parts were infested with poor gangs of the city and drug addicts.

To my amazement I made it all the way to the outskirts without any altercation and I saw the worn down church standing on the hill, overlooking the gloomy foggy waters, just beyond it was the lighthouse and next to it a little hut which the keeper was known to use.

I timidly approached the church, for I had no idea what to expect, perhaps it belonged to a gang now. I had my revolver ready and I gently pushed the door which barely hung on the hinges. It creaked and opened, there was clearly no one inside, and judging by abnormal amount of dust this place had no visitors for quiet some time.

Instead of a cross, this place had a strange symbol hung, like a hand but made out of waves, it was rusty. The atmosphere of the church felt heavy and unpleasant. This place was holding on to some devilish energy.

I looked through all the rooms and found a few old sheets of paper and notes. As I read through them, most of it seemed like none sense to me, but I found one interesting note talking about reading a book on a full moon at the docks for new followers. This gave me an idea.

I left the church and went to the lighthouse. The hut was made of wood and stones and looked rather disproportionate. I knocked on the wooden door. There was no answer, but then someone spoke behind me, startled I turned with my pistol ready to fire, it was an old man with grey hair and heavy posture. He introduced himself as the keeper of the lighthouse. his speech was rather off, but I understood him. He invited me to come in for tea, otherwise he would not answer my question about the church. Once we sat on small wooden chairs inside and waited for the water to boil he was ready for his story.

“Yer kno tha church of a demonik, I run polish this house for ship since me boyhood times. Yer kno....the devilmen start comin back then in thoze days, they kno the tongue of devil, they tak to demonik, them took a book, ye ye, book, caaray it above them shouldah! Them kno no to com to me home, I hid guns bak thun, much year and year them com, them bring youngin ladies, horrible thing, awfuli!”

I stopped him at that point, I began getting a headache from deciphering his speech and I think I got enough of an idea what went on here. It seemed the evil scum cult use to sacrifice young women to their demon god. I thanked the old man and to his disappointment I left.

On the way back I went a safer route, by the water, but much longer. Before cutting back into the city I thought I saw someone floating in the water on a wooden boat, a tall man, but after a second glance I no longer saw anyone.

I spent that night back in my tiny apartment which consisted of basically two rooms. Some people have told me that I had to leave this place, find a better life, that I had character to succeed anywhere, but I felt a sense of duty to this place.

It took me a long time to fall asleep in my hard bed, but I wish I hadn’t at all, for the nightmares that came were abnormal and felt real. A tall men kept following me through a strange labyrinth. He had a long eellike neck, thin head and evil black eyes, his right arm had a tentacle coming out of it. The walls of this labyrinth were moving and looked like they were made out of snakes. They were hissing at me as I tried to get away from the demon man.

I was glad to wake up, but I felt like I didn’t get any rest, almost drained. Tonight I had a lot of work to do, it was going to be full moon and I had to move from one abandoned port to another without being seen, trying to track down these cultists and the book.

I visited John again with the update and he noticed that I looked exceptionally stringed. I told him about my nightmare. He grew sad as he told me about what detective Lumiere said to him. This was a monster called Gaggonn, which invaded dreams, and it seemed like this thing has become a servant of Khul Duhl Suhl.

On that very cheerful note I had to go and get ready for my night outing. I had a flashlight ready, revolver, pack of matches, a hunting knife and of course, my small notebook. I wore all black and even covered half of my face with a black scarf.

The first abandoned port I went to had no sign of anyone heading to it, nor I saw any activity near by that would make me suspicious.

However after talking half an hour jogging to get to the next one, I saw a procession of some fifty people in hoods slowly walking along the shore and quietly chanting something. In the front walked a man nicely dressed and in all black, his face was old and disfigured. He had a book in his wrinkly ugly hands! That was it!

I sat behind an old boat and watched as they came on the old pier. Everyone fell silent as the man in black stood there without opening the book. They were waiting, and in a few minutes I saw another procession of about thirty people, they were carrying several long boxes with them. My heart became heavy as I immediately understood what or rather who was in those boxes, but sadly and crushingly, I could do nothing.

They gathered around the pier and the man in black opened the book and raised it, he began a chant. The three boxes were opened and they took out three young women, but all unconscious, they must have drugged them. After long and draining time of chants they placed the women back in. The man closed the book and the procession continued.

