It Came from Beneath the Sea
Story by Nex_Canis on SoFurry
A sort of writing exercise to get back into writing after a bit of a hiatus and a little experiment as well. I've never really written anything Lovecraftian and I'm not an expert when it comes to horror - not to mention horror and smut rarely mix - so trying my hand in this.
A father and his two sons visit their old beach house only to find something dwelling nearby that calls to them, calls to a primal urge within them that will change their lives.
Enjoy!
It Came from Beneath the Sea
Foreword
Do not stare into the One Lidless Eye.
Do not tempt He Who Slumbers Awake.
Do not approach the throne of the Lord of the Blind Watchers.
Do not wake the King on the Throne of Eyes.
Do not try to understand the Futuretaker.
May Krthillid forever remain slumbering.
May he never wake to usher the end.
May he dream our reality for eternity.
May Nyzd’Okumyr protect us all.
- Prayer against Krthillid the One Lidless Eye
From the Primolibrus
Chapter 1
Text Transcript from J. Brassard and K. Brassard
K: What’s this I hear about you taking the boys up to the beach house?
J: I don’t know where you heard that from but yes. I’m taking the boys up there this weekend.
K: Can you even afford to take them? One of the reasons I’m divorcing you is because you’re such a mooch.
J: Kate, you have no right to talk. I don’t know why my personal finances are even your concern.
K: I’m just saying that between the divorce, keeping up with the house and paying for Theo’s college, I don’t see how you can even afford to maintain the beach house. Just sell it, hun.
J: I see what this is. You want to use it this weekend, don’t you?
K: We both know I’m going to get it in the settlement anyway. I don’t want to have to spend money scrubbing the place down because you got all your sick germs on it.
J: First of all, we aren’t settling. We’re bringing the divorce to court and I have it on good authority that you will lose this case. Secondly, I’m in remission. Thirdly, you can’t catch cancer from someone else!
K: You go thinking that. I’m hiring the best lawyers there is. You’re a neglectful, selfish husband who didn’t have the decency to die and spent all our savings on prolonging his own miserable life instead of leaving something for me and the kids.
J: You know what, Kate? You’re right. We’re not going to go up to the beach house this weekend.
K: Finally you see reason. Why couldn’t you have been this considerate when we were together?
J: We’re staying there for the whole goddamn week. Goodbye.
<<Number blocked>>
******
Seb
Grey sands stretched from one horizon to the other. A bashful sun poked its golden bands from between the clouds, taunting the few beach goers with the potential for warmth before ducking back between the perpetual cloud cover in this northwestern coast miles away from Seattle. A lone lifeguard station that looked more haunted than actually populated stood like a silent sentry in the middle of the small beach enclosed by towering sheer cliffs, pelted by harsh surf and with the only route onto the beach itself being a single dirt road cutting through dense forests from a car park a good fifteen-minute hike away.
No one else was on Pargrove Beach. Few actually new it existed and those that did rarely came down to what had been described as ‘America’s Northwestern Frown’. The crescent shaped beach was dreary, dark and almost perpetually caught in an overcast. A lone lighthouse was perched on the northern cliff acting as the single landmark that could prompt the stray traveler to veer away from the interstate and follow the road down to the loose collection of beach houses nestled amongst the trees and cliffs that overlooked the beach.
Sebastian Brassard wiggled his toes into the cold, gray sand. Memories of years gone by came flooding back when his family would make the four-hour drive from Seattle to their double-story ‘summer home’ when class was out. Like the tail end of a rollercoaster, the initial high that came with nostalgia came crashing back down to a slow, depressing descent. He had been too young to really notice it back then but those trips were tainted by the strain of his mother and father, Katherine and Julian Brassard, struggling to maintain their marriage. It became evident when he had gone to college and subsequently dropped out to pursue a tradesman’s craft that they were really only staying together for the sake of their two sons. When both he and his younger brother, Theodore, had finally come to the age of understanding what marital problems were, those trips stopped happening and the hatred started bubbling to the surface.
Ghosts of his past scurried before him; phantom images of his 12-year-old-self building sandcastles with his 9-year-old brother while his dad took pictures. His mom was off to the side, lying down on the beach trying to tan and making loud, exaggerated sighs every time she had to move because the sun vanished behind thick, gray clouds. There was the one time they had gone up to the lighthouse to get pictures and his dad came up with them, holding up each of the boys so they could be as all high as possible, encouraging them that they could each ‘touch the sky’. The moment would be broken by the screeching of Kate from the bottom of the lighthouse, loudly complaining about the filthy surroundings while the lighthouse keeper was right there.
Perhaps the crumbling marriage would have continued at least until after Theo graduated from college but then their 54-year-old father was diagnosed with late-stage prostate cancer. Seb’s hand went to his chest, his heart momentarily seizing up against his modest pectoral as an emotional film reel of the doctor giving him the news played before his mind’s eye. Kate hadn’t been there. She was off getting her hair done. Theo had taken time out of his busy schedule to drive their father to get the exam and Seb had come in at the tail end of the session after he had finished his shift as a garbage man. Those pectorals came from hauling trash all day.
A billion thoughts went through his mind when Doctor Ramon had told them that the test results had come back and his dad was likely not going to see the end of the year. He mentally kicked himself when he immediately suggested they should go to the beach house one last time. Theo had almost punched him there and then.
Thankfully, his dad was a fighter through and through. Though it had been expensive, Julian Brassard had defied all expectations and was now in remission. It was a long journey and the first thing Julian had suggested the moment he got the all-clear was that they go to the beach house. Probably for the best as divorce proceedings were well on their way and they needed to get out of the city and as far away from that ugliness as much as possible.
A small smile touched his quaint, rosy lips; ‘a weak, man’s lips’ his mother used to say. That comment had actually led to him growing out the full beard that clung to his cheeks and matched perfectly with his full head of curly, brown hair; hair that he regretted he had inherited from ‘that bitch of a whore’ as his dad so colorfully put it. Theo was the one that inherited their dad’s hair - short, straight and spiky with a pronounced Widow’s Peak. Seb got Julian’s bright, hazel eyes while Theo got their mother’s muddy brown ones. Amazing how genetics worked.
Seb checked the expensive Rolex watch Julian had given him for his ‘graduation’. Though he had never graduated college, his dad still bought him the Rolex on the year he would have graduated. Kate called it a waste of money and, more than once, insisted that Seb hand it over to her so she could sell it. This was despite the fact Seb had a well-paying job and was really the only one working now that his dad had been out of the workforce for a while. Theo’s part-time job paid for college and Kate never worked a day in her life. It astounded him how they had even managed to afford a beach house on a single man’s income.
What bitterness he held for his gold-digging mother vanished and was replaced by the warmth and pride he took in his father’s accomplishments. His eyes went back to the ghosts of his former self, running across the beach laughing with childish glee as they played that familiar game of ‘chicken’ against the waves. Even when Theo tripped and fell into the sand, he would always go back and pull his little brother out of before the saltwater caught up with them or they would both get wet.
Years seemed to pass before his very eyes as the 12-year-old him became a teenager and the two Brassard brothers would start swimming out into the ocean, his dad always keeping a watchful eye while his mother was off somewhere else. Funnily enough, he recalled how, as time went on, they would drift further and further to the southern cliff side. The north had the lighthouse but the south was this bland, gray wall that really had no discerning features.
They never quite made it to the shore itself as they had stopped coming to the beach house after the crushing news of their dad’s cancer four years ago. Now, at twenty-five-years-old, it seemed like an opportune time to reach that imaginary finish line.
Seb, barefoot, strode down the gray beach, enjoying the moments when the sand turned from prickly cold to soft, warm clouds where the sun kissed it. That contrast between hot and cold was always so pleasing to him. It matched the myriad of interests that often flooded through his mind. Kate always complained that he lacked focus, that he had ADHD or ADD or whatever the new condition was. As much as she complained, she often used it to tout to her friends and elicit pity from her friends.
‘My son has ADD, that’s why he’s a garbage man.’
Like those two had any correlation. Seb chose to be a local garbage man so he could work closer to his dad in case something happened while Theo was off at college. Yes, he had dropped out of college after bouncing from major to major and while his dad was recovering, he took up multiple hobbies that he used to make money beyond his job but that had nothing to do with a medical condition.
Brushing aside his hatred for his mother, Seb maturely reasoned that to Katherine, she was probably justified and considered herself the victim. All blame could not be put on her and he was likely focusing only on the negatives especially after one of the reasons she gave for the divorce was that Julian was being ‘neglectful’ of her and spent all their money on his treatment.
“He had cancer,” Seb growled in his husky, gravelly voice. It was a recent development in his voice after shouting constantly at work. He often had to raise his voice over the roar of the engine after he was done throwing the trash into the back of the truck.
The sand turned warm and scant rays of the sun bore down on him.
“But you had your needs,” he reasoned. “You were used to a certain lifestyle and everyone deals with change differently. I took care of dad. Theo took up that part time job so dad could focus all his expenses on treatment without worrying about his college. You…”
His feet touched the cold, gray sand that had gone too long without the sun’s kiss.
“… you went to your sister’s, bitched about us on social media and then filed for divorce the moment dad was in remission. Divorcing a dying man would’ve been too expensive and you would’ve gotten your share if he had died. But now that he lived…”
Back in the sun’s good graces.
“… and thank God for that. Dad has always been a fighter.”
But that beacon of light was short-lived as the cold winds blew clouds of the single source of warmth again.
“And you bet your ass he’s gonna fight your fucking shitty lawyer so he gets every-fucking-thing and you get shit.”
The shadow of the cliffside cast a near-permanent gray over the beach, souring Seb’s already bitter mood. It took a concerted effort to brush aside that malice and focus on the resurfacing child-like wonder of the south-side cliffs. Forcing the emotions paled the effect, however, as he came to realize that the sandstone wall from the south was as much the same as the north. The waves battered it just the same, the sun hit it in familiar ways to bring out the same colors and it felt exactly the same against his fingers.
His eyes roved the cliff as he strode parallel along the cliff wall, his hand following the rough ridges as he approached the shoreline. Before his mind could slip back to the bitterness that was his familial affairs, he noticed something odd at the very edge of the cliff side.
A little past where the waves reached the shore, the cliff broke to form what appeared to be a little stone arch. The cliff continued a little further past the waters but it looked like the waves had eroded a ‘softer’ section of the cliff over years and eventually caused it collapse. This gave the appearance of a strangely near-perfect arch that led to the other side of the beach beyond the cliffs. Having alway assumed that the rocky walls acted as the natural barriers of the beach, Seb approached the rocky ruins of the cliff and peered past the arch to see what lay beyond.
Half-expecting just more water and sheer rocks, he was pleasantly surprised when he found a narrow strip of gray sand permanently in the shadow of the nearby rock formations and a cave nestled away from the sun. It seemed that the sea was more than eager to eat further into the American coastline as he found what appeared to be a stream of water flowing out of the opening to meet the salty seas; likely some sort of underground river meeting the ocean. Geology had been one of his fleeing interests back when he had attended college and this fascinated him.
The mystery of this new opening that hadn’t been there when he was a child drew him closer and that child-like wonder was reignited. Curiosity was stemmed, however, when he felt a sharp jab at the sole of his foot. He gasped, hobbled on one foot and staggered a few steps back. Debris from when the cliff had collapsed littered the shore and some of those rocks were still very sharp. Crossing that arch would be dangerous barefoot. Even the sneakers he wore here would be too much trouble.
A good thing he had packed his heavy-duty work boots. Exploring the cave would also not be wise without some decent gear like a flashlight. Daylight was also fading even though it was always hard to tell this far north.
“First thing tomorrow,” he concluded. “I’m going to see what’s in there.”
Smiling with his blood filled with excitement, Seb turned around and half-hobbled, half-skipped back towards his car, memories of his childhood warming his heart that even the chill of the fading sunlight couldn’t dampen his spirits.
Chapter 2
Text Transcript from D. Agnostio and T. Brassard
D: Hey hun, I heard you were taking two weeks off. Everything good?
T: Yeah, you don’t have to worry, babe. I’m just taking dad up to the beach house in Pargrove.
D: Oh fuck!
D: It didn’t come back did it?
D: This isn’t like a last holiday or some shit?
T: Dude! No!
T: It’s just about that time of year. You know we used to go up there as kids around this time of year. We missed out the past few years because of the Big C so it felt right.
T: Besides, we needed to get away from the Queen Bitch for a bit. Put as much distance between us and her. Don’t think it’s really helping dad any.
D: Oh. Okay. That’s good, hun. Was worried there for a second, partner. Give your old man a big hug for me, okay? Tell him I’ll get him a bottle of his favorite whiskey when he gets back.
T: Thanks, Dean. I’ll call you when I can but reception up here is shit. I miss you already.
D: Yeah. I know. I miss you too, Teddy.
******
Theo
Theodore Brassard had not always liked their Pargrove property. His affection for it fluctuated as he grew older. Before he became a teenager, he always looked forward to going to the beach house every year. It was like a mid-year Christmas to him. Electronics were sparse on the property and the family effectively became ‘unplugged’ for a week or two during summer break. As he grew older and he became more dependent on the internet, those two weeks became insufferable. Being out of touch with the network for a day let alone a whole week was basically social suicide. He wasn’t sure how his older brother, Sebastian, ever managed. Then again, Seb was a social chameleon; he could make friends wherever he went.
Now, in his college years, Theo grew to appreciate the beach house again especially since it brought back memories of simpler times when his dad wasn’t recovering from cancer. Times when he was blissfully unaware of his parents’ strained marriage and his concerns could be simplified into what was popular and what was not. Simpler days of black and white were a distant memory and some part of him wanted to go back to that sort of life especially when relationships and futures were involved.
Internal conflict seemed to plague Theo throughout his life. His mother had always treated him as the ‘golden child’ and had pampered him but as he grew older, he realized how he was becoming more and more like her. When he saw just how self-centered she was, he found it incredibly hard to look himself in the mirror and stand proud of what he had become. Doubtless she would disprove of his lifestyle as well. College was where he truly ‘found himself’ and the reflection staring back at him was a thirsty, twinky kid who loved to suck cock and get a good dicking. His boyfriend, Dean, was more than happy to oblige. Katherine Brassard would either turn his sexuality to her advantage; either parading him around like a rainbow flag at Pride or condoning him with tired, old rhetoric straight out of a religious conservative’s handbook. One of the other reasons that he found himself conflicted with how he felt about her and wishing for simpler days.
But being back here in the Pargrove beach house forced him to simplify his life. No colors in between black and white. No constantly hiding his social media presence to avoid any indication of his sexuality and certainly no need to hide the lewd pictures that Dean sent him in the middle of class. The couple had agreed to enter radio silence save for a daily call for the two weeks he was up here so that he could focus on his dad.
For his part, Julian Brassard was full of life and apart from his frail appearance. Never one to just sit around and play the part of a 55-year-old man, Jules - as he liked to be called - was out at the front of the house chopping some wood. They had a nice, cozy fireplace in the house that truly gave the little two storey home with a view of the coast a rustic feeling. Neither Theo nor Seb could ever keep that man down and that was what Theo really loved and admired about his dad.
The knife in his hand came down on the carrots in front of him, preparing the beef stew with chive and cheddar dumplings that his mother used to make - probably the only thing Seb and Jules could truly agree they appreciated about Katherine. What little light there was came in from the windows in the kitchen, the relatively new window-frames having been installed by Jules about a year before his diagnosis. The entire beach house was renovated by Jules over the course of their ownership. The Brassard patriarch would always spend some time out of his busy schedule to come up to the property at least a few weeks before the family was due to come up so that he could add some little renovation.
This very house was a testament to Julian Brassard’s fighting spirit.
Theo threw in the vegetables that he had prepared into the beef stock and fished out the roasted beef bones. The stew would need time to reduce before it was ready which gave him time to himself. He lowered the heat and moved towards the quaint, warm family room where he fished out his tablet and opened the book he had been reading. Entitled ‘Appel de la Mer’, it was a harrowing story about a sailor that utterly enjoyed his life out at sea but struggled with maintaining a life with his wife and child and the conflicting emotions he had about his fellow seamen. Yes, it was a gay novel with sexual encounters often being cut off before the next section begin to leave much to the imagination. He still had to be careful around his dad and older brother. Seb was fairly open-minded but he was a man’s man, a hard-working blue-collar man of the earth. For his dad, the shock of having a gay son probably wasn’t the best thing to drop on him so soon after recovering.
For now, Theo just wanted to keep his sexuality hidden at least until the divorce was finalized. Dean always encouraged him not to hide his sexuality and he wanted to be proud of who he was. This just wasn’t the time to be popping boners while his dad and brother were in close quarters.
It didn’t help that Seb basically had the build of their dad back when he was younger and was the exact kind of guy that Theo would’ve loved to have bend him over and plough him from dawn till dusk. As shameful as it was, there were some parts of him that fantasized about going out to this remote place, finding something out of place and then having to hire a gruff handyman to fix it only to pay for those services with sweat and sex.
