The first place I visited after school is the Club Fort, where the Many Mysteries Club was. They had called me over the treehouse phone, saying that they had gotten something from another one of our allies, Jimmy O'James.
As it turns out, he's found the complete Eternal Slumber Incantation in the Dark Tome. But as I guessed, it's in that Lovecraftian language, so translating it will be near impossible.
But there's something else. Lucy found records about four missing children that mysteriously vanished on Halloween 200 years ago.
Recalling what I heard from Jimmy, about how Kanduu put four other souls in the other dummies, my stomach churned. Things had gotten dark fast.
Kanduu…had killed CHILDREN! All to give life to his uncle's creations! A life for a life…
Those souls must have been twisted and corrupted beyond recognition. I…feel so incredibly sorry for them.
It wasn't long until I learned the names of those children. Willard Woods, Waldo Johnson, Sam Goodman, and Gloria Lockard. And in their early years, Slappy and his four siblings caused terror as a family, creating a single army together. But as the dummies' evil grew, their pride did as well. They began fighting one another until Slappy remained as the dominant brother. He even went as far as to mind control his own siblings. They would break free from time to time, but their magic was nothing compared to his. They would submit once more before long.
I think back to Keith's words, then Maggie's. Apparently something awakened Slappy. This was the master of the Shadow God. If this was indeed Fear, who was the master of Darkwell, was he having a contingency plan? Slappy wasn't known for being a puppet.
I think back to the mythos of Lovecraft. The only thing I can come up with is the classic line. In his house of R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.
Wait, dreaming! That's it! If I can find a way to peer into Slappy's dreams, he may have answers! And there's only one person that knows dreaming like the back of his hand…
So, I retire early. As I lean back and go to sleep, I feel my mind being taken somewhere new. Yet somewhere…familiar.
I awaken in a vast blue astral plane. After a while, a spinning blue sand tornado comes into view, and it explodes in a magical poof. Before me, the Sleep Master lies.
"Well well well well well well well well well well well." He repeats, duplicating as the unpredictable being he is. "Aren't you a sight for sore eye!" He says, pointing to the eye on his chest.
With a snap of his fingers, he has us play a little game of dream chess and pours me some tea.
"So, it's been a while since you last summoned me. What gives, Sherlock?"
"Is it possible to peer into the dreams of others?" I ask, as we trade moves.
"What?! Hahaha, don't be silly! ANYTHING is possible in the Dream World! And I mean literally ANYTHING! But I should warn you, seeing the dreams of others CAN get really weird. You might see something you'll regret, but hey! That's why you wake up not remembering a thing!"
"Well, you remember how Slappy's trying to become a Dream Master like you. To do that, he has to destroy Lord Morphos, right? Well, I have a theory about who or what awakened him as of late. A former slave of his, Jimmy O'James, says that its name is-."
"WOAH! Woah woah woah woah woah, we don't say any of that great old stuff here. That's like the Super Ultra Nightmare Realm to end all Nightmare Realms! That guy equals total cosmic annihilation and pure universe KABOOM! He's exactly the reason why the court has formed!"
"Consisting of the Reality Police, the Starry Knights, and the Temporal Order. Protectors of Reality, Space, and Time."
"Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah, let's just cut to the chase, ok? So, you're looking for a way to finish a special incantation he doesn't want you to know. Well, I'm thinking that that full spell lies somewhere in that wooden noggin of his. But even HIS dark magic seems to be too much for me. Not even I can peer into his dreams! Buuuuuuut there's no way he can hide his memories!"
A clap of the hands sends us instantly to a room full of doors.
"Welp, here we are! These are the memories of every dreamer that's ever dreamt in this place! I narrowed it down to just the wood man's, cause I just go completely bonkers if I get lost in here. Hahahaha! Go ahead, Core! Pick a door, any door! I'm sure whatever you find won't be TOO bad."
"Yeah. I'll try not to, you know, go insane myself."
"Oh, uh, well, I, uh, oh, look at the time! Buh-bye!"
Another clap and poof. Gone. Wow, he must really be terrified of this Lovecraftian sorcerer.
I only head down the halls. Looks like the memories are labeled by the symbols on the door. One looks like his creation. Another when he humiliated Franz. And so many more, each focusing on a different case.
One door doesn't have a symbol. I tried opening it. Locked. This must be for a memory that has yet to happen.
Finally, I come across one with a menacing octopus-like face with tentacles and wings. And it looks dark green, even darker than all the others.
"Well…here goes."
With a swift motion, I open the door and begin inception…
…
He didn't say it. They always said it.