They stopped at an old abandoned factory near the shore and several men took the boxes inside. The rest waiting outside. After about half an hour the others came out, but now with empty boxes. I had a horrible dilemma that I faced. I had a choice to go into the factory and check if the women were alive, or follow the book, as their walk continued. I don’t know if I made the right choice, but I followed them.

After they walked some distance away from the factory they screamed some more chants, the hideous man read from the book and they all split up and left, taking their hoods of and walking back into the city in normal cloths.

The ugly man was alone now, walking along the shore. I came up behind him with my revolver pointing at his head, hate for this evil creature filled my heart as I waited for him to feel my presence and turn around. I stood there looking him in the eyes, I wanted him to understand that no matter what I would kill him, then I saw the moment his eyes sparked in horror, as I’m sure he had seen eyes of his victims go. I shot him in the head and took the dreadful book from his hands.

This was when I made my big mistake, instead of leaving and gathering support, I decided to now go back to the old factory, alone, in hope that the women were still alive.

I tightly held the cursed book with my left hand pressed against my chest and entered that run down factory. Thanks to the moonlight though the broken window it wasn’t as hard to make out the inside. The first floor looked mostly empty, with just several boxes and bricks laying around. On the walls were drawings of various signs, surely done by the cult. The women had to be on the second floor and I took rusty metal staircase. The top floor looked similarly bare to the first, but in the wall there was a large opening, a metal shoot that led down. I remember swallowing my saliva and standing there, facing a terror that I should not have been facing alone, but yet again, the fool I am, the wrong decision was made and with my flashlight in hand I sat inside the opening and slid down. It shook me up and the traveling seemed to have taken much longer than I expected, I landed on my back, losing my flashlight, but holding on to the book. Immediately I felt thick water on my back, the flashlight went off and it was total darkness. I slowly sat up and at first all I could hear were my breathing and heartbeat, but then, in the distance, I thought I heard something else.

Indeed it was a low hissing sound and as it got closer I could hear the slithering of what seemed to be dozens of snakes and the water splitting underneath its movements. Despite complete horror having a hold on my entire body, every bone of if, I managed to force myself to crawls away from the sounds. The slithering was surrounding me as I felt ground and an incline and began to climb.

Hiss, hiss, hiss. The sound was not of a snake, but close to it, I climbed as high as I could and pressed myself against an opening in the clay wall. Then I finally noticed on the far right side from me was a ray of moonlight coming from what seemed to be an opening in the ground up high.

I slowed down my breathing and focused on being silent. My only hope was that if the thing didn’t notice me I could somehow make my way to that opening. The slithering now completely surrounded me, I could feel powerful breathing on my face, it was warm and reeked of death and the sea. Then I saw them, in that moonlight the tentacles were rising up high and lowering, as if dancing to a horrific tune not comprehended by the likes of me. Then it’s head, or should I say heads appeared! Giant octopus like creature with too heads. Even my chest began to shake as I pressed my head back even harder into that clay, the book slipped from my shaking hands and made a splash down bellow. The monster turned it’s heads to my direction with its dozens of tentacles moving and slithering around the cave. I saw its mouth! Long and filled with sharp white teeth, it looked like the most sinister smiles in existence. It’s eyes looked into my direction, they were light blue, all four of them, two on each head. Small white lights were moving inside the eyes of this monster. I wanted to scream as it got closer to me, I believed this was the end, a horrific death, but the creature moved past me and gradually the hissing and slithering got further and further.

It was no longer my mind in charge of my body ordering it to climb, perhaps God took pity on me and carried me out of that place through that opening.

I lost the book and I could not speak, but I survived. At that time I was certain that I’d leave the city.

Now that I’m finishing this entry, I can tell you that I chose to stay. I brought our department to that factory and together we destroyed it, burning it to the ground and burring that cursed book below. However, I’m sure that the monster, Daggathossos, was unharmed. I just prayed that it left our city.

For that week I also had to face and bare horrible burden of demonic nightmares, but after we destroyed the factory after some time those stopped as well. As one monster left, the other one must have gotten frustrated with my resilience.

I don’t know if I’ll ever fully regain my speech, and I know what I experienced will haunt me forever, but at the end I am glad that I’ve evaded madness. At least for now.