Brushing aside such thoughts, Theo’s brown eyes raced across the electronic pages of his book, plunging himself into the world of sexually charged and confused seamen. Three pages later, he broke away from the book and peered past the rim of his glasses to make sure Jules was still outside and chopping wood. That frail form whose receding hairline was just starting to grow back in after months of chemotherapy was still at it, his leathery, tanned skin covered in sweat as he lifted that axe and brought it crashing back down onto the logs.
Theo allowed himself a soft smile before going back to his book. Ten pages later, he got up from the couch and returned to the kitchen. He navigated around the rose granite countertops to the gas-powered stove top where he had the pastel blue Dutch Oven currently containing his stew. He popped open the lid, gave the mixture a quick stir to make sure nothing was stuck to the bottom and then placed the lid securely back on top. It was back to reading for ten more pages.
The rough rumble of Seb’s truck tore him from the fantasy of being out at sea just as things were getting steamy in his mind. His older brother spent a few moments speaking to their dad outside before he came back in.
“Take off your shoes,” warned Theo. “Don’t track sand in here.”
His older brother’s gruff and throaty laugh was the precursor to a light-hearted slap on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, little dude. I hit the beach barefoot.”
Peering past his glasses, he gave his brother a tired stare. “Uh-huh. If you mess up the place with sand, you’re sweeping it out.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Seb grunted, heading for the stairs. “Oh hey, did you know that a part of the southern cliff collapsed?”
That brought his attention back away from his book. “What? Really?”
“Yeah. There’s this sort of cool ‘arch’ now and there’s a cave on the other end. I was going to go explore it tomorrow when it’s brighter. Did you want to come with?”
Surprised that this place would change so drastically in the seven or so years since they had last visited, curiosity bubbled up in Theo’s chest. Pargrove rarely saw any new beach house or any new renovations. In the twenty or so years they had been visiting it, perhaps two new homes had sprung up. Nothing else new had changed and he hadn’t expected something as drastic as part of the cliff collapsing.
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I don’t want to leave dad alone in case something happens.”
“Bullshit,” came the sharp admonition that brought him back to his youth. Jules Brassard stormed in, sweat stains drenching his armpits and his face red with exertion. “You don’t need to babysit me like an incontinent, blabbering moron. I can take care of myself!”
Theo was halfway out of his seat when he said, “But Dad, the doctors said -”
“I know what they said,” barked Jules, marching proudly and strongly over to the nearby sofa - the same recliner he always had - and sad down with a huff. “If I was stupid enough to ignore professionals, I would be fixing the roof right now.”
There was absolutely nothing wrong with the roof. Jules just liked to be doing something instead of sitting around relaxing and recovering like he should be. One of the nurses back in the hospital often joked that Jules would often be seen in the pediatrics ward playing with the kids whenever he wasn’t undergoing treatment.
“Then what will you be doing tomorrow?” asked Theo. “Did you want to come with us?”
“Don’t know about that,” warned Seb. “It doesn’t look like they’ve cleared out any of the rubble. There are still some pretty big and sharp rocks there. You’ve got to bring some pretty heavy shoes.” He jerked his chin at Theo. “You can borrow mine, little bro.”
“And you think I can’t make it?” Jules challenged, halfway rising out of his recliner.
The two brothers exchanged glances then looked back to their father. In unison, they announced, “No.”
“No offense, dad,” Seb said. “You’re fresh out of the hospital and a big scare. The last thing I want is to have to explain to the doctors that you died from slipping on a rock and cracking your skull open.”
“And I just bet Kate would love to see you dead so she can contest your will,” warned Theo. “You know she’s going to claim the adjustments you made to cut her out were because you were drugged up in the hospital and out of your mind, right?”
There was that lawyer training kicking in. Find a weakness and exploit it. Fighting in court was as much knowing your own client as well as it was knowing your opposition.
With a growl, Jules sat back down and crossed his arms defiantly. “That bitch can try. I’m not going to give her the satisfaction of seeing me die and taking everything from me. I’ll fight her with my very last breath and she’s going to have to wait until I’m fucking 150 before she sees a penny from me.”
Theo tried not to smile at the conclusion.
“Why don’t you go visit the lighthouse?” he suggested. “Old Man Kulkain would probably be glad to see you. Hasn’t seen you in five years, after all.”
Jules’ mood immediately brightened and he wagged a finger at Theo. “You know what? I just might!”
“No alcohol!” Theo warned, knowing that grin for what it was; his dad planning to get drunk. He got up and started heading back to the kitchen to check on the stew. “Did you want us to drop you off or…?”
“The lighthouse isn’t that far away from here. I can damn-well use the walk.”
It was about a mile and a half; maybe an hour’s worth of walking. Thankfully, the path there was well-paved and not at all dangerous especially in the middle of the day.
“Okay. We’ll come pick you up after we’re done down at the beach.”
“I can walk back!”
There was a fire in Julian Brassard that would never go out and in its presence, Theo felt energized and thrilled. The thought of cancer nearly taking away his dad became distant as he was reminded of just how much life and light his dad still had.
With a smile, he returned to the kitchen to add the finishing touches to dinner.
Chapter 3
Extract from the Seattle Times
On Tuesday, a small section of Pargrove Beach’s (WA) southern cliff collapsed. Experts claim this is due to natural erosion over years of waves battering the sandstone cliffs. This event has formed an aesthetically pleasing archway that some are already dubbing the view to be a ‘Gateway to the Sea’. A large amount of debris has fallen on the beach itself and visitors are advised to stay away from the site until officials are able to clear out the large rocks and secure the site and ensure no further parts of the cliffside will collapse.
Beyond the arch is a previously inaccessible cave that has drawn the attention of some cave explorers. Previously, the sheer cliffs, harsh current and positioning of the cave made it dangerous for the average beach goer to access the cave but now that the Gateway to the Sea has opened, anyone visiting the little-known Pargrove Beach can now explore the cave once officials give the green light.
Pargrove Beach is a short 4 hour drive from Seattle and sparsely populated.
Posted 4 years ago. 150 views. 2 Likes.
******
Jules
Death was everywhere. Julian Brassard always knew this especially since he had always been involved in manual labor where the likelihood of death was always very high. First was when he first enlisted in the navy and served in a submarine. Nothing like floating around in the middle of the ocean with a thin sheet of metal separating you from the crushing pressure of the Pacific Ocean to really remind you that death was just one mistake away from claiming your short life. Moving to construction didn’t help much. OHSA training always reminded those that could sit through it that death was just one careless act, one stupid idiot and one corner cut from snuffing out a life.
Jules had never been brazen with death. He respected death, knew that it was just a part of life, but he always made sure that he did everything he could to keep the bastard at arm’s length. Even when death decided to change the rules and throw a deadly disease at him that he couldn’t avoid, he still fought tooth and nail to keep his soul from being claimed. Though he lost over forty pounds, most of his hair and a lot of his money, he was still clung to the flickering flames of his life.
“Even an ember can become a forest fire given time,” he told himself as he strode proudly down the path towards the Pargrove Lighthouse. Though it annoyed him that he had to take two ten minute breaks before getting to the little cliff where the Lighthouse was positioned, he was getting stronger with each passing day.
Drenched in sweat from the exertion, the cool, salty breeze of the ocean rapidly cooled him and sent a chill through his body. The small wheeled cooler he pulled behind him squeaked as it jerked and jumped on the gravel road towards the red and white spire that could arguably be Pargrove Beach’s only true landmark - barring the gray, drab beach itself.
He had to chuckle to himself as he recalled the first time he had told his then-girlfriend Katherine that he had a beach house. She had been so excited to see it, hoping to see a sort of sunny escape from the normally dreary Washington State. Some blame could be put on the thirty-something Jules as he was trying to get her undressed and suffering from severe nesting instincts. He had come right out of the navy, worked long and hard in construction and had paid off his house. The beach house he had gotten at a steal simply because it was so rundown and located so far from anywhere else that no one really wanted it. He had long figured that he would renovate it until it livable and could be sold at a profit.
Jules stopped at the front door of the lighthouse and turned to look back wistfully up the path that led to that very same beach house. It wasn’t long that he had married Katherine and they had their first child. When Theo came along, they had made it a tradition to come to the beach house every summer.
‘Might as well make use of the place especially if we’re paying for it,’ Katherine had harped.
She didn’t actually pay for anything. They had all lived on his dime. Pride welled in his chest knowing that he had somehow managed to raise two strong boys and feed a gold-digging wife for so long. Frivolous lawsuit aside, Katherine provided her own value as a cautionary tale on what not to become to his boys. No parenting was needed on his side either. She just showed her side as time went on and her boys were smart enough to recognize a toxic influence when they saw one.
“If only I was so smart,” Jules sighed to himself.
Turning towards the lighthouse, he lifted his fist towards the dark green door with peeling paint. No sooner had he done so did the doorknob jingle and it swung open.
Ernest Kulkain’s ragged, weathered features greeted him though he was vastly different from when he had last seen the old lighthouse keeper. Aged when Jules had made his acquaintance nearly thirty years ago, Ernest always sported a long, ragged beard and wispy hair. Being isolated in the lone lighthouse for months on end often caused one to set aside personal hygiene. Never one to have the best of postures, Ernest had been standing without difficulty seven years ago. Now, however, he was hunched forward, a very distinct hump on his back. A dirty, dark green raincoat was draped over his back, highlighting that hump.
“Ernest?” Jules greeted. “Earnest Kulkain.”
The old man’s bright blue eyes were still as sharp as ever as they darted all over Jules. One eye narrowed in suspicion. “Jules? Jules Brassard?”
Beaming at being recognized, Jules said, “How are you, you son-of-a-gun? It’s been ages!”
Ernest’s craggy features didn’t change even as he grunted a reply. “You look like shit.”
“Cancer,” he answered dismissively. “In remission now.”
The lighthouse keeper nodded looking away momentarily. “Good.” He muttered something afterward that Jules couldn’t make out. “Good,” he added loudly. Then he began to close the door.
“Wait,” Jules said, placing a hand on the door. “It’s been years. I thought I at least owed you a drink.”
The keeper’s eyes widened for a moment before blinking in confusion. “A drink?”
Fearing that the poor man’s mind might be fading with age, Jules said gently, “You remember? Every year I’d take my family over here. I’d come over and we’d drink a few as we caught up? I figured I owed you at least seven years’ worth of drinks.”
Those sharp eyes drifted away and again, Ernest began muttered under his breath. This time, Jules leaned a little forward to pick up the words.
“No. No. Mustn’t let anyone in. No. But yes. Drink is good. Yes.” With a loud grunt and a peculiar twist of his head from one side to the other, Ernest stepped aside and allowed Jules to enter. “Come. Drink. Only one though.”
“Just as well,” he laughed softly. “My sons would kill me if I had more than one.”
They would kill him if they learned he’d taken a cooler of beer and drank anything at all. Especially Theo. His youngest took all the good qualities of Kate and all of his ambition to combine it into a whirlwind of keen attention to detail and ferocity. Seb got both his extroverted nature and Kate’s social graces making him a likable man who could make friends with anyone.
The moment he stepped into the lighthouse, he was hit with the most offensive smell that had him reeling back and physically hesitating to step further. Far from rancid, it was best described as having the weight of a very humid day mixed with body odor and the saltiness of the seas. In fact, it stirred memories of his days within the submarine in close quarters within his crew mates after one of them had spent the night jerking off and the aroma clung to the sheets. He couldn’t fault Ernest from being lonely and had to commend the guy for being able to jerk his meat at such an advanced age.
“So what have you been up to, Ernest?” he asked, lingering by the door to let some of the odor out. Ernest was already making his way up the spiraling staircase to the second floor.
“Keeping the lighthouse,” came the gruff, blunt response. “Keeping watch. Always keeping watch.”
Jules took another five second before he closed the door behind him and then followed his friend up, trying to take as short breaths as possible to keep his nose from being offended by the smell. “Uh-huh. You been taking care of yourself, pal?”
“Trying my best.”
“Yeah. I hear that.” Jules let out a soft laugh as he ran his fingers over his scalp which was just starting to get prickly again from his hair growing back. Even should his silver mane return, it would never be as good as it once was given his receding hairline. He had toyed with the idea of keeping it shaved and certainly it would help his case in court to prove to the judge that he had, indeed, suffered from cancer and it wasn’t just an excuse to spurge his money as his soon-to-be-ex-wife alleged.
Climbing the steps up to the second floor was exhausting and left him out of breath. Dragging the cooler up the steps didn’t help matters. Perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to call the boys for a trip back to the house. A kitchen and a small dining table fit for perhaps four people at most sat on the second floor. Strange as it was, the smell was stronger here and Jules had to fight not to gag. He took up one of the seats as Ernest sat opposite to him. Now that he got a good look at the lighthouse keeper, worry built inside him as that hunch actually made him look quite a bit bigger. Having first had experience with cancer, he was fearful his friend might have a tumor but decided not to make that his opening salvo.
Instead, he reached into the cooler, pick up to bottles of beer that he had bought on the way here and handed one to Ernest. He cracked the cap off on the edge of the table and allowed the bittersweet smell and taste to wash away the familiar smell of a used jockstrap from his nose. Ernest grasped the cap with his left hand, gave it a twist and set the cap down. Strange given the keeper was right-handed.
Peering down the bottle, Jules noted that Ernest’s right arm was hanging by his side, unmoving and unused.
“Is everything alright, Ernest?” he asked.
“Fine,” grunted the keeper, gulping down some of the beer. “Never better.”
“You sure?” he asked, gesturing at the man’s arm. “Did something happen to your arm…?”
The old man flinched and held his other hand, beer and all, towards the limp limb. For a second, there was a flash of fear in the ancient keeper’s eyes before those eyes relaxed. “Lost my arm a few years back. Bad storm came. Couldn’t save it.”
That kind of trauma at his age could not have been good for his psychological health. “I’m sorry.”
“It happened. I got better. Got help.” Ernest gave him an earnest grin. The flash of those white teeth was strangely… unsettling especially against those craggy features. Thankfully, the sight was blocked by another drink from both men. “Where is your family?”
Jules huffed softly, curling one arm around his severely reduced chest. “My wife… is back in the city. She’s divorcing me.”
“Why?” There was a distinct lack of sympathy from Ernest’s voice and the question came so fast that there couldn’t have been time to muster up any concern. It was a blunt, matter-of-fact question.
“Cancer,” he said, pointing at his head. “I got it and fought it. Spent a lot so I’d be standing here. She thought I was being selfish. Theo thinks she was hoping I’d die so she could inherit all my money. When I changed my will to give everything to the boys, she threw a fit and began divorce proceedings.”
There was a slight frown on Jules’ lips. “Should you be here? Won’t she come looking for you?”
“She knows where I am,” he scoffed. “She can be damn sure that I’m not giving her a cent. I built that damn house! She’s not getting anything from me.”
“Flaunting your ownership over her,” grunted Ernest. “Foolish. Malicious. Pointless.”
Jules sighed softly and leaned into the rickety wooden chair. “I know. It’s totally stupid but I needed to get away from her. This place reminds me of better times. Thought I might as well relive some of that before it gets nasty.”
Ernest set down the empty bottle, surprising Jules with how quickly the man had guzzled his drink. “Always nasty. Humans will always be nasty to one another if they can get something from it. Predatory. Opportunistic. In the end, all of it is meaningless.”
Here was a man reaching the end of his life and clearly not having faith in any hereafter. Jules could not help but pity him. For as long as he had known Ernest, the lighthouse keeper had no family to speak of and purposefully took the keeper gig for the entirety of the summer to avoid socializing. No one wanted anything from him and he wanted nothing from anyone else except perhaps the bare minimum to live. Most lighthouses in the US were automated and Ernest should only really be taking 4-hour shifts with two others to make sure the facility is maintained. However, Pargrove was so remote that no one else could really be bothered to take the drive up.
So Ernest stayed. Alone. With only the tides and seabirds for support.
“I don’t know about that,” Jules said with a soft smile. “I have my boys. At the very least, I can do what I can to make their lives better before I pass on.”
Ernest’s piercing blue eyes shot back towards him, momentarily catching him off-guard with just how attentive they were. “Where are they?”
Jules laughed softly as he took another sip from his drink. “Down by the beach. Seb noticed that part of the south cliff had collapsed. Said there was a cave past this ‘arch’. They’re exploring it.” He laughed softly, shaking his head at the thought while bringing his bottle back towards his lips. “They’re back to being boys, exploring and making imaginary adventures.”
“The cave,” rumbled Ernest, his voice rising slightly to an almost childish sound as he let out a giggle. “Yes. They will like the cave. I’m sure.”
“You’ve heard of it?”
Of course he had. Ernest was probably the only permanent resident in all of Pargrove. When that cliff collapsed, he was probably the first one to explore it. Anything to break up the monotony of this boring existence.
