The Old Man, the Old One, and the Sea.
By James J. Howard (July, 2015)
In the small seaport town, a man came to the shore along the boardwalk, stood atop a stool, and prepared to preach to the masses. He wore nothing more than a white shirt and black jeans, holding a ragged book in his hands, and began to speak as the crowd wandered past.
"Now has come the time" he began. "Now is the time for retribution and for delivering on an age old promise." The man's weathered face with bushy gray hair and a thin, gaunt body gave him the appearance of many of the other veterans of the sea.
"We must repent our sins before our lord returns, he has favored us with much, and now we must prepare his arrival." His lips trembled as he spoke, but his eyes shone clear. Even in the bright sun-filled daylight you could see his cold steel blue eyes from a distance.
Some of the crowd gave a passive look as the small fragile figure began to bellow, but most continued on to enjoy the fresh spring day. It was early April and the seaside began to buzz with tourist, as the shops opened their doors for lunch crowds and souvenir seekers. The water was calm and a gentle warm breeze blew from the ocean to the sand.
"He has watched over us for a millennium" the man continued. "We owe everything to our lord, he is our master, and we must pay penance to the all mighty before it is too late." The man's face seemed desperate, a look of both exhaustion and trepidation as he spoke.
Slowly, the crowd gathered around the man, some out of curiosity, others out for pure entertainment. "Look out, look at the sea, at the hills, at the trees, none of this would exist if he had not allowed it, we only live because of his charity."
The throng of on lookers grew.
He had captivated them enough that no one noticed the slight change in the weather. The bright spring day had grown overcast, and a chill had begun to blow in off the sea, which now turned and foamed at the seashore.
"The time is drawing closer, we must accept him, we must repent for the sins we have committed. Not sins of flesh and of anger, but sins of ignorance and of forgetting. We have failed him, he who was so gracious, and gave us so much. We have failed him by forgetting his name, by not honoring him as we have many false gods that have come after"
Finally a voice rang up from the crowd "I am with you brother", cracked and almost laughing, "Preach it from the mountain!" then "Praise the lord!" another voice said in a mocking tone.
In the back of the crowd, a small girl pointed towards the water as clouds gathered in a darkened swirl above the on lookers. She tugged at the pant leg of her mother, who was casually chatting with another woman about the poor old man. "Mama, Mama, look!" the little girl exclaimed, but her words became lost among the chatter.
"He is the one of the Great Old Ones, he has lived for time immortal, and now he has returned", said the old man. With this the gathering of on lookers turned more and more to him, their ridicule rising with each word.
"Crazy old bat, lay off the sauce, it's not even noon yet!"
Slowly the old man raised the ragged book above his head and shouted into the sky, "I beg of you, join me now, lest we all perish together!"
As the crowd followed his hands skyward, many finally become aware of what was happening around them. The sea was now boiling, and its spray fell as a steady rain upon the crowd. Some began to back away, while others only became captivated by the scene developing past the shoreline.
The old man continued to speak, but his words became lost in the moment. Something was in the water, and it was steadily coming towards the shore. First it appeared as only a dark image below the surface of the water, and then slowly a shape began to rise through the churning current.
"What is that?" a voice called from the crowd, "Is it a whale?"
Twenty yards off the shore line, the shape rose and towered above the seaport. The shape looked like no more than a giant black shadow against the now dark gray sky. Then suddenly the air filled with a crackling shriek, like lightning and thunder all at once.
This sound sent a jolt through the crowd that snapped them out of their trance-like state. They began to run in all directions away from the shore.
The old man yelled towards the fleeing masses "He is here, I warned you, and the time has come!"
He turned and face towards the sea at last, looking up into the face of his god.
Tentacles hung down a dragon like head and wings flapped out from behind the monstrous vision of terror. Giants clawed hands hung down by its side, and it raised its head in another deafening cry.
He smiled and opened his arms as to embrace the entity coming towards him, "Cthulhu, I serve you."