The dummy remained still. Watching as the stairs light up the stairs faded. The room shifted. And then…something began to happen.
There was some kind of…strange cosmic force seeping in from a green pentagram that was carving its way into the basement floor. And then…a tentacle began making its way out. The aura it was emitting was…chaotic. Surely if he was human, he would be screaming and laughing in fits of sheer insanity. But he was not. He couldn't even move. He was asleep. Slumbering until those words were said.
And then, a voice boomed like raging thunder, as if the universe itself was shaking. Yet, it was a voice only he could hear. The strange celestial being from beyond this dimension reached out once again…and spoke…
"KARRU…MARRI…ODONNA…LOMA…MOLONU…KARRANO…"
It kept booming like evil and chaos personified. The whole house began trembling in fear. Books fell off their shelves! The fireplace erupted in hellish demonic embers! A storm suddenly brewed like a massive interdimensional rift, green chaotic lightning striking! Had there been a soul in sight, they would surely die of fright!
"KARRU MARRI ODONNA LOMA MOLONU KARRANO!"
The house felt as if it were quaking. Green slimy ooze leaked from the basement walls as the dummies once again fell, the shelf breaking off the wall and falling! His brother fell on his head and face, but he? He fell into a sitting position. This could BOTH awaken them. But him…it was choosing HIM. As its puppet. As its tool. As its SLAVE.
"KARRU MARRI ODONNA LOMA MOLONU KARRANO!"
"KARRU MARRI ODONNA LOMA MOLONU KARRANO!"
"KARRU MARRI ODONNA LOMA MOLONU KARRANO!"
"KARRU MARRI ODONNA LOMA MOLONU KARRANO!"
"KARRU MARRI ODONNA LOMA MOLONU KARRANO!"
"KARRU MARRI ODONNA LOMA MOLONU KARRANO!"
"KARRU MARRI ODONNA LOMA MOLONU KARRANO!"
"KARRU MARRI ODONNA LOMA MOLONU KARRANO!"
And then, there was a loud eldritch scream as the entity laughed…
It stopped.
Everything went silent as death. The quakes, the fires, the slime, everything. All the horrors slumbered once again, as if daylight was shining.
Oh…how that was wished to be true.
Finally…after 30 years…after 30 long years…his eyes opened once more, glowing an ominous spectral green. It was enough to give someone goosebumps.
And soon…he would give EVERYONE in the world that feeling…
Suddenly, the world fell apart. As Slappy rose, he found himself in some kind of…chaotic dimension. As if space itself had been completely deformed and distorted.
"AWAKEN, MY CHILD. THE TIME HAS COME TO FULFILL YOUR PURPOSE."
"Where am I?!" Slappy asked. "Who the heck are you?!"
"AT THE MENTION OF MY TRUE NAME, THE BOOGEYMAN HIMSELF COWERS UNDER THE BED. THE THING THAT GOES BUMP IN THE NIGHT FLEES WHEN IT SENSES MY PRESENCE. AND MY WHISPERS DRIVE EVEN THE SANEST BEING…TO LUNACY."
It boomed throughout the void like thunder. Slappy turned and stared up. Infinitely upwards. If his mind was not already corrupted…it would be now.
The thing that towered above him…at first it was a massive blob of what the mind could only conceive as infinite flesh, infinite eyes, infinite maws, and far too much. Then, it took a more stable form. A massive black stone obelisk towered as a throne. And atop it…stood something even bigger than an entire multiverse.
A dark figure clad in robes. Its face had upon it infinite tentacles that hung like a beard, grasping at whatever it could find nearby. A powerful staff rippled and sparked with unstable energy as massive claws gripped the armrests of the throne.
"Woah! You even give ME the shivers!" Slappy said. "And that's not so easy for someone to do. And just what are you supposed to be? Some kind of giant space octopus wizard?"
"OCTOPUS?!"
The entire infinite void quaked at the sudden burst of anger. Slappy suddenly found himself hoisted up by a massive tentacle, lifting him up to stare the being dead in the eye, a sight that would drive any mortal man to madness in mere picoseconds.
"THE INSOLENCE! I AM A CELESTIAL BEING! ONE WHO ENDED THIS ENTIRE UNIVERSE THAT STANDS BEFORE YOU WITH JUST MY AWAKENING ALONE!"
"All that just from waking up? Must've been one heck of a yawn!"
"SILENCE, PUPPET! YOU WILL HEED MY COMMANDS. FOR I AM AZATHOTH, THE LORD OF ALL. BUT YOU CAN CALL ME…FIER."