“Yes,” said the keeper with that same, unnerving, toothy grin. “Was the first to see it. Called to me. Drew me in.” Those brilliant blue eyes grew distant, unfocused even as that wide smile remained. “Beyond that arch was a gaping maw of a beast yawning while it slept. The sheer unbridled force to knock down a wall that had stood for millennia was but fleck, an annoyance while it dreamed, knocked down in one of the breaths it takes every epoch. It slumbers and yet it cast its gaze upon me.” Ernest’s eyes refocused upon Jules, that smile unwavering. “It saw me. And I saw it. A force strong and triumphant. Greater than nature. Greater than any one of us. A titan amongst the cosmos slumbering beneath our very feet! And it saw me!”
The bottle of beer hovered tepidly an inch away from Jules’ lips. This burst of eloquence was bizarre but he quickly shrugged it off as the fading mind of someone who had spent his years isolated from the rest of mankind. “Sounds like you met God,” he laughed.
Ernest’s cold, clammy hand lashed out, seizing Jules’ wrist before he could tip the bottle towards his lips. With trembling words, the lighthouse keeper fiercely said, “God can be understood. The Cast Down King cannot.”
Jules pulled his wrist away from the keeper, shaken by just how strong the old man was… or how weak he had become. “Right. I’m… I’m going to go.” Downing the last of his beer, he got up and backed away from the man he used to know. “You keep the rest of the beer.” His eyes darted towards the cooler as Ernest’s fierce stare intensified upon him, twin blue beacons that were quickly focusing into searing lasers. “And the cooler,” he added quickly before taking the first step down the spiraling staircase.
The lighthouse keeper didn’t move. That stare and that grin just following him as he slowly backed away. He never once showed his back to Ernest and kept it that way until he was halfway up the driveway. Only then did he momentarily tear his gaze away to fish out his phone and dial for Theo.
“Dad?”
“Yeah, hey. I may have overestimated my own strength coming down to the lighthouse. Can you pick me up?”
“Y - Yeah. We’ll be up shortly. Stay there.”
The image of Ernest’s grinning features burned into his brain, Jules just nodded. His eyes never left the green door of the lighthouse. There was a nagging sensation in the back of his neck, the hairs there standing on end. Somehow, he just knew Ernest was still sitting at his little breakfast table, staring at him, somehow tracking him through the concrete walls of the lighthouse.
“Yeah. I’m not going anywhere.”
Chapter 4
Audio Transcript from K. Brassard and N. Kale
K: It’s been five days. Where are we at?
N: Kate, as I’ve mentioned time and again, this process takes time. We’ve got our preliminary hearing already scheduled in two months. All we can do is gather what evidence we can and wait.
K: That bastard could kick the bucket in two months! If that happens, then we’d have to change our argument to contest his will and I am not paying you double for that!
N: He just came out of remission, Kate.
K: You don’t know him like I do. He’s selfish, careless and oozing with toxic masculinity. He won’t sit still and he’s going to get himself killed! Do you know how hard it is to live with the idea that this moron could do something stupid and end up plunging you and your family into financial hardship!?
N: Good. Use that. Find evidence of that kind of callousness. Solid evidence. Not just testimony. Then, in two months, we’ll be ready and you can get your divorce.
K: Can’t we push it up sooner? He’s got my sons at the beach house for two weeks! You should’ve seen him, Norman. He was basically a skeleton. What if he blacks out or seizes up while on the four-hour drive? He could kill my boys!
N: Your sons are adults and from what I can tell, they’re very responsible and have a good head on their shoulders. I’m sure they won’t let your husband drive for very long. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have other clients to work with.
K: Don’t you hang up on -
<<Call ended>>
*******
Theo
It was a strange feeling seeing the wall that had once been a natural barrier for the beach partially collapsed. Theo could not help but draw parallels. The cliff had fallen and now his father’s marriage was crumbling. Mankind always had a penchant for seeking meaning and purpose in a higher power and while Theo considered himself to be a logical and scientific academic, he still couldn’t shake the feeling the appearance of this arch was somewhat symbolic.
Armed with thick shoes and a flashlight each, both he and his brother navigated over around the massive boulders that had once been part of the cliff. The arch formed from the event was large, perhaps thirty yards across and maybe twice as tall. As he drew closer to it, he became aware how deep it was as well. Each step he took filled him with awe and this unshakable feeling that he was passing through a gateway or willingly entering the maw of a gargantuan predator. The rocks at the base of the arch were savage teeth ready to gnash him to a paste and the cave was the gullet leading into the belly of the beast.
He could not deny that there was a thrill and a sense of exhilaration that drew him in and as he navigated past the debris to the cold sand of the beach beyond, his heart was pumping so hard in his chest that he couldn’t hear the surf over the pounding of his own blood in his ears.
Being the more athletic of them, Seb marched forward and waited for him at the mouth of the cave. The sand quickly turned into a rocky platform at the opening. Water rushed out of the middle of this dais, leaking gently into the ocean. Waves rose up, crashed against the coppery stone, lapping against the marbled surface before immediately retreating back into the salty seas. The roar of the ocean echoing against the wide walls was a loud inhalation of a sleeping titan and hollow wail of winds, its slumbering moans. Stubborn stalactites jutted out from the ceiling, stone fingers reaching for the ground while their counterparts, the squat stalagmites, climbed in defiance to gravity. These spires of nature’s industry spoke of the age of this cavern but also of their reverence to the quiet, shallow and wide stream that cut through the middle of the cave, tumbling down its gentle slope to greet the ocean.
“There must be some sort of underground waterway leading to this place,” Seb shouted, his voice echoing within the cave. “Probably some underground lake or something.” He waved at the spires around him. “Rainfall would come down, collect somewhere upstream and eventually make its way through here. Probably formed ages ago.”
“Funny that no one else ever really explored this cave,” Theo commented, gingerly stepping up to the mouth of the cave.
“It was out of reach for a while.” Seb glanced over his shoulder at the narrow stretch of beach that led to this opening. “Probably couldn’t get very many people to rappel down here. It’s way too far.”
“Not like there’s a lot of people that even know this place exists,” he added. Lifting his flashlight, he cast it into the cave. The device wasn’t very strong. It was really designed to provide illumination when the power went out in the beach house not exploring caves. The dull illumination couldn’t reach the absolute back of the cavern. A sense of unease crawled up his skin, uneasy prickles creeping up his forearms like someone was slowly dragging a thin blade up his flesh to scrape off all the dead skin. The light revealed rows upon rows of stalactites and stalagmites creeping every forward into the darkness bringing to mind images of leeches and lampreys.
“We should go,” Theo suggested, turning back to the safety of Pargrove Beach.
“Come on,” groaned Seb. “We’ve been up and down this beach. This is the first new thing we’ve seen in a while. We have to go in. Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“Back in a time before I was reminded of my mortality thanks to dad’s brush with cancer.” It was a low blow, a searing sting that immediately curbed every bit of enthusiasm that Seb had mustered up to that point. A bitter taste touched Theo’s tongue and he immediately raised a hand in apology. “Sorry. Sorry. I’m being melancholy.”
“No idea what that means,” Seb lied. He knew what ‘melancholy’ meant. He wasn’t stupid. He just liked letting Theo think he was the smart one.
“Just go,” sighed Theo, appreciating his brother’s self-depreciating jest. “I’ll wait out here. Scream like a pussy if you need help.”
A brilliant grin flashed across Seb’s features before he turned and entered the cave, lifting a middle finger over his shoulder to salute Theo as he departed. Bravado aside, Theo kept his flashlight trained on his older brother, watching him disappear into the darkness of the cave. With the stalagmites forming a sort of natural barricade on either side of the lone stream, Seb had to stick close to the slick shores of the wide river.
Theo held his breath when Seb’s broad back was embraced by darkness. He perked his ears, listening for the tell-tale, wet-slapping of his brother’s work boots landing on the slick, stone surface of the cave. The sounds grew fainter and fainter, drowned quickly by the ocean’s waves and he found himself inching closer and closer into the cave just to strain to hear. His lungs began to burn and he took a gasping breath of salty air.
“You okay back there?” shouted Seb.
Theo sighed softly to himself at the sound of his brother. “Yeah! Just got splashed a little. Anything interesting in there?”
“Just a whole lot of cave! It’s pretty damn dark in… Whoa!”
Panic shot through his chest. “Seb? You okay?”
“Yeah! I just found the source of the water and… it’s weird, dude. Come on over.”
“I don’t -” At that moment, his phone rang and he glanced towards the pocket of his shorts. “Hang on,” he said, checking the screen. “Dad is calling.”
As it turns out, Jules was done with his visit to the lighthouse keeper and needed a pickup. With a sigh, he told his father that they would be over as soon as they could and hung up.
“Seb,” he shouted, striding into the cave. “Dad needs a pickup. We have to go back.”
“Yeah yeah. Just come here and see this.”
Not wanting to leave his recovering father out in the cold, Theo hurried into the cave, briskly walking through the ankle-deep river until he once again saw Seb’s silhouette in the darkness. His brother stood at the base of what appeared to be a sort of natural raised dais that came up to about nipple high. At the top of said dais was a perfectly circular pool of water. The river came from a slight opening in the dais that allowed the contents of the bowl to spill out at a steady rate and down into the ocean.
“That’s…” Theo began, “… peculiar.”
“I’ll say,” his brother replied. “Never seen anything like this before. You?”
He indicated a negative and strode further, climbing the sloping edges of the fountain to stand on the lip of the basin. Seb came up a moment later. The pool was about twenty feet across and perfectly circular as far as he could tell. Despite the slope where the water could pool out, the surface was perfectly still and almost perfectly reflective. The mirror-like-surface absorbed all sound in its eerie stillness. The ocean was a distant memory, the howling wind vanishing into the darkness that even their flashlights could not penetrate.
Theo looked straight down into the pool, curious and rather amazed by how he could sort of make out his reflection in the waters. A quick glance at Seb and he could tell his brother was equally fascinated. Seb even knelt down onto his knees and leaned a little closer to the waters, eyes squinting to make out the shadowy silhouette in the waters. Following his brother’s lead and set his flashlight down, leaning closer to the fascinating waters.
Though the water was undisturbed, he still couldn’t quite make out his reflection. There were distortions in the glass-like surface. Murky images that made him look frazzled with the edges poorly defined. Tilting his head left and right didn’t help. On a hunch, he reached back and switch off his flashlight.
“Turn off your light,” he told Seb.
“Yeah, yeah,” mumbled his older brother and with a click, they were plunged into total darkness.
A few minutes was required for their eyes to adjust but slowly, the pool came into focus again. Strangely, he could make it out clearer now. In fact, his reflection was coming perfectly into focus; the edges becoming more defined; his eyes glowing through the murk. Success filled him with pride and tugged at the edges of his lips. Vibrations of giddiness rippled through his body. Seb’s little, almost girlish giggle went unnoticed as he stared into the pool; stared into the eye of the world, of something much greater than him.
An eye that stared back with a sleepy disinterest from a force of nature that had the power to knock down an entire segment of a cliff side, carve out this cave and craft a magnificent altar to its own glory. Whatever formed this wonder of nature wanted the world to see its grandeur. Too long had it waited to be recognized for its works, for what it was, and now it was finally getting the worship that it deserved.
“You be you,” Theo whispered softly. “So brave. To stand atop the world and shout ‘this is me’.” He gently traced a line alone the rim of the pool. “If only I could be as brave.”
His mind finally caught up with his body and he realized that he had uttered those words aloud in the presence of his brother. But Seb was entranced in his own thoughts, peering into the pool with the same giddy grin that Theo realized he was wearing. It took an incredible amount of will to pull the corners of his lips back down and remind himself that they needed to pick up their dad. Lead weights seemed to cling to his arms as he reached up and gently shook Seb’s shoulders. His brother blinked a few times before turning towards him. He could swear there was a tear forming in his eyes.
“We need to go pick up dad,” Theo insisted, his throat strangely dry. “He… uhm… He needs us.”
Seb blinked a few times, that solitary tear slipping away from his cheek before he nodded. “Y - Yeah. Okay.”
The moment Theo began to rise, he his muscles screamed in agony. His calves burned and he gasped, almost slipping into the pool itself. Seb caught him and helped him to his feet. Blood began rushing into his legs once more, bringing a grimace from his lips as that awful prickling sensation gnawed at his limbs. With one arm around his brother’s shoulders, he staggered back out of the cave. Roars of waves soon met his ears and his senses began to return like he was waking up from a long dream. The light from an afternoon sun bore down on his skin, reminding him what it was like to be outside of that cave.
“How long were we in there…?” Seb asked.
Theo reached for his pocket, searching for his phone. As he did so, he brushed against a somewhat unwelcome growth - his erect cock. Fire began to burn against his cheeks as he quickly fished out his phone and checked the time. There were dozens of missed calls and messages from his dad. It was nearly three in the afternoon. Jules had called them around eleven. Nearly four hours had passed.
“Holy shit,” he gasped. “We’ve got to get going!” He shuffled off Seb and hurried him back down the beach. “I’ll give dad a call. Hurry up.”
“Fuck,” his elder brother cursed, energy and life returning to his features. “You hurry too! Watch your step.”
Theo gave his father a quick call, reassuring him that they were on their way and they had just gotten a little lost in the cave. They were now on their way. Jules was glad to finally be in contact again and was already part-way to calling the police. Not that anyone would even really be able to help given Pargrove was so isolated. Theo reassured his father and crossed the boundary of debris separating him from the cave and the rest of Pargrove. He couldn’t help but turn back around and glance at the cave, that dark maw that seemed to swallow everything; even time.
The young college student had to spare a thought for the mysterious locale… and the raging boner that it gave him that refused to go down.
“What the fuck…?” he whispered to himself.
Chapter 5
Email from ernest.kulkain@xmail.org to rfairview.mayor@wamail.gov
Dear Mr. Mayor,
You may not know me but my name is Ernest Kulkain. I currently reside in the lighthouse in a little known beach known as Pargrove Beach. I know most lighthouses are automated these days but I actually own this lighthouse. I bought the property years ago and treat it as my home. Just letting you know before any questions arise.
The reason for my email is to inform you that a large section of the southern cliff of Pargrove Beach has actually fallen and there is some dangerous debris littering the area. While Pargrove is not a particularly popular beach, there are a few families that occasionally make a trip up here and some permanent residents. I fear that they may injure themselves particularly with the allure of the recently accessible cave.
You may not have been mayor when this happened but you may recall that about a decade ago, some adventurous youths actually tried to explore the cave. As I recall, they took a boat, worked around the cliff and entered the cave. They were reported missing and their bodies never found. Their boat was recovered but nothing else. This was kept quiet save for local reports but this is not common knowledge to visitors or the seasonal families that holiday here.
Thus, I implore you, please invest in erecting safety measure to keep people away from that cave.
It is not safe.
Sincerely,
Ernest Kulkain.
******
Seb
The entire drive back to beach house had left Sebastian with this gnawing feeling in his stomach like someone had just taken an entire bite out of his guts and sewn him back up. A swirling void was left that filled him both with confusion and an odd anticipation to go back to the cave and the mysterious pool contained within. A fitting simile was the first time he had ever had a crush on someone; those butterflies filled with teenage angst and nerves flitting about his stomach while images of her sweet scent, her dazzling beauty and heartwarming laugh interposed themselves over every thought in his addled brain. He even had a raging hard on that refused to go down despite the half-hour hike back to the car followed by another half-hour of picking up their father and bringing them back to the beach house.
In his twenty-five years of existence, he had never had a boner last for so long and he couldn’t understand why. It took all of what mental power he could muster to dig deep and recall the various tactics he had employed to hide his erection through both middle and high school. Thankfully, the shorts he wore were baggy enough that he could subtly adjust himself to keep it from being too noticeable. Interrogation from their father on what took them so long had to be carefully navigated and he made sure to use a lot of hand gestures to draw attention to the top of his body instead of his crotch.
It was an easy topic to avoid. The moment he began talking about the mysterious pool, he couldn’t stop. Occasionally, Theo would interject with his own observations.
“Breathtaking,” he continued as they stepped out of the truck and onto the porch. “When we switched off our flashlights, it was like it was just us and the basin. Weirdly quiet. Couldn’t even hear the ocean or the wind inside.”
“It was kind of creepy,” added Theo. “I kind of felt like we were going into a monster’s throat and we were just waiting to be digested.”
Seb gently punched his brother, taking a little bit of offense to being contradicted. “Aw come on, little bro. It wasn’t that scary. We’ve been everyone on this beach! Nothing could surprise us.”
“And yet there was that cave.”
Seb rolled his eyes as he opened the door, making sure to angle himself in such a way that to wooden frame hid his crotch. “Don’t deny it. You enjoyed it. I saw you grinning like an idiot when you were looking at that pool.”
