AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, in this chapter, you'll notice that the one time that Cecil speaks, it is italicized. This is because his voice is background sound. Just like Carlos's was in an earlier chapter, making his words italicized. I'll continue to do that in the future. Whenever I have a character speak and they aren't the one actively narrating, I'll italicize their words and explain who is speaking using these handy boxy parenthesis: [ ]. I hope that makes sense. If you are still reading, thank you for getting this far. You're awesome. OwO

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Tape 6: The Oracle

RECORDING . . .

-click-

[ -clearing throat- ]

Uh. Th-This is Carlos again.

Just thought I'd give you listeners another update. For the scientific record. Again.

Um. Cecil is. Um. Cecil is having some nightmares. They began at around 7:30 this morning. He's been...moving a lot. Shifting under his blankets. Kind of...mouthing words but not really speaking.

[ -Cecil's voice in background- ] Carlos...beautiful…

O-Oh. Um. Nevermind. He's talking. Cecil? Cecil, it's me, I'm right here.

Shhhhhhh. Shhhhhhhhhhh, you're fine. Cecil. Cecil, shhh, it's okay. I'm riiiiiiiight here. There we go. That's it…

No. Cecil. Stop. Stop thrashing. Cecil! Cecil, stop that. Cecil? Hey, hey, hey, you're okay. You're okay.

[ -audible thrashing- ]

CECIL!

[ -the sound of the recording device falling on the ground- ]

WHAT THE HELL-

Cecil. Cecil. Can you hear me?

[ -shaky voice- ]

Cecil, you're okay.

You're okay.

Shhhhhhhhhhh…

Shhhhhhhhhhh…

[ -quiet sobbing- ]

[ -static, followed by silence- ]

RECORDING CUTS OFF HERE TO NEW RECORDING

Night Vale, something is wrong with Cecil. His nightmares are...more severe than most.

He started muttering randomly about Night Vale. Old woman Josie. John Peters. You know, the farmer? And the house that does not exist. The one that seems like it exists, like it's just right there when you look at it, and it's between two identical houses, so it would make more sense for it to be there than not...but it does not exist. That house.

He also talked about fuzzy pants for some reason.

But then...well, he started thrashing and dark energy swirled around the room. It descended upon my living room in a dry fog and every square inch of the air prickled with electricity. My lights flickered and died out. My television sparked.

Listeners, I had predicted that something like this would happen. Besides, we are dealing with a massive, incomprehensible, potentially eternal and self replenishing energy source. It's bound to blow a few sockets.

I was hoping that an old fashioned cassette player would be a little more sturdy in the face of such strong waves of energy. You know what they say. Old stuff's built to last. These new companies just don't do it like they did it in the 50's. Or so I've been told. I hear good things about Strex Corp. but it's monopolistic tendencies make me uneasy.

Anyway. It seems my earlier recording cut off because of the overload of energy in the room. However, in retrospect, I'm lucky this old recorder is still working at all. I'm gonna have to keep this on 24/7 to catch anything that could be useful in the future of this experiment. You never know when something important will happen and be lost forever in the haze of human memory. I don't know about you, listeners, but I don't trust even my own mind when it comes to data collection. I rely on cold, hard facts based on clear evidence. One's own mind-no matter how sharp-will never be that trustworthy. Not mine, anyway.

I have my recording device working again. Obviously. You can hear me. I hope. Again, I'm not tech support.

After the recording you heard earlier cut out...well, uh, a voice that was not Cecil's came out of Cecil's mouth.

It said…

It said, "Do not. Endanger. The sanctity. Of the oracle. You will not. Be warned. Again."

[ -hesitant silence- ]

I panicked. I'm not proud of it, and as a scientist, I have had years of practice keeping my composure in the wake of even the strangest experiences. Especially since moving to Night Vale. But fucking hell, that thing had my boyfriend and I wasn't going to let it get away without action.

So I violently shook Cecil, as if hoping to shake the spirit-or whatever that was-out of him.

Cecil's eyes opened.

I thought, for a moment, for just a half of a shred of a God forsaken moment, that it was Cecil behind those eyes.

Purple eyes met mine.

Cecil's eyes are not purple.

And yet, purple eyes opened and the Cecil impostor rolled off the sofa, on top of me, shoving me to the ground and grasping my neck. Dark, purple tentacles formed out of the blackest black in the dense fog cloaking my room. The fog that, I realized, centered around Cecil.

The tentacles reached out and held me, pinning me to the ground.

"Do. Not. Endanger. The. Sanctity. Of. The. Oracle."

A sickly smile came upon Cecil's pale face. The black fog poured out of his mouth, as thick and black as demon's breath. "Or you shall live on into eternity, forever to bear the consequences."

That, Night Vale, is when I blacked out.

I woke up on the floor, an hour later. Cecil was back on the sofa, asleep, seemingly unaware that he had momentarily become a black-fog tentacled beast from hell.

Sooooooooo. That happened.

[ -whispers- ] I am not sure what it was, listeners. You know what…? Honestly, I don't think whispering will do me any good. Yeah. Why am I whispering? If that thing is as powerful as I hypothesize it is, there's little I can do to hide from it at this point.

Night Vale, I shudder thinking that I have kissed the lips of a monster.

And yet, I have to know that Cecil is not this shadow being. Cecil is a prisoner of a darker, larger force than he can even imagine. Cecil is a prisoner and he most likely doesn't even know it. Most likely, he can't know it. Not without my help.

Right?

I'm not dating the grotesque, beating heart of Night Vale. Some sentient fiend that pumps life into all of the impossible things that go on in this desert. I'm not dating an omnipotent and near-immortal beast from beyond the void.

Right?

[ -shaky voice- ]

I don't want to lose my boyfriend.

I don't want to be alone again- [ -rustling- ]

What was that?

Hello?

[ -gravelly voice whispers in the background- ] "Welcome…"

[ -static-] "to Night Vale…"

[ -static intensifies until recording cuts off- ]

END RECORDING. . .

-click-