The room was dark, all except for a shaft of light poking through the old newspapers that Carter had placed across the old, single-glazed glass. The beam of light fell upon where he knelt, his makeshift altar before him. The toothless tramp he had spent months searching for had, at his insistence, given him advice on the correct procedure regarding the invocation. Ordinarily, it was immaterial, but he wished only for the attention of the upper echelons of the Order. The tramp had merely smiled, a dark look in his eyes, before telling Carter what he desired to know.
The candles that lined from the altar to where he knelt were unlit & the floor they stood upon was strewn with the petals of various flowers, mostly exotic, expensive types. Upon the alter lay the heads of several doves, though he knew not why they were required. He had blanched & ultimately refused to debase himself by offering a jug of his excretions. Carter sought them, not for the eternity of pleasure & pain indivisible that so many desired, but for the knowledge & power that they had acquired in their limitless explorations.

Time had become meaningless in the small room where he knelt, the lacquered gold & black box before him. He had begun just after lunchtime, but what the time was now he could not say. No matter which way he twisted & turned it could he find a button or release mechanism. Then again, it was a puzzle box, it was meant to be difficult to solve. According to the titbits & scraps of rumour he had uncovered, it was an old kind, created by some Frenchmen more than two centuries prior. In the end, he hadn't particularly cared about the history, only what it offered.
Sweat travelled from the brow of his lank, dark hair & travelled between his eyebrows. Sliding toward the tip of his crooked nose, Carter felt it dangle from the edge. He did his best to ignore the tickling sensation. It was as the bead dropped upon the box that he felt, along one of the long lines of gold, it give-way with a satisfying click. Around him, he was vaguely aware of the walls creaking, as if some giant had clasped the room in it's huge hands & applied pressure all around him. Despite this, he pressed on with his ministrations. To stop now would break his concentration.
The button he had pressed had caused the golden circle on the top of the box to slide, slowly, upwards. Caressing the circumference of the protruding circle, it slowly descended once more, various clicks & clacks sounding from inside. It was then that he heard it, the faint, distant toll of a bell.
This time, Carter looked up, his eyes fixing on the alter. The light from the window had shifted & the colour changed. Instead of the weak white light of the mid-afternoon sun, it had taken on a faint blue tinge. Peering from the corner of his eyes, Carter saw dust-mites floating in the blueish light. All around him the bell tolled, growing louder with each peel.

Sliding part of the box up & rotating it, Carter pushed it firmly back down into it's new, star-like, position. It was then that a shock of electricity passed out of the box, onto his hand & up his arm. Though it had come as a surprise, he did not drop it. The pain & pleasure that it had passed into him had been expected, however, the musical notes which now emitted from inside was not. Placing the box on the ground gently, Carter clasped his hands together in his lap & tilted his head upwards, as if in supplication to the heavens. The bell echoed within the confines of the room as if it was directly above him & behind the walls. Closing his eyes, Carter could only just here the musical notes, picking up pace as a gentle, warm wind passed over him. Bringing a scent with it, Carter realised it was the sickly sweet smell of vanilla, though underneath there was another note, something abominable & wretched that made his stomach churn.
Around him & up to the altar, flames flickered to life on the wicks of the candles &, despite the increasing strength of the wind, they remained lit. As both wind & peeling bell reached their height, the crackle of electricity sounded around him & the wind waned to a gentle breeze. The tolling bell became distorted & the vanilla scent stronger. Among the now softening sounds was a ragged, rough breathing, as if whoever it was had trouble breathing in & out. Opening his eyes, Carter was both awestruck & horrified by the sight before him.

To his left stood a woman, her flesh so pale it verged on a deathly grey. Her head was devoid of hair, but what caught Carter's attention most was the scarification which had been made to her throat. The flesh had been sliced open, two strands of wire or metal pulling the flesh aside. In her hands were two, rusty hooks, which she scraped along one another. The expression on her face was of indifference.
To his right stood a bloated abomination, his eyes covered by what appeared to be welders goggles. Slowly, the corpulent monstrosity flicked his fat tongue from his mouth as he watched Carter.
In front of Carter stood a thing with perhaps the worst scarring of the three. His head appeared to be a lump of yellowy, disfigured flesh. His eyes appeared to have been knitted together & his lips were pulled back from his teeth in an awful grimace. Incessantly, his teeth chattered & clacked as he loomed over Carter.
All three wore what seemed to be black leather adornments in various styles. It was as Carter observed the chattering one before him that he noticed a fourth figure. He was standing behind the chattering one, observing the altar. He held aloft one of the doves heads, his face a mask of seeming boredom. It was as he dropped the dove's head back onto the table & stood near to the chattering one that Carter saw the extent of the last figures disfigurement.
The man, for surely that was what he was, had many pins & nails jammed into his face & head. If they caused him pain, he did not show it. Carter had to admit that there was something regal about this one. He was surely the other three's leader. What struck Carter most was the look of abject boredom on the leaders face, as if this was something he had done so many times that it no longer held any meaning nor interest.

The ragged breathing continued as all four watched him. Now that they had arrived, horror & awe had struck Carter so strongly that the words he was desperate to say would not come. Just as he found the strength, the leader spoke, his voice deep & distant.

"Carter." he said, his voice resounding in the small room. "You solved the puzzle & opened the door. Your desire called to us, beckoned us forth from across the Veil. Now, to our domain you must go, to the great Labyrinth, where you will partake of our pleasures, our pains."

"I seek-"

"We know what you seek." interrupted the leader with a wave of his hand, his face indifferent, his tone impatient. "The desire spills from you like blood from a fresh wound."

"No!" he shouted, almost surprising himself with the force of his voice. Attempting to stand up, Carter was knocked back onto his backside by the chattering one, a lazy sweep of his arm all it took to do so.
The leader's mask of boredom broke slightly at this. His face subtly, infinitesimally, acquired a questioning look.

"I don't seek pleasure or pain eternal, only power, knowledge! I want to join you, but not as some acolyte or apostle."

The subtle questioning glance of the leader was replaced with a look of indifference.

"Such arrogance, to make so bold a demand." he said. "The Lord of the Labyrinth will decide what your fate will be...if you accept."

In turn, he looked to the female & corpulent one, both their expressions unreadable. Stepping forward, the leader looked down upon Carter, his expression now as unfathomable as his fellows. The leaders dark eyes seemed to look through Carter as he spoke with an air of finality.

"There is no going back, once the choice is made, you will have that which you seek & much, much more."

As the leader of the quartet spoke, his face remained impassive, but the tone of his voice had changed from an almost dull indifference to one of amusement.

"Give it to me." said Carter, without hesitation.

Accompanied by a malicious smile, the leader waved his arm once more. As he did, laughing emanated from the chattering one & the bloated thing. So grotesque was their laughter that it sounded to Carter like demonic goblins, laughing & jeering at him before they went in for the kill. The female remained stoically indifferent, however.
The rattle of chains & a searing pain across his body brought Carter to the present. Looking at his right arm, he saw meat-hooks, of a kind similar to the two rusted ones the female carried, hooked into his skin. The pain struck again, this time in various places across his body as more & more hooks pierced his flesh & rent the muscle underneath.
Resisting the urge to scream, Carter grit his teeth & tried to endure, but the pain continued, growing in ever greater strength until the scream tore out of him & echoed around the small room. Just as his scream died, he heard the leader speak again as the tolling bell returned & a great wind enveloped them all.

"It's time to play."