For a second, Theo gazed off into the distance, turning his head to gaze back in the direction of the beach. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “It really wasn’t bad, I guess. It was weirdly… comfortable in there. Like no one else existence was there. Just me and that goddamn reflection.”
Theo’s right hand absently went to his crotch. For someone who taking pains to avoid bringing attention to his own erection, Seb was acutely aware of his littler brother’s attempts to do the same. His lips peeled apart in a knowing grin, the kind of smile one would shoot an unsuspecting freshman just as they were about to be pranked. Theo was blissfully unaware and just shook his head before entering the house. Their frail father sighed in exasperation and muttered something about ‘day dreams’ before hobbling in after his youngest.
Seb’s grin remained until his aching cock begged for attention. Reminded of his own needs, he entered the beach house, locking the door behind him and then loudly announcing that he was going to take a shower. The trek there and the exploration of the cave wasn’t that strenuous. His job required a modicum of physical labor and he went to the gym four times a week so he hadn’t been exhausted or sweaty by the time he had visited the reflective pool. It was the mad dash back to their car that had gotten his heart racing. Mixed with the odor of dried seawater and he smelled like an old sailor that hadn’t seen land in months.
Theo said he would get started on dinner while their dad decided to retire to the master bedroom which was on the first floor until dinner. Privacy was assured especially over the roar of the shower. Practically taking the stairs two steps at a time, Seb bolted up to the second floor. The large common area which served as a theater brought back wholesome memories. When they were younger, Jules would make sure to taken videos of their entire trip and, at the end of their holiday, they would spend the last night cementing their memories with a recap of all the fun they had. Jules always made an effort to include Katie. In retrospect, it was never flattering. Just thinking about ti boiled Seb’s blood and drew attention away from his erection.
Unwilling to taint the high he had from that reflective pool, he pushed those memories aside and headed to the bathroom that was shared by the two bedrooms on the upper floor. Granules of sand tumbled into the tiles of the bathroom as he pulled off his shirt and shorts, tossing them idly aside and revealing his lean, fit body with a rather dense matte of chest hair over his sizeable pectorals. A modest, engorged 7 inch member throbbed for attention. He couldn’t ignore it’s call for very much longer and hurriedly turned on the shower.
The agonizing few seconds before the water began to steam lasted an eternity. A steady stream of precum was pouring out of his cock and painting the glass door of the shower stall. He was still in the prime of his life and could proudly say that he was sexually active. Every Friday he’d visit a bar with his buddies at work and they would either hit up a girl or fantasize about one. He’d be jacking it at least once every day and though he hadn’t yet had an opportunity to ‘relieve’ himself today, he had never been so hard before that it was causing him physical agony not to be touching his throbbing cock and jerk it.
Seb almost threw the glass doors right off its hinges as he jumped into the shower. His skin was completely hypersensitive to the point that the gentle pellets of water that peppered him fired off his nerves and nearly overloaded his entire brain. Fires of passion and pleasure roiled all over his flesh, goosebumps rising off his tawny flesh. If the hairs on his body could stand on end against the weight of the water, they would have looked like he had been electrocuted. The fit, hairy young man was practically convulsing in place, his green eyes rolled into the back of his head, a choking, gasping sound emerging from between his half-open lips.
Without any instruction on his part whatsoever, his large, hairy hand went towards his crotch, grasping the pole that was his pulsating member. His body body acted of its own accord and began sliding his hand up and down his engorged member, thrusting at a phantom in on front of him with enough force that there were moments when his heels left the ground and he was standing on the tips of his toes, his back arched in unbridled pleasure.
Bump-Bump.
He gripped the shower head above him for support as he thrust and pumped with almost fanatical fervor. For a second, his mind wondered what had got him so aroused, what stirred his loins. A rush of chemicals fresh from the violently arousing sensations of his cock quickly drowned out those thoughts and left him swimming in a cocktail of empty bliss; a sea of darkness where they were only pure, abject pleasure and he was the single beacon of light that was hastily being absorbed into the all-consuming, electrifying void.
Bump-Bump.
A deep throbbing pulsated throughout his entire body. It was slower and more rhythmic than his own heartbeat; the slow steady breaths of something much greater than him gasping through him. Each exhalation emanated from somewhere deep within his chest, pushing up against the walls of his very being and pumping through his veins, injecting strength into his muscles and suffusing his bones. There was no weariness in his arms even as he methodically and almost religiously pleasured his meat.
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
Every vein in his body became engorged with this primal power. At first, his cells had no idea what to do with this bizarre strength. Each blood vessel pressed up against his skin as if trying to retreat from this behemoth that was awakening within him, turning an acrid black with each pulse. No escape provided itself short of each vein and artery exploding out of his skin. His muscles tensed, that sensation of exploding as he was about to ejaculate radiating not only from his cock but from his entire body like every fiber of his mortal form was on the cusp of erupting into a single, glorious orgasmic pleasure. He unknowingly welcomed it, embraced the sensation regardless of its consequences.
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
So too did the first cell of his body accept the thrumming that coursed through his body. That cell seemingly realized that the resounding booming was strangely familiar; the cry of a long-lost friend, a mother’s voice calling them home, the mating-call of a partner that opened the door to a sexual awakening. It moved towards the song. Where one moved, the others followed and the writhing, black veins all over his body quickly returned to their normal, bluish-green color but remained fat and thick like he had just spent the last five hours at the gym. They needed to be wide and strong to pump the thick, bile like substance that was now coursing through them, remaining red for the moment.
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
Muscles could no longer old their breath from being deprived of oxygen. Bones could no longer shut themselves away. His nerves could no longer continue to scream at him that the sensations he was feeling was not natural and he should stop. They took their first deep breath of blood touched by this alien influence and they loved it.
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
The sickening substance was quickly absorbed into his bones, reinforcing them, hardening them and providing them with nutrients. His nerves sucked up the substance and quickly began spouting instructions to his bones, giving them orders that they hadn’t heard for years: grow.
“Come…” Seb mumbled, through clenched teeth. “Come… Need to… come…!”
Bu-Bump-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bump.
His toes curled as he once again rose to the tips of his toes, his heels inching away and his foot widening with the movement. As his heels slapped against the wet floor, his calves blossomed slightly, the dense, dark brown hairs on his legs becoming a little harder to see against the stretched and wider flesh. Shin bones stretched slightly upwards, adding about a quarter of an inch to his height but stimulating his femurs to add double that length.
Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump.
With his back arched, his spine added another half inch, arms and torso following suit. Every muscle in his body vibrated with in rhythm with the enticing, alien music. Each one became fat and inflated like he was just fresh from the gym but remained in their engorged sizes. A dense vein curled over his bicep and wormed its way down his forearms, clearly visible through the dense arm hairs. The belly that had forever kept him from having abdominals was eaten away by the encroaching muscles, his pectorals pushing outwards while his abs inched further and further out, the hairs all over his chest only serving to accentuate each cut and division.
“Need to cum! Need to cum! Need to…
Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump.
His throbbing cock was not spared. The pleasure was most intense there and he fell to his knees, head bowed almost in reverence as his cock was overwhelmed by that sensation of growing fat and erect even though he was already at full mast. Had he been more aware of himself, he would have noticed his cock forcing his fingers apart with each stroke, each lap taking more and more time to go from tip to base.
“Need… Need to.. Need to… Gah!”
Seb’s entire body tensed, his free hand forming a claw that raked across the tiles to his left. Hot seed exploded from his cock, shooting upwards with enough strength that it blasted over his head and splattered across the shower dials. The first blast he wasn’t fully expecting and the second came so fast that he was thrown onto his back, his head mildly bumping against the back of the shower stall. The pain was short-lived as the burst of a third shot wracked his body, his eyelids fluttering as his hips bucked, squeezing more and more seed out of his cock, more than he could have ever realistically produced.
For a moment, he fantasized that he was outdoing the shower’s sheer volume with his cum.
This brought a big, toothy grin onto his face.
In the deep haze of his sexual release, the light of his pleasure waned and the gaping abyss surrounded him. The heat of passion left his body and he found himself craving it. Each shot of his cum was depriving him of his sexual high and as much as he wanted to keep it within himself, he couldn’t stop himself from squeezing every shot out like his life depended on it.
And as the darkness grew deeper…
… he saw a one, lidless eye staring back at him.
One eye that led to countless others, all tied together by veins and nerves shooting from their veins, looking out into the beyond and all directions.
Seb jerked back to his senses with his last shot of his seed and he had to blink a few times to remember where he was. With a groan, he slowly got to his feet, making sure to wash himself and a little glad that his cock was now back to being flaccid.
“Fuck…” he mumbled. “Did I fall asleep in the shower? That never happened before.”
Conscious that he may be using up all the hot water, he finished his shower and emerged, toweling off to make sure he wasn’t dripping all over the place. As he did so, he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the steamy mirror. What he saw made him grin.
“Do I look bigger?” he asked no one in particular, flexing an arm. “Damn… Must’ve been that run back here. Really got me pumped.”
There was something… off though. At first, he wasn’t sure what it was but as he drew closer to his reflection, he realized there was this vertical crease running down the middle of his forehead. Too young to be a worry line, he wondered if the constant bile he flung at his mother for her actions was prematurely aging him. He leaned closer to the mirror and pressed a finger against the line.
Only for the line to immediately spring open and reveal a silvery eye staring back.
“Holy shit!” he cried, stumbling back in horror.
He fell on his rump, causing quick a loud bang.
“Seb!?” his dad cried from below. “Are you okay?”
Seb glanced towards the door… and then back at his reflection. There was no crease there, no mirror-like eye. He pressed a finger against his forehead just to make sure.
“Yeah… Yeah,” he shouted back. “Just slipped. It’s nothing.”
Panting to still his heart, he regarded his reflection once more… and could not help but wonder quietly.
“Why the fuck am I hard again?”
Chapter 6
Text Transcript from T. Brassard and D. Agnostio
T: Hey babe, you there?
D: Hey Teddy. Of course. What’s up?
T: I was thinking… On this trip, I’m going to come out to my dad and brother.
D: Oh shit. Really? Do you need backup? What changed your mind?
T: Honestly? I’ve been thinking about it ever since dad went into remission. I don’t know how much time I’ll have left with him and I’d hate for him to pass on without knowing the real me.
T: And… I guess it’s also because Seb found this cave on the beach side. It wasn’t there before. Maybe it was but it was never accessible. It made me think.
D: A cave made you reevaluate your entire sexuality? I’m sure there’s a metaphor in there somewhere…
T: Shut up, dude. This is serious.
T: Maybe it’s a whole thing about how things can change? I mean, if a huge insurmountable cliff can change, we can too, right?
T: I’d really appreciate if you’d be there… You think you could…?
D: Of course, Teddy. I’ll head out tomorrow morning. See you there?
T: Thanks, Dean. I really appreciate it. Love you.
D: I love you too, Teddy.
******
Jules
Julian was never one to hold grudges but he had expected a modicum of respect from his sons. He thought he had raised them well but when they had failed to pick him up after four hours after his call to Theo, he was pissed. The silent treatment was the least he could throw at them but both boys seemed somewhat distracted. Theo’s brisket was decent but he barely ate and Seb was fidgety all night.
He was no fool either.
Theo kept looking at his phone and he was clearly texting with someone. Likely a girlfriend he had back in college. This trip probably didn’t do a lot for their relationship and there was clearly some strain that caused his distance. That could be forgiven. Jules hated being a burden to everyone and he had dropped this trip on his boys all of the sudden.
Seb, though, was clearly horny. Plain and simple. Jules had seen his eldest fidget with himself and try to hide that very erect boner. He thought that Seb would have grown out of the ‘perpetually horny teenager’ phase by now but clearly he needed to get laid or to find the right woman. That disappointed Jules and part of him wanted to approach his eldest and give him a stern talking to.
But he decided to be a good father and try to understand things from their perspective.
That would start with visiting the so-called pool by the beach.
Ernest was clearly enraptured by it and by the way Seb talked it up with a few distant murmurings of approval from Theo, it was clearly something to look at.
But sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night while the boys were asleep to go down to the beach in the dark…?
“Not my smartest idea…” Jules mumbled to himself. But he had to see it for himself and he didn’t want anyone holding his hand when he did so. Equipped with his heavy-duty flashlight and thick boots, he approached the yawning archway that supposedly led to the cave. Thankfully, the moon was full but that also meant that high-tide was going to be much higher. Thankfully, the water didn’t quite reach the entirety of the arch, falling about halfway. He guessed that when one part of the cliff eroded, the rest just crumbled after to form this magnificent structure.
Sticking to the shore-side of the arch, he navigated his way around the large pieces of debris, keeping one hand against the cliff for support. It occurred to him that the surface was unnaturally smooth, almost like glass or obsidian but he barely paid it any attention as he was trying to make sure he didn’t lose his footing or step on a sharp edge. Falling to his death, cracking his skull on a rock and then being swept out to sea was not how he wanted to go out.
Especially with that hag, Kate, looming over his shoulder and looking to take what little he had left.
“She’ll get what’s coming to her,” he snarled. “I’ll make sure of that.”
A strange, almost wolf-like howl attracted his attention right ahead. There was the immense cave that Seb would not stop talking about. Just like his son described, it looked like a mouth completely with jagged teeth with the freshwater river funneling out of it like the beast’s tongue. Even with his very powerful flashlight, he could barely pierce the darkness of the maw.
Jules momentarily wondered again if this was a smart idea. No one ever had good stories about going into a mysterious cave in the middle of the night unaccompanied. This was the basis of a horror movie. But if there was anything that his brush with death had taught him, it was that life was short and he wasn’t going to wait until morning to do what his sons had already done when he was already here.
Taking a deep breath of salty air, he stepped into the cave, careful to avoid the stalagmites all over the ground. Some part of his mind interpreted the howling winds as warnings to ‘get out’ or ‘turn back’ but he brushed it aside and trudged through the shallow, ankle-deep river. Though he was slightly worried that he could barely see a few feet ahead of him, he swallowed his rapidly racing heart and continued to power through the cave.
“Fuck this,” he growled at himself and switched off his flashlight. It only took him a few seconds before his eyes began to adjust to the darkness. There were no twists or turns in the cave either. It was just a straight line up a steadily sloping path.
Jules was almost reaching the breaking point for his patience when the slope of the cave increased abruptly. The curve let do an oddly flat, raised dais with a ground-level basin resembling a circular moon pool sitting at its center.
“Finally,” he sighed and trudged up to the lip of the pool.
Arms crossed and fully expecting to be disappointed, he gazed down into the waters. Not two seconds in, his brow furrowed as he realized the pool was strangely reflective. Perfectly still waters stared back up at him and had an oddly metallic sheen like liquid mercury as opposed to the glassy reflectiveness of the Reflection Pools one would see at war memorials.
“That’s… impossible.”
He leaned down, slowly unfolding his arms. A shadowy silhouette looked back at him with the only clear feature being the bright green eyes that somehow shone through the gloom despite the distinct lack of light. Sounds faded into the darkness. Smells of the ocean faded into the void. Even the chill in the air became nothing; not hot, not cold, just nothing. His entire world became focused on this majestic pool that radiated immeasurable strength and addictive power.
Drawn by the siren song of the pool, he fell to his knees before this divine basin, fingers twitching as they crawled towards the edge of the silvery waters. As he drew closer, his silhouette became clearer and clearer. The rough edges of the shadow became sharper, more defined. His large, hawk-like nose was the first to materialize before giving way to the rest of his sunken face, ravaged by the strains of the disease that he had just managed to fight back. His thinning, gray hairline returned as a reminder of his age followed by the pencil-like neck, slumped, shrunken shoulders and the clothes that seemed to wear him.
Bump-Bump.
Despite the grim reminder of his current health, he found himself strangely grinning, offering a toothy smile that reminded him of that unsettling grin that Ernest had worn when they had met. Discomfort quickly faded into amazement when his reflection shifted. Hair began crawling back down his brow, the color returning from his grayed tips and switching back to their natural dark brown coloration. His cheeks inflated as his neck swelled. Shoulders rose and his old traps came rising back to swallow his neck. The familiar barrel chest that he hadn’t possessed for over five years rose up to stretch his shirt taut as did the handsome stubble that added contours to his cheeks.
Bump-Bump.
Jules reached up towards his cheeks. Contrary to his reflection, however, he found his flesh was still very much sunken and the reflection into the pool hadn’t moved its limbs. It remained static, staring at him and grinning; almost taunting him with what he could have been had his body not failed him. The smile on his own lips began to fade as sorrow and depression began to creep back to his consciousness.
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
Amidst the swirling negativity, however, was something else. A promise. A deal. A temptation. A distant song that was bizarrely alien and yet familiar at the same time. He couldn’t understand what it said but it resonated with him. His mind was still trying to process the mysterious lyrics to the song while his body had already acted upon instinct and reached down towards his crotch. It was only when his hand firmly gripped his dick through his thick denim pants that he became aware that, sometime during the entire ordeal, he had grown erect.
