The Call Of Dagon

[Pilgrim]

Ever since she was a little girl, Amanda Sharpe had dreamed of being a mermaid. She’d fantasize about the feel of the currents caressing her body like wind, and the boundless secrets held at the ocean’s depths which no man has ever known. She could never bear to be apart from the sea; when the only college at all near the ocean that accepted her application was Miskatonic University in neighboring Arkham, she immediately began packing even though it was far closer to her parents than she’d wanted to be. Still, it meant she’d be near the ocean she knew best, and she’d be right next to the wide and healthy Miskatonic River.

Amanda loved water in all its forms, though she liked the ocean the best. Sometimes when it rained she’d get lost in staring at it, admiring the shapes in the clouds and the sound it made as it hit the pavement and the crisp scent it left in the air…

“Amanda? Oi, Amanda!”

“Hmm?”

“What’re you doing just standing here in the rain? Come on, get under my umbrella! We’ll walk together.”

Minh Thai Phan, Amanda’s close friend, ran up beside her and pulled her underneath the shelter of her large black umbrella, jostling her from her daydreaming. “Jeez, what’s wrong with you, standing out in the rain like that? Did you even bring an umbrella today? Do you even look at the weather forecast?”

“I like the way the rain feels…”

“Ugh.” Minh rolled her eyes. “If you get sick, you’d better not expect any sympathy from me. You’d deserve it!”

Amanda grinned. “Oh, come on. I know you wouldn’t be able to resist having an excuse to fuss over me.”

“…Alright fine. But I wouldn’t enjoy it!”

The pair laughed as they parted ways in the hall, heading to their respective classes. Amanda’s got out earlier, and though she usually waited for her friend so they could walk home together, she wanted to feel the rain as she walked and decided to go on ahead, so as not to be forced underneath an umbrella.

Her strolls through bad weather always earned her odd looks from passers-by, but Amanda didn’t mind them. She wasn’t concerned with potential illness either; her immune system hardly ever failed her, even when she spent as much time in the cold weather as she did. However, when she finally returned to her apartment soaked clear through all her clothes, she was shivering more than a little and she had to keep sniffling to keep her nose from running.

“Ahh *snff* Haah-Etschh! Hah-Etschh! *snff* Heh-Schh! *snnrk*”

Shaking, Amanda dropped her things on the floor by her door and headed straight for the bathroom, where she began pouring herself a warm bath. She’d found it was the quickest way to warm up after walking in the rain, and what’s more it kept her in the calm, soothing water…

“HATCHEEW! Hehh-Etschh Hetshhh Etshhew! Eetschhew!”

Amanda woke up shivering in the freezing cold water. The light was dim and almost gone, meaning that she’d been sitting there for at least 3 hours. How she hadn’t woken up when the temperature dropped a dozen degrees and her nose had started running down to the water, she had no idea. She remembered she had been dreaming again, though about what she couldn’t quite recall.

“Heh-Chh! Hetchh Hehh-Etchh Etchhh-Tschh-Ehhh-TSCHHEW!”

She rose from the tub and blew and wiped her nose on a towel. Shaking, she headed for her bedroom to get dressed. It seemed like every breath she took triggered at least a dozen sneezes from her stuffy nose, and after each fit it felt filled to overflowing. The time it took for her to put on her pajamas didn’t have more than thirty seconds during which she wasn’t sneezing harsh, wet sneezes that resounded with such thickness that only comes from serious illness.

“Hehh-Tschhh! HA-Chhh! Hatchhhh Haah-Chhh Hahh-Ahhh-Atschhhh!”

She cursed herself for falling asleep for so long in the water. How on earth did that even happen? She hadn’t felt that tired…Well, she’d need the rest anyways, since her calculus homework wasn’t going to do itself and she’d lost the entire afternoon. Woozily, she heated up a fast dinner, ate barely any of it, and then sat down to work. Though still shivering slightly, her occasional chills were disregarded as she focused completely on her work. She did her best to avoid spraying all over the multiple pages of her assignment, turning to instead sneeze into her sleeve or, if she wasn’t fast enough, aiming for her textbook. Because of her severe congestion she didn’t dare to stifle them, and each one gave a mild relief that almost made up for the messy inconvenience.

“Tschhh! Ahh…Ahhh-Hachhh! Hatchhhh Hah-Schhhh! Aschhhhh! Haataschhhh! Ha-Chhhhh! Haah-Atchhhh Hatschhhh!”

Amanda was up late into the night, sniffling and snuffling while laboring over equations that were becoming increasingly difficult to solve as her head began to feel heavier and stuffier. She’d blown her way through what tissues she’d had in the first hour, and afterwards started using toilet paper. Once that ran out, she fetched the towel from the bathroom and used that. When she finally finished her homework and collapsed into her bed, her nose was rubbed to a raw red, and the worn, sensitive skin of her nostrils felt every breath that passed through them, tickling her and making her need to sneeze even more.