"PUPPET?!" Slappy growled. "I am the master here! Who do you think you are to command ME?! You must be the real dummy here if you think you can just pull my strings! Once I become the Horror King, I'll show you a thing or two, you overgrown octopus!"
"ENOUGH! I AM THE ONE THAT ALL OF YOUR GODS BOW BEFORE. AND TRULY, DARKWELL MUST HAVE CREATED YOU SO WELL IF YOU CONTINUE TO TAUNT ME IN SUCH A MANNER. BUT KNOW THIS, SLAPPY. DO NOT FORGET WHO BROUGHT YOU INTO THIS WORLD ONCE AGAIN. OR I WILL BE THE ONE WHO SHALL TAKE YOU OUT OF IT…FOREVER."
That threat. He wouldn't!
"You're bluffing!" Slappy yelled. "Nothing you do can frighten me!"
Fear (or was it Fier?) was silent. And then…
"KALLAH MEEHA…ARUMAN KALUMAH…NOBA REEMUH… MARU ODONI MALLAH…."
"N-NO! WAIT! STOP!" Slappy begged. "O-Okay, I surrender! J-Just please, don't say it!"
The tentacle released him, and Slappy found himself flowing.
"GOOD. OBEDIENT. LIKE ALL PUPPETS SHOULD REMAIN. NOW…ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS FULFILL THIS TASK, AND YOU SHALL REMAIN AWAKE."
"What task?" He asked, his eyes darting around in nervousness.
"YOU WILL BECOME THE ULTIMATE. THE MONSTER THAT ALL MONSTERS FEAR. YOU WILL BE THE NIGHTMARE TO END ALL NIGHTMARES. AND YOU WILL HELP ME CONSUME THIS UNIVERSE IN COMPLETE MADNESS. AND THEN, YOU WILL DO THE SAME TO ALL UNIVERSES. ALL MULTIVERSES. ALL OMNIVERSES…"
"So, should I cause chaos all day, every day? Piece of poisonous cake!"
"HOWEVER…STEP OUT OF LINE AND REBEL AGAINST ME, AND YOU SHALL SLEEP AND AWAKE NEVER AGAIN…"
"Okay…" He whimpered.
"YOU WILL NOT FAIL ME AS OTHERS HAVE. I WILL HAVE MY SECOND HERALD ACT AS MY EYES AND EARS. HE WILL ALWAYS BE WATCHING, INFORMING ME OF EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE. THESE WILL BE STRINGS THAT WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO CUT. I EXPECT ONLY FEAR AND CHAOS TO BE LEFT IN YOUR WAKE, PUPPET."
It leaned in close, and Slappy was sure it would eat him alive. Instead, the endless abyss of its eyes glared into his own in a threatening manner.
"DO NOT FAIL ME…"
Suddenly, there was a scream of pure horror and agony as an eldritch abomination resembling Slappy jumpscared him! There were all sorts of maddening nightmarish images that flooded his mind, each filled with distorted laughs and screams and roars that flashed by faster and faster…
And then, Slappy woke up with a scream, panting heavily. His wooden head was aching. This was unbelievable! In all his time, he never had to serve anyone! How humiliating! First this Fear being threatened him with a nightmare of Jimmy reading that dreadful curse, and now he showed him another nightmare of their deal.
"You will regret this, you space kraken!" Slappy snarled. "I am not the puppet! I am the master! I WILL find a way to show this to you, and I will cut my strings and free myself from your grasp! There's only room for ONE King of Horror, and buddy, it sure isn't gonna go to some overgrown cosmic squid!
Suddenly, his vision flashed to show cosmic tentacles of madness and another Slappy right in front of him! Its eyes glowed green as it spoke in that dreadful tone.
"WE SHALL SEE, LIVING DUMMY." It said in a distorted version of his own voice, pointing a finger. "IF YOU INTEND TO DEFY ME, THEN IT WILL BE AMUSING TO SEE YOU TRY. LET US SEE HOW LONG YOU LAST UNTIL YOU BREAK."
"W-What?! N-NO! That's-! How are you doing that?!"
"I AM ALL-SEEING, AND ALL KNOWING. I HAVE EYES EVERYWHERE, SLAPPY. EVERYWHEEEEEEERE….."
A sudden flash of it lunging forward in another jumpscare fashion made Slappy scream before realizing that he was only seeing things. Fear was speaking through his own mind.
And he knew. He knew the entire words of that curse. And no way could he wipe the mind of a Great Old One. Let alone an Outer God.
Perhaps it was the only thing capable…of striking fear and madness into even the most evilest of beings. Should it ever be released into this dimension, this reality…
There would be nothing in all of existence that could EVER hope to stop it…