A flash of doubt, a flurry of uncertain questions and a desperate scramble for understanding.
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
All was consumed by the darkness and the single unblinking Lord of the Blind Watchers that promised him his old body and more. In exchange, all he had to do was stroke his cock, offer his seed to the pool, give his essence to the great and powerful King on the Throne of Eyes.
He was unsure. Hesitant. Though his fingers were already closing in around his dick and the ecstasy of orgasm tantalized him with its familiar kiss that he hadn’t felt for over five years, he still wondered if he was selling his soul to something he didn’t understand.
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
Then he felt the touch of the Lord pumping through him. He grit his teeth, closed his eyes as every vein in his body pressed up against his flesh, blackening to a dark hue that could almost fade into the darkness of the cave. Weakened as he was, his cells almost instantly gave up against the superior, anomalous force. The surge of strength that blasted through his entire body was outright euphoric.
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
Jules’ body convulsed and he toppled forward, almost plunging head-first into the basin if he hadn’t managed to caught himself on his one, unused hand. Every part of his body had fully expected to fall in and for his hand to immediately give out given how much damage the chemotherapy had done to him but to his surprise, he held on. Even more surprised by the vice-like grip he had on his own cock. He gasped when he felt that grip grow stronger and he glanced down.
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
The thin, skeletal fingers began to change. Mass began filling in the gaps between his flesh and fingerbones, turning them from the bony hands of Death to the rough, working hands of a man in construction. It was subtle at first but like a rising crescendo, it rapidly accelerated, filling out each digit into fat, strong sausages that led to big, broad, hairy hands. That quickly escalated down his forearms, veins popping up against the growing muscles. The shirt that hung around him like a shower curtain was suddenly being pulled back by inflating biceps and swelling shoulders.
When Jules let out a moan, it was one filled with deep lust and submission.
“Yes,” he pleaded, “Give it to me. Give me more!”
Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump.
Whether or not a verbal agreement was needed, whatever force compelled Jules compelling him to once again meet the gaze of his handsome reflection as his body grew to match the gorgeous features of a man twenty-years younger. The demand for attention from his cock was finally answered as he unzipped his fly and began shamelessly jerking his meat with renewed strength from his arms. That same strength coursed through his veins into his neck and chest. Each fevered pant his took was deeper than the last as his chest ballooned out, straining the shirt that he bore.
As power and flexibility once again returned to his core, he no longer had to prop himself up on his unused hand. He was able to reach up towards his scalp, feeling the hairs sprout up and grow wild and lush just like the image before him. Now, the reflection was mirroring his movements as he grew closer and closer to meeting his ideal image.
Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump.
Every stroke of his dick was like a conductor’s baton directing the beat of the power coursing through his veins and as it reached its climax, so did he. The seat of his pants tore with a tremendous rip and with a roar, his hot seed came shooting out of his inflating cock. His eyelids fluttered so he was unable to witness every drop of his juices splattering into the pool, strangely leaving the mirror-like surface undisturbed. The splotched of thick, viscous, white goo merely sank into the metallic waters, leaving his reflection grinning as he came and came and came.
Even after his seventh shot, Jules was fully energized and with that mad grin on his face, leaned back down, almost nose to nose with his reflection.
“Need to cum,” he growled with strength in his voice that he hadn’t felt in years. “Need to cum! Need it!”
He was already reaching for his still-erect dick…
… when something seized the back of his head, pulling on his new lush hair.
“Now is not the time, brother,” came the strangely familiar voice.
A flash of pain, stars dancing in his eyes…
… then darkness.
Chapter 7
Email from rfairview.mayor@wamail.gov to ernest.kulkain@xmail.org
Dear Mr. Kulkain,
Your concern over the newly opened site in Pargrove Beach is greatly appreciated and while I, as mayor, do take great pains to ensure the safety of my constituents, I do not appreciate being threatened with nonsense ramblings and obscure, unpronounceable writings.
I mean, what is this ‘Nyzda’Kumyr’? I also do not appreciate being called an ‘Idiot of Nothing’ or a ‘Maddening Self-Loathing Mirror’. Frankly, these accusations almost sound related to a delusion and severe mental degradation caused from years of isolation. They also border on the obscene especially the line where you encouraged me to ‘seek release of one’s engorged meat to be drawn closer to the ‘Cast Down King’.
I sincerely encourage you to seek psychological help.
Please do not contact me again until you get the help you need.
From the Desk of Roland Fairview
Mayor of Greytree County
*****
Theo
All night, Theo had been feeling a strange urge that he had hoped he could suppress for the entirety of this trip.
He was horny.
Being in his early twenties meant that he had needs that had to be met. Coming out to his friends in college and finding a boyfriend had satiated those needs for the most part but now that he was back with his dad on a somewhat sombre note, he hadn’t found the pleasure of release nor had he expected to. After visiting the pool, however, a beast had been awakened within him.
It had taken all of his self-control not to excuse himself into the downstairs bathroom to jerk one off quickly. It just felt… disrespectful to masturbate in the house that his father had practically built with his own two hands right after the poor man had recovered from cancer. That didn’t stop the nagging sensation that was burning in his loins; a fiery beast battering at the walls of his already erect cock and pleading for him to cum.
A beast he had to let out once everyone had gone to sleep. For every moment he had denied the call of the primal barbarian that demanded release, he had found himself seizing his erect cock and shooting a fresh biting back cries of ecstasy as he reached climax. Wads of tissue paper lay scattered across his bedroom floor. Each load was more impressive and voluminous than that last. At first, he had surprised himself and cursed he own hormones as he had spent one or two pieces of tissue to clean himself up. But after each climax, he had to use more and more tissues until he eventually gave up and found himself practically swimming in his own seed with his cock still very much erect.
“Need to cum,” he groaned, writhing in his sweat and seed-covered sheets.
Swimming in the heady mist of orgasm, his whole body felt raw and hypersensitive. He was barely aware of the rapid changes that had gripped his entire body with each orgasm. Hard, taut muscles now pressed against his frame with a lattice of veins crawling up his arms and his thighs. Where once there had been a flat, unimpressive chest, there was now a sizable set of pectorals that heaved and dripped with sweat, his nipples permanently erect. A very succulent set of six-pack abs caused what little body hair to disappear into their folds. His cock - which had never been bigger than five and a half inches erect, was now throbbing at 9 inches and constantly oozing precum right into the crevasses of his abdominals.
Barely conscious, he glanced over to the bedside table that told him it was just a little after midnight. Groaning softly, he felt the call of his cock once more. As the scientific type, he knew that repetition with the expectation of different results was the definition of insanity. Pleasuring himself non-stop and expecting the sweet embrace of slumber would be impossible.
Something had to change.
His cock twitched, seemingly nodding towards the door. Will battered and weakened by the constant assault of pleasure, Theo rolled off his bed. His heavy body slammed into the ground with a heavy but muffled thud, the soaked sheets providing a modicum of protection from injury. Tongue out like a dog in heat, he crawled up to the door before reaching for the doorknob and barely pulling himself up out of his cocoon of fabric and yanking the door open. Utterly naked but with still some sense in him, Theo glanced down the hallway to make sure he hadn’t woken anyone.
Had he been more attentive, perhaps he would have noticed that he couldn’t see their father’s truck out the window but the demand of his dick for release could not be ignored for much longer.
It throbbed.
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
He was pulled to the right, towards the bedroom at the end of the hallway.
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
The divining rod that was his dick led the way to his brother’s bedroom. Theo wondered what he was doing; questioned if he was dreaming or he was suffering from some fevered sickness. What questions he had were instantly banished when he pushed open the door and was instantly hit by the heady aroma of masculine body odor, cum, sweat and thick pheromones that instantly made him to immediately shoot his load. The orgasm erupted from him with such force that he was forced to grip the doorframe to support himself, his knees almost buckling beneath him. His shot sailed halfway across the room and splattered directly onto Seb’s chest and face.
A thick haze of afterglow shrouded his thoughts, smothering questions that he should have been asking and replacing them instead with observations on how much bigger and hairier his brother looked.
“Dude…” he panted, voice slurring. “You look… huge.”
In the dull light of the evening with only moonlight streaming in from the window, he could gaze upon every broad contour, immense mound of muscle and pulsing, defined vein all over Seb’s body. His brother’s feet hung over the edge of the bed slightly with his gargantuan shoulders occupying more than half of the double bed. His traps were now rivaling the very pillows he lay upon, swallowing up his neckline and almost giving him a natural hunch. The biggest of all was the huge arm-sized cock that went past his belly-button and now kissed the base on his immense pectorals, constantly leaking precum like a faucet. There was no denying either that Seb had pleasured himself multiple times as his hair chest was nearly completely white with his cum with his beard drenched in the goo.
Yet through the quagmire of his own seed, Seb somehow managed to pick out the droplets that Theo had produced, swipe it up with his thick fingers and bring it up to his lips. Watching him lick it all up only caused Theo to groan and shudder; another blast of seed erupting from his cock and landing directly onto Seb’s face like he had intended it to. Theo’s fingers slipped off the door frame and he held himself tightly, fingers curling around his chest perhaps in an subconscious effort to hold back the supernatural growth wracking his body with greater pleasure than his orgasm could have provided.
His moan grew louder as veins popped all over his body, his blood being replaced with the thick, bluish-white bile-like substance that had already started to replace most of his vital fluids. Where perhaps half of all the blood in his body had been substituted, that quickly skyrocketed to perhaps three-quarters, with what little hemoglobin barely squeezing through the rivers of the thick goo. His organs had long grown used to the new, nourishing substance and now that they were getting more of it, they could accelerate their growth.
Every muscle all over his body bulged, his fingers being forced apart by the swelling of his biceps only for those very same digits to fatten and grow bigger to keep him in proportion with the rest of his body. His pectorals ballooned out, nipples becoming permanently erect and pointing downwards in opposite directions because of just how plump his chest was. The abdominals sitting beneath them let out a sound almost like rocks grinding against one another as they grew harder and bigger.
The greatest changes, however, were not in his outward appearance but within. Starting with his testicles, the organs that should have been used to sire his children twisted and morphed. They jostled against each other in his sac, warring twins trying to assert dominance over one another. Each clash only made them stronger and bigger and they pressed outwards against his scrotum, stretching them to the point that the wrinkles most humans possessed began to smoothen out. Their purpose was quickly rewritten, the substance they produced in copious amounts ever since being exposed to the pool becoming something other than semen. It was thicker, addictive and lost all traces of genetic material rendering him effectively sterile. Not that he would care even though subconsciously, he knew he would never produce children.
Perhaps it was because he was gay, perhaps it was thanks to some instructions from whatever was changing him or because it was upon feeling the organ-destroying 12-inch member that was now throbbing against his chest that was as thick as a beer can.
No one could ever take such a beast.
Well… almost no one.
Through bleary eyes, blinking away sweat, he found his brother lying on his side on the bed, licking up the wads of cum that Theo had produced from his hairy knuckles.
Not a word needed to be said.
Theo leapt forward like a beast in heat, diving straight for his brother’s monster cock; kneeling on the side of the bed like he was praying to that almighty-dick. With practiced motions, he wrapped his lips around the throbbing member, the heat from the meat wafting into him and suffusing his entire being. Thick ropes of precum poured into him, stirring the beast that had a momentary reprieve the moment he had cum just a few short seconds ago.
Then Seb reached down, grabbed his torso with his massive arms and pulled him onto the bed. Theo stubbornly clung to that cock and that was exactly what Seb was expecting. Suddenly, Theo found his brother’s head between his own legs and the familiar yet alien lips wrapping around his own cock, simultaneously pleasuring and stunning him. The gasp that left his lips only gave Seb’s cock more room to thrust down and dive deeper into his throat. For a second, he gagged but his body quickly adjusted as he suckled on the precious meat, drinking the rapidly thickening fluids eagerly.
Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump.
Some unknown conductor directed their motions, tapping out the beat in which they suckled and fondled one another’s sweat, muscled bodies. All the while, the unheard music thrummed within them, vibrations pushing every cell to grow, to change, to become one with the Cowardly Pauper God’s design.
Internal organs shifted and changed, rapidly shrinking as their cells were quickly re-purposed for the muscles and bones that their new destinies required of them. His entire digestive system was slowly absorbed into his abdominal walls while his lungs and respiratory system seemed to shrink despite his chest continuing to swell with mass. The short ragged breaths he took was momentarily transitory while he took in both oxygen and nourishment from the One Lidless Eye. Some part of him realized that Seb wasn’t breathing at all and was completely relentless in his sucking. Contrary to all this, his heart grew and expanded, becoming bigger and stronger, even sprouting a few extra arteries and veins to help pump the mix of the alien bile and his blood through his system.
Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump.
It was all a transformation that his brother was already well-advanced into and still progressing. Whether either man realized it or not, the loss of their digestive system meant that their assholes no longer became an orifice for waste. A single purpose remained for them; pleasure. Seb had some inkling of this and reached around Theo’s firm, bubble butt, daring to press a finger into the hole. The younger brother squirmed in pleasure. Every nerve in his body became even more sensitive with special focus around his most powerful pleasure nodes such as his ass, cock and nipples. With his brother toying with his hole, his cock rocked violently and his balls blasted a hot jet of pure corrupted juice right into Seb.
His brother didn’t even hesitate or flinch and proceeded to drink down every drop like he was born to suck cock. In fact, he stroked Theo’s cock even more, lightly squeezing on his brother’s balls to milk them for every drop that they could produce. Each of his strokes coaxed another inch of growth from the lawyer-in-training’s dick until it was a massive fourteen inches and each testicle was as big as a fat, ripe lemon.
In the throes of pleasure and joy, Theo barely even noticed that his own brother shooting his own load straight into his throat. Where that molten juice went, he couldn’t be sure. The burning liquid descended down his gullet before seemingly dispersing throughout the rest of his body, fueling the grown and transformation that saw every muscle in his form harden and pump up into new limits.
Theo’s vision blurred as every sense was taken away from him, his body moving on autopilot as he and his brother danced to the tune of constant sex, somewhat-willingly relinquishing control to a higher power that used their bodies to enact this constant, taboo act.
He couldn’t stop. He wouldn’t stop.
Why would he want to stop the great work of the Cast Down King as he did the world a favor and kept He Who Slumbers Awake imprisoned?
It was noble.
It was just.
And it favored them both.
Endless pleasure and sex to keep a cosmic horror at bay.
Why would he want to stop that?
Chapter 8
Extract from The First Ones by H.Stur.
We all know of the Great Old Ones and the Outer Gods and indeed their role in human society. We even have the Elder Gods that add an extra layer to the development and eldritch horror. But few recognize the mere existence of the First Ones and their roles in the cosmic pantheon.
One could argue that many of the Great Old Ones or even the Outer Gods could be credited with the creation of mankind but where as most other religions consider all mortals to be an intentional creation, in the Cthulu Mythos, mankind are merely random mutations spawned from the minuscule scraps of the gods’ power that were so small that they were not even worth attention.
However, everything must have an origin. Every dog can ultimately trace it’s origins to wolves. Every fly came from a maggot. A single source in the evolutionary tree that started mankind on its genetic future. A single race so closely tied to the Great Old Ones that they shared in more of their power than their offspring. They recognized that with constant and selective breeding, they could create a mediocre, powerless and cheap source of labor that they could abuse and manipulate with little risk of rising up against them.
The product of this incestuous breeding are all the mortal species that infest our planet.
The shared progenitors of all species are the First Ones.
******
Jules
A loud cry jolted Jules awake. Old battlefield instincts kicked in and he quickly took stock of his surroundings. The sheets wrapped around him were definitely not his own - they were thicker, heavier and soaked in the stench of sweat and cum. Moonlight streamed in from the sole window and there was a single figure sitting on a charge nearby, turned towards him, watching him. This same figure was panting heavily like some caged beast.
“Do you… feel him?” The voice that uttered those words was familiar but… much deeper. Gravelly as if the throat and tongue that produced them was struggling to speak.
“Ernest…?” Jules asked, sitting up from the bed. It horrified him to realize that he was naked beneath the sheets and that he was very erect. “What the hell!? Did you strip me naked?”
“Answer!” barked Ernest, suddenly rising to his feet. “Do you feel him?”
Jules shrank back into the surprisingly soft pillows. Ernest was much bigger than he remembered… almost twice as big. Perhaps it was the lightning or their positioning but it was clear that the lighthouse keeper had all the power in this situation.
“Feel who? What are you talking about, Ernest?”
The lighthouse keeper seemed incredibly agitated, a deep guttural growl rising from his throat almost like a lion preparing to pounce. “Do you feel… the growth? The… pleasure? The heat…?”