The next day it required a serious exertion of will for Amanda to not only get herself to class on time, but actually stay through it. She woke up with an aching stuffy head and a congested nose that tickled mercilessly, and her condition only worsened as time went on. By the time she reached her class she was sniffling and sneezing alternately without any pause except to wipe her nose on the ever-dampening sleeves of her green sweater. She sat down in a seat near the back, her nose and clothes dripping from her cold and the rain, respectively, and tried to contain her sneezes with one hand clamped over her nose so she wouldn’t disrupt the class.

“Hesshngk! Echnnk Hehh-Eshk! Hetshkk! Eh-Hnnk-ah-Tschhh! Ahh-Ah-Ah-Hnngk!”

The repeated stifling soon wore away at her red nose, still tender from last night’s abuse. She almost couldn’t bear to hold her hand directly against, as it rubbed her sore nostrils with each stifled sneeze. Amanda actually began allowing it to run freely over her hand, rather than cause herself more pain by wiping it. Already she was growing tired of stifling them, and the more she did so the more the tickle in her nose grew and grew. When they began to come so constantly that she could focus on nothing other than containing them, she finally gave in and let out as mild a fit as she could manage, flushing crimson as a modest proportion of the class turned towards the sound and a few blessings were whispered.

“Hatchhh! Heh-Chhh Ehh-Schhh Heschhh Ahhhh-Eschhhew! Ehs’shhhh Ahhh-Ah-Hatchh-HATSCHHH!

Between her overflowing nose and increasingly sprayful sneezes, it was not long before her hands, desk, notebook, and face were spattered with varying levels of thick spray. And as the class dragged on, her sneezing grew even harsher and wetter. At first she had returned to stifling them into relatively quiet “Hetchnngs!” and “Hesshnngks!” on the back of her growingly damp hands. While this did nothing to relieve her congestion, it prevented her from disrupting the class beyond a few seats around her. But before too long the tickle in her nose ceased to be at all relieved with these minor releases, and the ferocity with which it increased caused each stifled sneeze to simply evolve into two more. Eventually she had no choice but to let out another fit.

“Haah-Ahhh-Atshhhh Ahh-Atchhh Atschh ATSCHHHEW! Haaah-Tchhh Ehh-Tshhhh Hetsshhh Ahh-Hetshhhhh Hetshhhew Ah-Hetshhhew Ahhh-Ah-Aaatchhhhhew!”

Whether her face was flush from embarrassment or fever, Amanda couldn’t tell. With each tick of the clock, she felt sicker and sicker. Her chapped nose ran freely, her head drooped and vision blurred, her skin felt clammy and hot. And as she grew worse, her sneezing became worse. She could feel the force of them brewing not just in her nose but in her chest too, and whenever one too powerful to stifle emerged she was flung forward towards her desk. Their spray transformed over time from a thick mist to goopy explosions, and when the class finally ended Amanda lingered for a little extra time to wipe her desk down with torn pages from her notebook.

“Hetshhh! Hahh-Etshhhh! Etshhew! Hehh-Ehehh…Hetchhh-Etchhhh-Hetschhh Ahhh-Hetssshh!” Sneezing freely now, Amanda trudged through the rain back home; although she had another class later that day she knew she’d never make it through the whole thing. A burning fever had started up in her head with such intensity that she almost felt hot even in the cold rain. The cold wasn’t doing her actual physical symptoms any favors at all however, and as her body was wracked with more chills she was overcome by more sneezes. “Eh-Tshhh! Ahhh-Haah…Hessshhhew! Etshhh! Etshhhheww!”

Amanda was so overcome with her sneezing that she did not notice her feet had not taken her home, but had instead followed a parallel road that ended at the Miskatonic River, until she looked up and saw the nameless reed-covered islet that stood gloomily in its center straight ahead of her. She wondered at first how she’d gotten there, but then felt an invisible and reassuring force beckon to her from just beyond the tiny island, and for some reason was satisfied by this force. Slowly, she walked forward dazedly as if in a trance or fever-dream, ignoring the sneezing that still wracked her even as snot was dripping down her chin.

“Hetshhew! Hehhh-Tshhh! Etshh! Hetshhh! Ehhh-Etshhh! Esshew! Hehhh-Eh-Tchhh! Hetschhh!”

When she reached the water’s edge she tottered for a moment, then plunged straight in. Immediately, she felt a pleasant warmth wash over her. The river’s depths welcomed her as one of their own, and she felt the voice of the water already begin whispering its long-held secrets into her ear, urging her on to a ancient and secluded cove on the other end of the shunned island. With a feeling of vigor that erased any lingering hint of illness, the being formerly known as Amanda swam towards that invisible siren call, her tail propelling her effortlessly through the water.

[Curiosity234]

Dagon, Prince of the Depths o_O

Getting into some heavy stuff, now...

But, whatever you do, do not dare let your mind travel to those dark places beyond the stars; at the core of eternity where the One whose name no mortal dare speak aloud, the Daemon-sultan Azathoth, gnaws hungrily for all time...

[Quell]

I love this like crazy.

Distilled Lovecraft, with lots of mess. Hot.