Sacrifices Must Be Made
A strange scent pulled Marco from his dreams. It was a deep, rich tone that reminded him of wet earth. His eyes slowly opened and confusion set in. Where was he?
Looking around, the first thing he noticed was that he was on the floor of an unfamiliar, darkened room. An abundance of candles were lit around the perimeter as the only source of light. What he could see of the room itself was messy; piles of books and papers seemed to be crammed into every available space with no rhyme or reason. A curl of smoke wafted to the ceiling, and Marco followed its' path with his eyes down to a small, burning stick. That was the source of the smell; incense.
He tried to rub at his eyes, but realized he couldn't move his arms or legs. He looked towards one of his arms and saw what looked to be an iron manacle, originating from the floor. He struggled against his bindings, but found no give. Marco started to panic and began yelling for help. A door opened, and he was met with a figure clad in a long, black robe.
"Who are you?" The frightened teen asked.
Pulling the hood back, Marco was met with the sight of his friend, Janna Ordonia with a mischievous grin on her face. "'Sup Marco?"
Confusion gave way to annoyance. "Janna, what the heck?! Where am I? How did I get here? Let me up!"
"Oh, I put a sleep aid into your dinner last night which worked like a charm. You've been out for about twelve hours which gave me plenty of time to move you into the basement of my house. I wish I could let you up, but you are important to the ceremony." The raven-haired teen responded happily.
He quirked an eyebrow. "What ceremony?"
Producing an antique-looking, thick book from beneath her robes, she held it out for him to see. "Found this at a garage sale. The guy running it acted like he had never seen the book before and just told me to take it!" She opened it up and caressed the pages lovingly. "It's called 'The Necronomicon' by some guy named Abdul Alhazred. When I first picked it up, it just looked like gibberish. I tried selling it online, but couldn't find anyone who knew it."
"And this involves me how?" Marco questioned incredulously.
Janna rolled her eyes. "Ugh, you're so impatient! I was getting to that." She took a breath and continued. "So I keep looking at this book off and on for about a month, and then finally I figure out a word: Cthulhu."
"What's a whatever you just said?"
"Don't you know it's rude to interrupt people?"
"Heh, sorry." Marco looked apologetic and Janna continued.
"So, after I figure out that word, it's like whole sections of text are totally readable now! I start reading this, and it is crazy. All talk of aliens and Old Gods. Like, who could believe something so ridiculous?"
The boy attempted to shift his position with little success due to his bindings. "Sounds pretty out there to me."
"The problem here is that I start seeing things in my dreams, Marco. Huge monsters, bigger than I could even imagine. I started hearing whispers first in my dreams, and then it started happening when I was awake." She explained with an exhaustion she seemed to have been hiding.
"What do the whispers say?"
"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn." She recited automatically. "It means 'In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.'"
Marco started to feel uneasy at the revelation, but let Janna continue, unabated.
"I haven't slept much lately. I kept studying the book, trying to find an answer to get rid of the whispers and the nightmares. Then, it was like a new page appeared! One that talks about using the love of your life to summon Cthulhu."
"And I am?"
"The love of my life."
Then, Marco saw her produce a long, curved knife from her robes and felt panic in his chest.
"Sorry Marco, sacrifices must be made."
And with that, she plunged the knife down.