Jules opened his mouth to deny the mad ramblings but he stopped himself as he could not deny the throbbing in his cock. Through years of self-control, he avoided touching it but it was still there. Curious of its presence and persistence, he focused on it, even daring to break eye contact with Ernest to gaze at the little tent his dick was making in the thick blankets. All else became secondary as his focus fell on the pulsating member.
Not one second of intense focus and he heard it.
Bump-Bump.
A thick haze of acrid smoke hanging over a muddy lake. Beneath the murky waters stood a throne; a throne of a billion, pupil-less, lidless eyes that twitched and swiveled in all directions. Searching, ever-searching but unable to see. Upon the throne, perched on a writhing stalk of nerves and blood vessels like a monstrous owl sitting upon the gnarled, burnt peak of a lightning-struck tree was the Futuretaker. The stalk twisted into what should have been the base of the creature’s spine. It had no legs, no lower half of the body, simply that twisting, red mass of pulsating tubes. Its torso was red with twisted ribs that were angled upwards pressing up against the vermilion flesh.
Bony shoulders sprouted from the torso at position that was more akin to a set of wings than actual shoulders, almost like the creature’s torso was forcibly pulled back in an agonizing twist. Arms like bones with barely any muscle or flesh clinging onto them drew claw-like fingers through the air, adding to the creature’s desperate search for something. At the elbow, a second forearm jutted out leaving the beast with four hands in total to scratch through the threads of fate and time.
No head sat upon its shoulders. Where there should have been a neck was just absence which provided the perfect view for two pairs of undulating wings. Each wing was comprised entirely of the contoured and knotted mass of a brain; gray like a murky dawn and oozing with slime that sank and dripped from each lump along its length.
Bump-Bump.
The horrific creature immediately made Jules recoil and he pulled his gaze from the vision. Eyes wide, he lifted his gaze towards Ernest.
“Krthillid…” he whispered.
Ernest’s eyes flashed and he seized the chair that he had been sitting on with one hand; his right hand. With surprising strength, he hurled the piece of furniture against the wall, shattering it immediately. “No! No! Not the One Lidless Eye! Not him!”
The lighthouse keeper stared back at Jules with his eyes so wide they almost bulged out of his sockets.
“Look again!” he demanded, with each word approaching Jules menacingly. “Can you see him!? Can you see the Smiling Silent Echo? The Maddening Self-Loathing Mirror!? The Idiot with Nothing!?”
Jules shook his head in confusion. “I don’t understand, Ernest. Who…?” As he drifted off, he became aware that Ernest was not entirely dressed. Only that dirty raincoat was draped over his shoulders, that visible hunch stretching it so taut that it was forced to hang open in the front.
Having lived for quite a while, Jules had seen a myriad of physiques in his life but he had never seen anyone as big or as lean as Ernest was now. The man had to stand at least seven feet tall - pushing eight - and with every gargantuan muscle pressing up against his flesh that he looked more like a collection of inflated balloons pressed against one another and barely held together by the network of plump veins crawling just beneath his taut skin. This man had grown into the size of a bodybuilder plus half another bodybuilder in the span of half a day.
It was impossible.
But so was the immense, ass-destroying cock that stood pointedly erect sticking out of Ernest’s cock with orange-sized balls hanging beneath them like twin wrecking balls. He didn’t get a moment to wonder why his mind instantly went to that cock going into anyone’s ass as the moment he focused upon it, he felt it again.
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
That lake again but this time, there was someone standing in the middle of the lake. It was haze, blurred and it was impossible to focus on just one aspect of it. No matter which part was in focus, it elicited eroticism, sensuality and masculinity.
Strong, powerful, bestial legs that ended in cloven hooves stood impossibly on the surface of the lake. No fur clung to the incredibly muscular limbs, exposing the vascular, milky-white-blue flesh to the air. A pair of long, muscles arms sprang out from somewhere around the lower back of the monster and was shamelessly caressing its own thick thighs, fingers sensually sliding between the crevasses of its own quads and groping its own mammoth calves.
Those legs led to a hairless crotch where two titanic, bestial members sprang forth, each one ending in a tapering tip that was definitely not that of a human’s. Four testicles hung in a single sack, one pair sitting in front of the other and closer to the base of those twin dicks while the other pair hung lower and slightly behind the first. Another pair of arms burst from the back of the creature slightly above the first, these ones curling around its two members and appeasing its own lust by stroking its length with smooth, blue-white fingers, even going so far as to run its fingers around the lips of each cock, catching the rivers of precum that poured out of it to lubricate its member.
Beyond the awesome manhood was a rigid set of abdominals, a venerable eight-pack with a distinctly missing belly button. The flanks of the creature swept upwards into the broad back used to support its multitude of arms and the muscled shelf that was its two, mammoth pectorals. A third pair of arms that erupted from about halfway its back was caressing its own torso, fingers sliding up each canyon of muscle with the delicate touch of a lover before harshly tugging at its own erect nipples to produce a thick, milky-white-blue fluid that dripped down into the lake below.
A broad set of shoulders sprouted another pair of arms, just as muscular and powerful as the others. These ones - what one would expect from a human in placement - flexed and posed, muscles and blackish-blue veins popping up all over its thick forearms and immense biceps. A final pair of arms sprang up from between its shoulder blades and lovingly worshiped the confident limbs, only occasionally following the slope of their shoulders to the alien features.
An unnervingly broad grin sat on an otherwise featureless, face. No hair, no nose, no ears. Just the bare minimum of a humanoid skull with the only defining feature being that immense grin that almost consumed the entire lower half of the creature’s face. As one looked closer at that face, however, a single vertical slit would become clearer at the center of its face.
Then that slit would open.
A single, all-silver eye would stare back.
No pupil, no iris, no sclera.
Just silver.
Like a mirror.
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
Jules jumped back and stared at Ernest in horror. “What… What was that?” he gasped. “What did I just see!?”
Ernest’s anger immediately faded and the same chilling grin that that creature wore split across his face. “Didn’t understand… at first. But then… He showed me. The Cast Down King… showed me.”
“What? What did he show you?” The horror was leaving Jules’ lips and he was now speaking out of curiosity… and a bit of confused arousal.
The lighthouse keeper sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes wide as saucers and his cock as erect as steel. It took all of Jules’ effort not to stare at that impossible manhood.
“The Cast Down King. Nyzda’Kumyr.”
Just uttering the name made Ernest’s cock spasm and shoot a large wad of his seed across the room, splattering the wall. Jules grabbed the sheets in his fist, twisting them as his own cock spasmed. He was panting, sweat dripping on his face as his entire body clenched and unclenched rapidly. That same power and strength he had felt in the pool coursed through his veins. Toes curled in ecstasy even as his feet expanded and his legs lengthened, that sensation of growing aroused and becoming hard filling his entire body.
“He is a… hero… to mankind,” continued Ernest. “His brothers. The First Ones. Trapped by the Old Ones and Elder Gods. First Ones tried to rebel… against their creators. Made us… made humans and mortals. Tools for them to wage war on their superiors. Failed.” The immense man shook his head. “Cursed. Imprisoned. Locked away behind cages with no keys. Krthillid trapped. Nyzda’Kumyr… urgh…”
Both men squirmed as the mere mention of that name caused both of them to cum again. Jules gasped, now unable to stop himself from seizing his rebelling cock through the sheets. Through the thick fabric, he could feel his organ pump his seed straight out of his member and soak into the wool. Even stranger still, he could feel it growing harder, longer and thicker, visibly pushing his fingers apart as it reached a size that Kate would have adored.
He had to be sitting there for an entire thirty-seconds before he became aware that he was wearing the same grin that Ernest bore and forced himself to stop smiling. To his horror and realization, that smile was the same that the Cowardly Pauper God - this Nyzda’Kumyr - wore.
“… his jailer…” gasped Ernest, finishing his sentence. “Our god… keeps his brothers in check. Protects us from them…” He pointed absently in some arbitrary direction but Jules somehow knew that he was pointing int he direction of the pool. “That… foul basin. The one I found you on… It belongs to Krthillid. The King on the Throne of Eyes. A First One.”
Jules put two and two together. “That first thing I saw… that… thing… That’s Krthillid. And the second one… That is…”
“Yes. Nyz -”
Jules reached out, holding out a hand to stop Ernest from uttering the name that he knew would make him cum again. “What does he want from… from me? From us? What has he done to you?”
That mad smile on the keeper’s face turned to him.
“He doesn’t need anything from us… just our silence.” Ernest shook his head again as if admitting a wrong. “Don’t you see? We made the mistake. We were wrong! We ventured into the unknown. Too close. Too close to Krthillid’s Wandering Eye.” The massive lighthouse keeper shook his head angrily at himself. “Stupid! Stupid! Felt it was wrong. But still went. Still looked. Saw the Lord of Blind Watchers.” Then Ernest lifted his gaze, that smile on his face growing broader. “But saved. Saved by the Cast Down King. Made into this!”
Almost mechanically and outside of his own control, Ernest seized his massive member with both his hands and began stroking his enormous cock with almost religious motions. Jules couldn’t help himself either. Hypnotized by those rhythmic motions, he slipped both his hands beneath the sheets and began massaging his dick, gasping and convulsing as the image of that multi-armed monster became cleared and cleared in his head.
His vision blurred, the sensations of his flesh consumed with burning desire. The smells of the lighthouse vanished into the heady musk of sex and all he heard was the constant. Bumping that beat the tempo to his strokes.
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
With each stroke, the vision of this god, this ‘Cast Down King’ grew clearer and clearer in his mind. The creature loomed over him, towering like a giant but still somehow able to reach down with its multitude of hands. It closed its gargantuan palms around him, forming almost a shelter to hide him from the world. Other, smaller hands reached up from the void of the darkness, slowly dancing across his flesh. Its touch was warm, electric and stimulated every nerve in his body. Its thumbs caressed his biceps, gently massaging them to become bigger, stronger and more powerful. Its fingers gently pressed against his spine, coaxing it into new lengths. Its fingers somehow reached deep within him, changing him, converting him into… into something…
What did it want? What did the Idiot with Nothing want from him?
As one of its hands touched his temples, this unknowable being’s consciousness touched him.
Jules screamed, his cock erupting like a volcano and his body twitching as every nerve fired off at their maximum capacity. Through the fiery pleasure, he saw flashes… images… words that made no sense and songs that both grated his eardrums and were so melodiously familiar.
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
Nothing.
The Smiling Silent Echo wanted nothing from them. They were cumming in the name of Nyzda’Kumyr but only because they had drawn close to Krthillid’s basin. This presence of the Maddening Self-Loathing Mirror was a trap; a security feature. Mortals who ventured towards the basin had the off chance of waking the King on the Throne of Eyes so Nyzda’Kumyr used his power to entrap those that found it.
“No…” Jules moaned, feeling the thick fingers of his new god pushing into his temples, pressing past his skin and digging into his skull. The substance of his brain seeped into those fingers, sucked away by the First One in exchange for more muscle mass, a devotion to his dick and something more. “… I don’t want this… please! Please no!”
But he couldn’t stop it.
Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump.
The spell was cast, the arcane curse already wound into his very being. He came again, his body ballooning out in all directions, surpassing what he had been in the prime of his youth. Some part of him relished the change, thanked Nyzda’Kumyr for it. Another part realized what this was.
An exchange.
This was the silence that Ernest talked about.
To prevent them from drawing more attention to the pool that could waken Krthillid, Nyzda’Kumyr was turning them into his mindless, muscle slaves. But those forced into slavery would eventually rebel against it. So the Cowardly Pauper God would give them their greatest desires, immortal bodies and endless pleasure in exchange for their silence.
Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump.
They would never speak of the pool. They would never be heard from again. But they would fuck. Fuck forever. Never to care about another thing but the carnal pleasure of sex. All sterile, all virile and all ridiculously endowed so they could fall into an endless haze of sex.
“No!” Jules screamed. “I didn’t know! I didn’t want any of this!”
The god chuckled. Through the maddening screeching of the deity’s unknowable consciousness, a single word cut through the insanity and his soul; delivered with a mocking, sarcastic laugh.
“Didn’t.”
Past tense.
It was true. He didn’t want this. He didn’t know about any of this. But now that he did…
… he wanted it.
All of it.
Jules threw aside the blankets and stifled a scream as he bent down and swallowed his own dick. His own hot sperm blasted down his throat, his legs kicking and thrashing in ecstasy as he threw himself at the Cast Down King, submitting himself to the deity’s power. It was only the sound of tearing fabric that momentarily broke him from his stupor and only briefly between each blast of his cock.
Ernest had gotten off the bed, hunched forward even as a waterfall of bluish-white cum came blasting from his cock and painting the nearby wall. The lighthouse keeper still gripping his cock with his eyes shut but that wild grin on his face. The hunch on his back suddenly surged upwards. At first, Jules thought it was must more back muscles being produced but between his next burst of cum and the moment of lucidity, watched as that mount grew a more pointed end. With a tremendous rrrrrip a big, dark blue fin burst from Ernest’s raincoat, piercing the air like a glorious banner to Nyzda’Kumyr glory.
With a roar, both men came again and Jules barely managed to remain conscious as Ernest reached over his back and ripped the rest of his clothing off. Out of synch with the rest of the tune, Jules once again found himself shooting a little early in response to the show of strength and the muscled canvas that was Ernest’s back, now hunched a little thanks to the presence of that fin. The same dark-blue skin crawled over the rest of the lighthouse keeper’s back though it became clear that it was not the original source of his change.
In fact, it was Ernest’s right arm that was completely mutated. Blue-black sharkskin covered its entire, lean, thick length, veins crawling over them like rivers crossing mountains. The inner side of the limb was covered in softer white flesh but it was no less harder or stronger. His immense hand was big enough to crush a head with ease, his fingernails completely gone and his fingertips tapering into sharp points. There were a few scars along its length that were absent in his other, non-mutated but still massive arm.
Ernest thrust his hips in uncontrolled pleasure, his cum splashing all over his chest. Perhaps there was some human part of him left as he lifted that monstrous arm of his to block the torrent of seed from splashing across his face. The lighthouse keeper’s grin momentarily parted to allow for his tongue to snake out between his teeth. Both Jules and Ernest watched in absolute awe as that organ pulled out farther than any human tongue should have and reached curled through the air before reaching down and lapping at the cum that covered Ernest’s arm. The man’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he convulsed into another series of orgasms as his tongue continued to clean up the mess he was making on his own arm.
Jules realized that this is what Nyzda’Kumyr had given Ernest to seal his silence and devotion; a new arm.
And the Cast Down King was going to give him back his strength and more.
There was no question what he wanted. Not anymore.
He needed to cum.
Chapter 9
Text Transcript from K. Brassard and S. Brassard
K: Seb, honey, I need to talk to you. Are you free to chat?
S: Mom, I’ve seen into the gaze of the One Lidless Eye and the Cowardly Pauper God that usurps his tools in this world. It is wonderful.
K: Ooookay… I’m not entirely what you mean, honey, but it’s about your father and the upcoming divorce proceedings.
S: The divorce. Right. It’s so stupid.
K: It really is. If your father simply had the decency to think about the family instead of being so selfish, none of this would have happened.
S: Family is meaningless. We make these bonds but they are just in our head. There is nothing truly there.
K: I know it’s hurting you, honey. But you’ve got to stay strong. Some day, you’ll have a good family of your own. But you can’t do that without fixing the family you have now. That’s why I need you to help me.
S: You are beyond help unless you accept the truth that is Nyzda’Kumyr. The Maddening Self-Loathing Mirror teaches us that nothing matters! We are nothing! Everything is nothing! Take advantage of our flesh and one another’s bodies for ultimately, we are nothing!
K: Honey… you’re scaring me.
S: Come to Pargrove Beach, Mom! Come and witness and truth of flesh that The Cast Down King offers!
K: Seb, this is crazy.
S: Come! Come! Come to Nyzda’Kumyr!
******
Seb
Based on the digital display on the clock, it was five in the morning, just barely dawn. Seb wasn’t sure why he even did it but somehow, he had managed to squeeze into a pair of shorts that were seriously restricting his junk and the shirt he wore drastically exposed his midriff. No underwear was needed. Not that any would fit him anyway. Now partially dressed, he headed towards the door of his cum-stained room, casting one last look behind him at his slumbering brother.
The majority of the night had been spent in the throes of a sexual fever that had only ended about two hours ago. Two hours of sleep of somehow left him brimming with energy but Theo was completely out. He had tried to cajole his younger brother into going another round but Theo merely mumbled a dismissal even though his impressive sixteen-inch cock leaked all over the sheets. At the very least, Seb had managed to coax a powerful orgasm out of his brother even though the resulting shots splattered the nearby alarm clock which was what had told him the time.
He decided to let his brother sleep. The fix he needed could be obtained elsewhere.
He left his room, heading down the stairs while having to angle himself sideways a little and duck slightly. Now well over six feet tall and wider than any bodybuilder, this small home no longer fit him. That didn’t matter. This would not be his home for much longer.
