Chapter Five. The Aftermath.
The street outside the ruins of the house of the Black Lotus was filled with the customers evacuated from the opium den. Paxton was questioning Burgess and McCallany about Liu T'sing's whereabouts, the old fellow was nowhere to be seen. As I made my way, The Black Mews seemed almost warm and inviting after the insane alien terror we had experienced at the House of The Black Lotus. I now felt I could happily walk alone through this district, unarmed, at midnight on All Hallows Eve without any fear whatsoever after battling and defeating the abominable R'yloth K'than Shuggarath, the profane things I had witnessed and the unspeakable cosmic terror I now possess the knowledge of.
My final mission consumed my thoughts as I continued through London,the final piece of the monstrosity, which as Wyatt had informed me still lived, must be destroyed. As I approached I beheld a large crowd in the street outside Wyatt's surgery. I identified myself as a colleague and friend of Dr. Wyatt to one of the constables, who was standing guard outside the premises, and he informed me that my colleague's surgery had been ransacked and Wyatt murdered. The constable observed that Dr. Wyatt had probably been murdered by addicts who had broken into the surgery seeking drugs. I had to see if the jar containing the cutting from St. Etienne's diseased torso was still there. At that moment I had an intense feeling of being observed and turned to behold none other than Liu T'sing standing at the back of the crowd, I recognised him immediately although he no longer appeared elderly. His back had straightened, his stooped gait was gone, and he now appeared strong and youthful. As I watched, Liu T'sing removed his dark glasses to reveal totally black eyes and my blood turned to ice in my veins, Liu T'sing was an unsuspected thirteenth K'than Shoggothi. The creature favoured me with a cruel smile before turning and disappearing amongst the crowd. I tried to force my way through the crowd and give pursuit but suddenly everything went black and I knew no more.
I regained consciousness the next day to find myself in a hospital bed. Paxton and Barnsley were in attendance, and according to Paxton I had experienced a breakdown outside Wyatt's burgled surgery, screaming and raving that Liu T'sing must be stopped or the world would be doomed. On the hideous events at the House of the Black Lotus, Paxton informed me that the case was now closed. The official verdict was that a pagan Chinese cult had been abducting people and feeding them to a giant Asian python. These constrictor snakes, he explained, grew to great size and had been known to ingest alligators, and there had even been a report of one swallowing a peasant farmer whole. "Damn it man, you saw the beast you know it was no python." I replied, "You know the K'than were no natural Chinese men, they were creatures of no human provenance." Paxton allowed that this was indeed true, but he explained, if he had included these details in his official report his superiors would have thought him mad and he would have been committed to the Bedlam Asylum for Lunatics.
"What about the matter of Liu T'sing? He has everything required to again resurrect the abomination." I enquired of Paxton. "I am unconvinced Finch that you actually saw Liu T'sing, and even if he didn't perish in the fire the old fellow's got to be over ninety years old, what threat could he possibly pose?" With that Paxton and Barnsley rose and after wishing me a speedy recovery they walked to the door of my room. Paxton paused on the threshold and turned back to me as he spoke, "The doctors believe you suffered a nervous turn related to your recent bereavement. But if you persist in trying to convince the authorities of what really transpired at the House of the Black Lotus doctor Finch, I'm afraid you will only succeed at becoming an inmate of the Bedlam asylum yourself."
In a few days I was discharged from London Hospital and returned home. The first night home I was unable to sleep, the events of the last month replayed continuously in my mind and I sought the oblivion of an alcoholic stupor.
The aftermath of these terrifying events has left me mentally ravaged, the memories, the sights I beheld, the knowledge of humanity's true place in a cold, uncaring universe along with the deaths of those closest to me, have frayed my sanity irreparably. The night terrors I am unable to endure, and I must dose myself regularly with morphine, opium or laudanum to prevent my sleep being riven by hideous nightmares of the vast interstellar void and the obscene monstrosities that inhabit it. I have become dependent on the derivatives of the poppy to obliterate the dark visions that threaten the last vestiges of remaining sanity. My wife and unborn child, my brother and my old friend are dead, my medical practice gone, I have nothing left but the knowledge of unendurable cosmic terror, that we are less than vermin to the Elder Gods. My supplies of the drugs are nearly gone, and now that I have chronicled the events that I was an unwilling participant in, I fear my only release will be in death.
I heeded Paxton's warning that it would be futile to try and warn the authorities of the true events that transpired at the House of the Black Lotus, and of the continuing threat to our earthly existence posed by Liu T'sing. Taking heed of Friederich Nietzsche's words of wisdom, "That which doesn't kill you can only make you stronger." I have cleansed my body of its reliance on the opiates that helped me maintain a slender grasp on my eroded sanity, and I now have a definite sense of purpose. To track down Liu T'sing and destroy it, the K'than K'shaloth Ssaiyang, and prevent it's diseased "God" from ever being resurrected on earth again. I would seek revenge for the lives of my wife, my unborn child, my brother and my old friend. Liu T'sing deliberately taunted me by revealing "himself" at the end, it didn't have to, and if it hadn't I would have believed we had successfully defeated R'yloth K'than Shuggarath and its inhuman disciples. I have long pondered on the reason Liu T'sing revealed itself to me, but no satisfactory explanation ever presented itself. I have concluded that as Liu T'sing is not human, it is impossible to understand its alien reasoning process.
THE END?