Nyzda’Kumyr was calling him. As the Smiling Silent Echo would soon call the rest of his family. He could feel them touched by his god. His cock ached for them. Throughout the night, he had felt his dad embracing the call of the deity and he was sure Theo had as well as they came and came in anticipation of their dad joining them. But no matter how close they came to divinity, they were still mortal and eventually tired.
Now, he was energized again and Nyzda’Kumyr beckoned him to the pool once more to end this once and for all. Seb was more than happy to comply.
He left the house and was mildly surprised to find that their truck was missing. Knowing that his dad was somewhere out there entering the embrace of their great god, he guessed that the truck was with him. But he wasn’t too angry. His new physique was more than up to the task of jogging down the road all the way to the gray sands of Pargrove Beach.
It gave him the opportunity to test out his new body. Without a respiratory system or even a digestive system, his body was tuned for one thing and one thing only: pleasure. The energy required to maintain such a herculean form came from somewhere else. Without a need to eat, breathe or even defecate while also producing gallons upon gallons of cum, those reserves had to be immense indeed. The cause or logic behind it was the least of his concerns.
He needed to get to the pool.
He needed to cum.
Before he was even halfway to the beach, he was breaking out in a full-on run, grunting and huffing like a charging gorilla. His cock had softened, sitting in the pouch of his shorts which barely clothed him. The emptiness of longing was left and he was tempted to turn back around and go back to his brother. Merely being nearby another member of Nyzda’Kumyr’s brood would give him that fulfilling sensation of growing erect, the ultimate temptation of edging and the euphoric release of ejaculating.
But he could not resist that call.
Seb bolted down the side of the road, rushing past a sole car and he was sure probably giving the driver something to look at as he barreled half-naked and without shoes down the asphalt down to the beach. Only when the sun began to rise and it’s warm rays touched his face did he actually realize that he was grinning widely. It felt so natural and he wore it proudly as he strode towards the south cliffs.
His reward for obeying was a deep throbbing that came from his dick.
Bump-Bump.
“Fuck yeah…” he moaned, shamelessly running his hands down his rapidly growing cock. Precum was already pouring out of his fat balls, soaking his shorts. Within seconds, the tip of his cock wiggled out from the left leg of his shorts and was oozing a clear, bluish ichor down his leg. “I feel you, Master… I feel you and I need to cum…”
He began staggering across the sands only for something vibrating in his pants to cause him to quake and bite his lower lip. The shaking was like electricity through his nerves, causing his dick to fatten even more, about four inches poking out of his taunt shorts and the seat of his pants starting to tear from the strain.
Some human instinct had him reach into his pocket and fish out his phone. Seb barely even recalled pocketing it. The screen told him that Kate was calling. He shouldn’t answer. He didn’t want to. His relationship with the bitch no longer mattered to him. Given that he still thought of her as ‘the bitch’, though, warned him that there was still something tying him down.
And he had to give up everything, even familiar ties, to fully embrace the the pleasure Nyzda’Kumyr offered.
So he hit the ‘accept’ button and brought the phone to his ears.
“Seb, honey,” began Kate in that sickeningly sweet voice. Any other day, he would have been repulsed by her attempt to soften him up but today, on the day of his ascension, he found himself numb to everything save for the aching need in his dick. “I need to talk to you. Are you free to chat?”
“Mom,” he sighed softly, biting back a moan as his cock reached its full two-foot length, causing tears down the leg of the fabric. Thick, bluish-white goo dripped from his cock-head, just a little bit of jizz to get him started. “I’ve seen into the gaze of the One Lidless Eye and the Cowardly Pauper God that usurps his tools in this world. It is wonderful.”
There was a pause on the other end which gave him time to reach up to the collar of his shirt and give it a simple tug. It just took a little force but it was enough for the fabric to start coming undone right down his chest. His pecs were inflating already, the Idiot of Nothing was funneling more strength into him. And he could see it. He could see where all this power was coming from. It was like an invisible river soaring through the air and entering him, it’s source being the cave and the pool.
“Ooookay…” Kate began on the other hand. “I’m not entirely what you mean, honey, but it’s about your father and the upcoming divorce proceedings.”
“The divorce. Right. It’s so stupid.”
He meant that. Marriage. Divorce. Mothers. Fathers. Brothers. Sisters. All such stupid mortal constructs. Bonds that were ultimately meaningless. He writhed in pleasure, drawn towards the river of power so that he could swallow more of it, to get closer to the source and allow more and more of that power into him. A spire of flesh burst from his spine, tearing through the rest of the shirt and leaving the fabric to fall to the ground like white snowflakes. His new, powerful fin causing him to hunch forward a little. The grin on his face only grew broader.
“It really is. If your father simply had the decency to think about the family instead of being so selfish, none of this would have happened.”
Seb had to stop for a moment, holding up his left hand as he watched his skin turn a dark, coppery green. His flesh prickled, hardening into thousands of tiny, curved structures. Flexibility was not lost. In fact, as he flexed his bicep and watched it grow plumped and bigger with each step he took, that skin remained flexible enough for his veins to be clearly visible.
“Family is meaningless,” he said in awe. “We make these bonds but they are just in our head. There is nothing truly there.”
He unclenched his fist and watched as his fingers encased his fingernails, consuming them and allowing his fingertips to turn into razor-sharp points. There was raw power there, power beyond anything a human could achieve and it was still growing!
“I know it’s hurting you, honey. But you’ve got to stay strong. Some day, you’ll have a good family of your own. But you can’t do that without fixing the family you have now. That’s why I need you to help me.”
Seb reached the border of the arch. A shudder ran through his body as the thick flesh crept down his body, towards his legs. His abused shorts finally gave way, exploding in all directions as his cock finally sprang up and slapped his abdominals. The moment he started stepping onto the stones, his toes curled in pleasure. As if reading his intentions, the flesh at the base of his toes became encased in the same leathery matrix of scales, immediately protecting them from the sharp jagged rocks. He immediately uncurled his toes, letting the flesh consumed his toenails and end each digit into sharp-claw-like blades. Between each toe was a thin, web-like membrane. Swimming instantly came to mind.
“You are beyond help unless you accept the truth that is Nyzda’Kumyr,” he proclaimed, seizing his fat cock with his free hand and stroking it reverently. “The Maddening Self-Loathing Mirror teaches us that nothing matters! We are nothing! Everything is nothing! Take advantage of our flesh and one another’s bodies for ultimately, we are nothing!”
“Honey… you’re scaring me.”
Seb shuddered as pleasure built within his dick but this one was different from the last. His eyes cast down towards his member and watched in a mixture of amazement and anticipation as his cock grew thicker and thicker with each unavoidable stroke. All the power feeding into him from the mysterious source was seeping directly into him and focusing on two places; both on his lower body. The silvery flood of energy funneled into his chest and made its way down towards his crotch and the base of his spine.
His cock continued to inflate but didn’t get any longer. It grew fatter, wider and stacked on the girth rapidly. Even his new monstrous hand could no longer hold it. Simultaneously, a powerful pressure was building at the base of his spine. Turning to look over his shoulder was nearly impossible thanks to his hunched position and new fin but he could feel the bulbous mound of flesh that was growing out of his spine, new nerves and bones connecting and rewiring to fill him with more mass in which to drown in pleasure.
Seb shut his eyes, trying to focus on his conversation but at that moment, his third eye came into existence. Just as had occurred briefly in his vision, a third vertical eye split open directly on his forehead, its pupils and irises completely gone, fully replaced with just a silvery mass.
And he finally saw… and understood.
“Come to Pargrove Beach!” he cried triumphantly, laughing with every word. “Come and witness and truth of flesh that The Cast Down King offers!”
“Seb, this is crazy,” Kate replied with a shaking, frightened voice.
Seb threw his head back, just as he crossed the threshold to reach the lip of the cave. In that moment, the sheer mass of his cocks split in two. The flesh just parted right down the middle like a cell undergoing mitosis. The mass was simply too much for one member to contain so it replicated into two identical cocks springing from the same hot, muscled body. In his moment of triumph, hot, bluish-white seed burst from both his members, christening them for their new and only purpose.
The eruption unleashed the enormous, long, muscular tail that ended in a shark’s tail complete with fin. It curled in the air in tandem with his pleasure.
“Come! Come! Come to Nyzda’Kumyr!” he cried.
Those were the last words he would ever speak as he crushed the phone in his hand, the remnants of his humanity dissolving into the new form that his god grated him. Sebastian Brassard threw aside the useless piece of technology, letting it disappear beneath the waves while his hand shed the last drops of his former self and became that monstrous limb. Now he could seize both his bestial cocks in his equally bestial hands.
A primal cry rose from his throat as his shoulders swallowed his neck. Omnivorous teeth sharpened into the serrated points of a sharp and his features jutted forward, the face of a ruggedly handsome garbage man vanishing into the missile-shaped muzzle of a shark. His curly hair, well-maintained beard and eyebrows all fell off, the ocean waves lapping at his feet washing them away. Only a small goatee clung to the bottom of his chin to match the dense coat of body hair that clung to his massive chest and decorated his arms and legs like a coat.
As finishing touch and to ensure that he never spoke to another human again, his tongue snaked out between his teeth, lengthening to about as long as his arms and whipping through the air and snapping around like a whip.
The crack of his tongue echoed within the cave.
And he was greeted with similar cracks.
Seb stopped stroking his members for a moment and watched in wide-eyed amazement as five other, very sexy shark-men stepped out of the cave, all of them gripping their twin dicks and long, prehensile tongues greeting him as one of their own.
He didn’t know who they were but he certainly didn’t care.
“Nzyd! Nyzd!” they all changed through throats and mouths muffled by thick tongues and sharp rows of teeth. Nyzda’Kumyr!”
“Nyzda’Kumyr!” Seb cried
Chapter 10
Audio from a lecture from A. Z. Thoth
“Isn’t it strange how in much of history and indeed religion, we know the names of the great evils? We know who Satan is. We know Loki, Ravana, Yaoguai, Set and all the great Destroyers, the ones that are meant to end the world. Why would the great forces of good even allow the concept of ‘evil’ to exist. Why give it a name? Why define it? One could easily argue that by giving something a name, you humanize what is essentially an concept.
“So that begs the question? What things out there are undefined and why? What is so terrible, so beyond our own understanding and so fundamentally evil that the Forces-That-Be purposefully stripped it of its name so that it cannot ever be invoked? What is out there that cannot be defined?
“The answer to that is ‘The First Ones’. Bastard offshoots of the Outer Gods, Great Old Ones and Elder Gods, the First Ones were mere annoyances to those greater than them. Not so low as humans who are not even worth mentioning in the attention of the great deities, the First Ones are the progenitors of mankind and purposefully sought to selectively breed a subservient race to overthrow those better than them. Naturally, this did not go so well with the Great Ones and the First Ones were cast down.
“They were stripped of their names so that they would forever be without a name. Unlike the gods that spawned them, the First Ones are dependent on mortal worship and crave attention to exert their influence. Without this, they simply remain inert, sleeping yet awake, dead but alive, lucidly dreaming; able to exert a modicum of influence to those that stumble upon their many artifacts but never able to fully emerge for they simply have no name. The names we know them now are merely the sounds mortals make when corrupted by their influence thus even if a mortal were to fall to their plots, they can never truly exert their true power because their own identities have become nebulous and unknowable.”
*****
Theo
The sound of a motor woke Theo. As he roused, he looked towards his alarm clock. It was six in the morning. There was something significant about that time but he just wasn’t sure what. His eyes were drawn towards his aching cock which now sat fully erect and swimming in his own cum. Pride swelled in his chest and there as nothing more that he wanted to do than to pump that monster back to erection and paint the walls completely white until he passed out again.
Or until his lord and master Nyzda’Kumyr called him.
Relief and freedom came from the simplicity that the Smiling Silent Echo offered. No family. No morals. No government, religion or rules of law to keep him from fucking whoever or whatever he wanted. Just pure, unadulterated pleasure. The fact that he got to share that experience with Seb, his older brother, only made it all the more delectable.
A honk of a horn drew him from his silent worship of the Cowardly Pauper God.
He grabbed for his phone only to realize that he wasn’t in his own bedroom, he was in Seb’s. With a groan, he got up, took a long, good whiff of his brother’s masculine scent from the cum and sweat-stained pillows before hobbling towards his own room, his foot-long flaccid dick slapping against his knees and dripping bluish precum on the floor as he did so.
There was another annoying honk from the car and he shouted something unintelligible at what was effectively a very rude alarm clock. Sensibility drove him to first go to his bedroom and throw on whatever shirt and shorts he could find. The third blare of the horn woke up the sleeping parts of his brain and he realized he was wearing a cum-stained black shirt and shorts so small that his dick was poking out one of the legs. Pride swelled in his already impressive chest as he came to fully absorb the gifts that Nyzd’Okumyr had given him.
Now more awake, he received the Cast Down King’s mysterious call more clearly and understood what he must do. Removing the shirt but keeping the shorts, he returned to his brother’s room and pilfered one of Seb’s looser shirts - not that his elder brother would be using them anymore. The garment fit snugly around his taut pectorals and hugged his abdominals just enough that when the dawn light caught it in just the right way, it was possible to see the contours of his muscles.
It was perfect.
Theo strutted down the stairs, having to take wider steps to accommodate for his thick thighs and heavy, low-hanging balls. It felt unnatural to be holding his head up so high and leading with his chest for about the first five steps but then he sank into the role; absorbed the masculinity and strength that oozed sexual desire. What were mortals here for but to breed, after all? Now that he was unabashedly attractive and strong enough to make with whatever or whomever he wanted, why shouldn’t he strut around with the hungry eye of a lion in heat?
Just in time too as he reached the front door and opened it, nearly yanking off the doorknob with the sheer force of his swing.
“Finally!” came the familiar shout from the old, rusty sedan out in the front of the driveway. A heavy-set man with sun-bleached, curly, brown hair stepped out of the car, bounding over and swinging his heavy, hairy arms wide in a welcoming embrace. “When I didn’t see a car, I thought you guys had left or something!”
Theo beamed, his grin oozing with a predatory edge. “Dean!”
His boyfriend slowed his approached, stopping just on the porch of the beach house as he gazed upon the transformed Theo. Dean was a football player and played for the college team. While nowhere near as good to make it professionally, Dean still kept up with the physical strain and discipline that came the game. Theo attended every game and they had even made a ritual of making love the previous night as a ‘pregame ritual’. Needless to say, Dean was a beast compared to what Theo had been. Over six feet tall, bulky around the shoulders and chest with a little bit of a belly and monstrous thighs. While not as lean Theo was now, he had stirred Theo’s loins back when they had first met in his history class.
Theo couldn’t fathom why such a handsome, charming, popular guy had ever picked him as a boyfriend when he could have had dozens of other guys or girls especially since he came from an ultra-conservative family. Not that he could genuinely remember or even cared anymore. The only thing that rang in his mind was that he needed to get to the beach and the pool again.
And he needed to bring Dean. The Cast down King demanded it.
“I was just going out,” he said cheerily, bolting down the steps and grabbing his boyfriend’s wrist. “I wanted to show you something. Come on. Let’s go to the beach.”
Dean, mouth agape, followed along until they got into the car where he shamelessly ogled Theo before starting the car. “Okay, elephant in the room,” he declared, lifting up a thick, rough hand. “What happened to you?”
Bump-Bump.
He was jealous. That much was his first reaction. The song of the Cowardly Pauper God said the same.
Theo obeyed the call and gave his boyfriend his most charming smile. “Why? Jealous?” He lifted a bicep, the veins along the length popping and his shirt audibly straining.
“Just a little bit,” answered Dean cautiously. “But, babe, this…” He gestured at Theo up and down. “It isn’t natural…”
Bump-Bump.
Unexposed to the pool, Dean was still blind and deaf to the truth of The idiot with Nothing. So Theo was instructed to be as elusive as possible. To lure him in.
“Trust me, it’s all natural,” answered Theo with a wide, toothy smile. “It’s even more natural than anything we’ve ever done! I’m returning to how things are. Really getting in touch with the true primal forces of this universe.”
“What?” Dean strapped himself in and started to back out of the driveway. “Like Paleo?”
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
Be as vague as possible.
“Better than Paleo.”
Dean laughed softly with doubt still tinging his voice. “Okay. But is it safe? I mean, I only saw you two days ago and now… uhm…”
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
Again, play on his jealousy. Hurry. Seb was waiting.
“I’m about as big as you?” Theo finished. “It’s amazing, hon. You’ll love it. And it’s perfectly safe. My dad and brother are in on it too. We’ll go meet them at the beach.”
“Oh. Cool, I guess. Are they going to be okay with… you know… us?”
Theo’s grin grew broader. “Yeah. Definitely.”
With a car, it was only a very short drive to the beach parking lot. Theo did not react whatsoever to the presence of his dad’s truck in the same lot and practically half-dragged Dean all the way down to the gray sands of Pargrove Beach, completely ignoring the fact that he was barefoot. Dean’s complaints about getting sands in his expensive kicks went unheard as the call of the Maddening Self-Loathing Mirror grew louder and louder the closer he got to the cave.
The moment he reached the site of the arch and debris, however, Dean pulled away, making him stop and look to his boyfriend. The grin on his face remained there albeit with a slight drop in the corners of his mouth.
“Dude, are we even allowed through there?” Dean asked. “It looks dangerous.”
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
Play to his machismo, the voice told him. Dean had been the strong one in the relationship. The protector. The muscle-bound jock that looked after the physical needs of his nerdy, weaker boyfriend and would probably end up being a high school coach or self-employed personal trainer while Theo was working as a lawyer.
“Don’t tell me you’re scared,” Theo teased. “Come on! It’s just a little further and you’ll see.”
Dean puffed out his chest defensively. “I’m not scared! Just being smart. Don’t think I’d ever tell you that.”
“Exactly!” Theo exclaimed. “I’m the smart one, right? You can trust me on this.”
Dean’s shoulders sagged and he gave his boyfriend a cute, lopsided smile. “Yeah… I suppose you’re right. Let’s go.”
Beaming brightly, Theo turned and led the way through the enormous rocks. The silent song of the Smiling Silent Echo grew louder and louder, with each verse filling him with the same sensation he felt when Dean had brazenly approached him and asked him out; that unnerving sensation like someone had emptied out his stomach while he heart was on overdrive. It occurred to him that he strangely didn’t have that same rush of arousal when he looked at Dean; not that he instantly got hard whenever he saw his boyfriend back before the Cast Down King had touched him but when he had seen Seb, it was almost instinctual, primal. Even when he had picked up his own dad, his cock had ached and it took all of his self-control not to masturbate then and there.
As an experiment, he turned towards Dean, reaching out a hand to help him over a particularly large rock. When their hands touched, his dick didn’t even wiggle.
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump.
That would all change very soon.
Still wearing that broad grin, he led Dean over to the cave, only releasing his boyfriend’s hand when they entered the threshold into the darkness. In the presence of such greatness, he became enraptured with the glory of Nyzda’Kumyr and was drawn like metal to a magnet towards the pool. Even without a flashlight, he knew exactly where it was.
“Teddy! Hold up!” shouted Dean from behind, scrambling behind him. “Dude! It’s pitch-black in here! This isn’t safe! We should - urp!”
Even without turning around, he knew that one of the other followers had seized Dean. The big, muscular shark-men wrapped a clawed hand around his mouth and lifted him easily into the air in those big, muscular hands. Silvery eyes reflected the fear and confusion in Dean’s eyes as the football player could barely make out the creature in front of him and the fearlessness in which Theo strode past them and approached the basin.
Four of his fellow followers were arrayed around the pool, two on each side, each of them with their twin cocks out. Each was distinct, each possessing different markings or appearances that heralded back to their lives as mere humans. One had swirling black tattoos over his deep, blue flesh. Another had piercings up and down his fin. A third had a golden tooth and the fourth had a golden nose ring resting between his nostrils. But it was the fifth one standing on the opposite side of the basin that most attracted Theo.
An enormous hulk of a shark-man with a goatee and a thick belt of hair all over his muscled chest, arms and legs.
“Seb,” breathed Theo with a bright smile. He strode reverently around the pool, careful not to step into the waters itself. Behind him, the sixth shark-man that had captured Dean flung him down onto the edge of the basin, holding the back of his head with one hand and the other forcing him into a kneeling position. The moment Dean looked into the mirror-like pool, Nyzda’Kumyr reached out to him and his ascension began.
Theo would have watched and reassured him but he was drawn towards Seb as the final stages of his own transformation were rapidly approaching. He stopped right in front of Seb, the titanic nine foot creature looming over him with all three of eyes eyes perfectly silvery and reflecting Theo’s one grinning features. Seb’s lips slowly opened revealing his row of sharp, dagger-like teeth. Out from beneath them snaked the long, prehensile, pink tongue.
“Nyzda,” the congregation chanted.
“Teddy!” screamed Dean, pulling his gaze away from the pool. “Get away from him! This isn’t you!”
Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump-Bu-Bump.
Ignore him, Theo was advised. Focus. It was so close. But Theo shook his head. He knew Dean. He would fight with every ounce of his soul unless he was assuaged. Dean had to accept this. Had to accept them all.
“Nyzda,” continued Seb, his voice barely recognizable through the thick throat and his words muffled thanks to that constantly twisting tongue.
“It’s Seb, Dean,” he replied with a slight shake of his head. “We will all become like him. It’ll be great.”
“No!” came the desperate plea.
“Nyzda’Kumyr!”
The moment that name was uttered, Theo’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and his grin grew broader. His entire body convulsed as hot, bluish-white cum came shooting out of his dick, spraying across the floor and leaking down the side of his leg. Lost in the embrace of the Cast Down King, Theo spread his arms wide, welcoming his new home. At the same time, without ever touching their cocks, each member of the Cowardly Pauper God’s followers came. Streams of bluish-white seed came blasting out of their twin dicks, some striking the ceiling and other spraying across the walls. All of it eventually gravitated of their own according right into the pool.
The one holding down Dean didn’t weaken his grip on the poor collegiate football players even as his cum splattered across Dean’s back and ass. Dean knew too well what that feeling was and when he saw each of the shark-men cum, there was no doubt what that wetness he felt across his back was. His skin crawled at the sensation, disgust giving way to confusion when he felt his own member throb in excitement.
“Nyzda,” he chanted alongside the rest of the followers. “Nyzda!”
“Teddy!” cried his boyfriend, before the shark-man forced him to once again stare into the mirror. For an instant, Dean stopped struggling and his cock jolted with ecstasy.
“Nyzda’Kumyr!” Theo cried in unison with the others. All at once, all of them came once more. This time, the awesome presence of the Cast Down King pulsed through Theo’s dick and sent it surging right out of his shorts, rising to it’s fully erect state and splashing his cum right over his brother’s hairy chest. Thicker and longer than it had been before, it was nonetheless still half as impressive as Seb’s.
Though soon that too would change.
The sound of tearing fabric broke Dean out of his stupor, wiping the stupefied grin on his face as his own shorts grew stained from his seed. His gaze lifted towards Theo, his eyes wide at the magnificent member that stared he could somehow see despite the lack of lighting around him.
“Nyzda,” they all changed, Dean even mouthing the word. “Nyzda!”
“No…” whispered the football player, shutting his eyes. Yet as he did so, he uttered the forbidden name alongside the others.
“Nyzda’Kumyr.”
Everyone in the cave came, hot jets of their seed blasting out of their cocks. For Theo, the rush of his god exploded across his back and chest, tearing the already strained shirt off his shoulders as his pectorals ballooned out and his traps swallowed his neck, forcing him to thrust his head forward in a slight hunch. Dean felt his cock strain in an almost painful manner against his shorts. Without seeing, he just knew his dick had grown bigger. Again, that big hand over his head forced him to look down at the pool before him even as his shirt began dripping with the shark-man’s cum.
“Nyzda. Nyzda!”
“Oh god…” mumbled Dean.
“Nyzda’Kumyr!”
They came again.
The sharp blade of a fin burst from Theo’s back and he let out a loud groan as a third eye opened vertically across his forehead, fully silver. His cock grew fatter and thicker, its tip rising to almost kiss that of his brother’s helped along with the extra foot of height that was added on top of his enlarging muscles.
“Nyzda! Nyzda!”
“… God please…” moaned Dean.
“Nyzda’Kumyr!”
Theo shut all three of his eyes as another volcanic orgasm rocked the entire cave. His dick split apart into two, pointed bestial members at the same time as a shark’s tail erupted from above his shapely, bubble butt. Hot cum from his brother splashed across his chest. Where it touched, his flesh transformed into the scaly, abrasive texture of a shark’s, his coloration being the same brownish-sheen as Seb’s only with a light golden tint. What little body hair he had fell completely off with the only indication that he had been a mammal being the sharp spikes of dark brown hair on his head.
“Nyzda! Nyzda!”
“… please…” Dean pleaded, unable to tear his gaze from his own grinning reflection.
“Nyzda’Kumyr!”
There was another sound of tearing fabric. Dean’s already broad shoulders exploded from his shirt, his back bursting out like two mountains breaching the surface. His cock spearheaded his entrance into nudity, bigger and thicker than he could have ever imagined.
For Theo, he finally opened all his eyes - all completely silver - a his features morphed and twisted. Omnivorous teeth sharpened into serrated points while his nose jutted forward into the long, pointed snout of a shark. Ears vanished into his skull, reduced to two small holes into the sides of his head. The powerful presence of the Smiling Silent Echo within him pushed the rest of his body the final pieces it needed to reach the apex of his evolution. His tongue jutted forward, sliding past his teeth, past his nose and snaking through the air to lick off his own cum from the hairy chest of his brother even as he continued to orgasm. His brother’s own prehensile tongue danced across his muscled, vascular flesh, unaffected by the texture of his sharkskin. Perhaps as a final touch of uniqueness from his God, the hairs on his head grew hard and lost the mobility of human hair. They became more akin to cartilage-growths with the same texture as his old hair than actual hair.
“Nyzda,” growled what had one been Theodore Brassard. “Nyzda!”
“I want more!” roared Dean.
“Nyzda’Kumyr!”
They all came once more, as one. As they did so, the congregation turned their attention to Dean, the sole human in the chamber. With a broad, toothy grin on his face, Dean got up - dripping in cum and no longer restrained. He strode around the basin to stand in front of Theo.
No longer without a doubt and a foot-long cock throbbing against his chest, he joined in their chain fully and whole-heartedly.
“Nyzda! Nyzda! Nyzda’Kumyr!”
Chapter 11
Letter from J. Brassard
To Whoever Finds This,
I am sorry. I am doomed. What little sanity I have right now is being expended as we speak just trying to write this.
Stay away from Pargrove Beach.
My sons and I came here to reconnect after I recovered from a terrible disease. My body was left weakened but my soul was not. I fear, however, that the corruptive influence of the Smiling Silent Echo is using my own body to betray me and my soul is slowly crumbling to His Influence.
Nyzda'Kumyr is known as the Cast Down King. Even amongst his brethren he was the weakest and simply had the power to compel those around him to fuck one another and breed. From what little I could understand from these scratchings in my brain, he was never really needed by the other First Ones as back then, our human ancestors only really did two things - feed and fuck - and they did plenty of both.
When the First Ones were banished and stripped of their names, Nyzda'Kumyr was dealt the same blow with the exception that he wasn’t thrown in a cell to slumber forever. He was considered so insignificant that They couldn’t be bothered imprisoning him. So he remained awake and active, thus his title as the Cast Down King and the Idiot with Nothing.
With no power of his own, Nyzda'Kumyr has taken to using the tools of his brothers to his own ends but he can do little more than compel us to breed. To change us. To make us constantly fuck and get better at it! To make us stronger, more powerful and to fuck! To constantly FUCK!
Fuck… that’s all I want to do now. To fuck. I feel my cock aching. Everyone touched by The Cowardly Pauper God just gets so fucking horny when around one another. I feel Ernest nearby. He’s coming for me. God, I want to fuck him. I want to feel his cocks in me. I want to suck his dicks and feel him ravage me!
I NEED HIM TO BREED ME!
STAY AWAY FROM PARGROVE BEACH!
*****
Jules
Their call was inescapable and it had actually been the demand of the Idiot with Nothing that had woken Jules up. The former cancer patient had been utterly surprised that he had actually fallen asleep given what he had learned and how eager he was to join his sons and Ernest in the congregation of Nyzda’Kumyr. And yet, he was still mostly human and swimming in the cum-stained sheets and mattress of the lighthouse keeper. Where the mutant keeper had gone, he wasn’t sure, but he was alone.
The call came again.
Bump-Bump.
The endgame was approaching and he was too weak to resist it.
But not too weak to negotiate.
“Just… One last thing,” he pleaded.
Fully naked but a hulking example of a human being, he staggered out of the lighthouse and started making his way back up to his home. His bare feet felt strange against the grass and asphalt.
“Nyzda’Kumyr,” he moaned. Cum shot out of his erect cock and at that same moment, his feet transformed into the clawed, webbed appendages of the other members of the gathering. It make trekking up to the house a lot easier and with his new, powerful legs, it was made all the quicker. With Pargrove Beach being so remote and mostly abandoned, there was no risk of being seen even as he came again and a fin exploded from between his shoulderblades.
What had taken him almost half an hour when he was weak and frail only took him ten minutes. The absence of life in his beach house filled him with despair but at the same time hope. They were abandoning this place, this frail, human construct, for something bigger and grander. Perhaps it was a fitting allegory on what his life would have been. Cancer had taken its toll on him and over the next few years - or decades if he was lucky - he would constantly be fighting to keep that demon away, patching things up and improving it just as he had renovated this ramshackle beach house.
Now, the sea was calling him.
It was time to return to Nyzda’Kumyr.
But not before he did one last thing.
Jules managed to squeeze himself through the front door about halfway before the call came again.
“Nyzda’Kumyr,” he groaned. All at once, his shoulders blew up, pressing against the doorframe and cracking the ancient wood. He gasped as his biceps pushed against the very structure of the house and his cum spilled into the room beyond. With an annoyed grunt, he charged in, stumbling a few steps and giving him enough room for his tail to explode from just above his ass and smack the door clear off its hinges.
There was little time left.
He couldn’t - didn’t - want to delay his god for very much longer.
Jules approached the kitchen, having to enter sideways and even then, his erect nipples brushed against the wall as he did so. The notepad and pen was so minuscule against his hand but it was still workable… for now.
‘To Whomever Finds This,’ he wrote.
They called him again and he felt Theo succumb. His cock sprang up in joy, spewing seed all across the kitchen. He had enough sense of jerk the notepad away to keep it from getting creamed by his man-shark juices even as his cock split into two equally enormous members and started shooting his cum in all directions.
Once it calmed, he continued writing his warning as fast as he could, his thoughts slipping between his monstrous fingers while his cock dominated his every motion.
“Nyzda’Kumyr!” he roared, almost snapping the pen in his hands.
Molten shark spunk blasted out of his monster dicks, one jet smashing right through the window and shattering it. Somehow, he managed top keep the notepad dry even as his back and chest erupted into its new form, his head jutting forward as the hump to accommodate his fin came into being. His flesh turned the same earthy brown as his sons but with a faint white edge here and there. The hairs on his body fell away, even the one on his head save for the lone mowhawk-like streak that ran down his spine, over his head and even all the way down to the tip of his tail.
It was a race against time as he hurried to finish what he could as his human skin faded from his engorged biceps, his hands and finally his fingers. With a roar, he stood up, crushing the pen in his fingers and immediately rushing as far away from the notepad as he could.
“Nyzda’Kumyr!” he screamed as he came again. He shut his eyes, clutching the sides of his head with his clawed hands and falling to knees with a loud crash that cracked the floorboards beneath him. Moaning and shuddering, he body convulsed as the last vestiges of the weakened human vanished into the terrifying visage of a broad-shoulders shark.
The stream of cum ended and Julian Brassard - or what had been him - opened all three of his silver eyes, prehensile tongue snaking out between his sharp, dagger-like teeth. Standing in front of him was Ernest or at least the vessel for the Cast Down King that had started out as Ernest Kulklain. Sharing the same, emotionless silver eyes, the two males approached one another, their lips clashing and tongues lashing within one another’s throats without hesitation.
They came again and again and again.
Each orgasm a prayer of thanks and power to the Cowardly Pauper God.
To Nyzda’Kumyr.
Chapter 12
Mantra to Krthillid
He watched us at all times.
He slumbers on his Throne of Eyes.
He sleeps at all times but watches for a future he can take.
When he rouses the earth will shatter.
When he stirs the oceans will boil.
When he awakens, mortals will crumble to dust.
Praise the Lord of Blind Watchers
Praise the One Lidless Eye
Praise He Who Slumbers Awake
Kthi-lld! Kthi-lld! Krthillid!
******
?????
With Julian Brassard finally fully enthralled, the entity known as Nyzda’Kumyr no longer had to rush before he made his move. He allowed his subjects to fine pleasure in one another over and over again. Theodore Brassard, Sebastian Brassard and Dean Agnostio joined the other five ‘cultists’ in an endless orgy a myriad of permutations when it came to sexual partners. Familial bonds, mortal constructs such as ‘love’, ‘exclusivity’ or even sexual preference was no a concern for any of them. They just had to cum and keep cumming, find pleasure in their bodies and scream the name of Nyzda’Kumyr throughout the entire ordeal.
But they must never step into the basin while they did so. They crashed through stalagmites as they did so but they steered clear of the Eye of Krthillid even as their cum seeped into it supernaturally.
Julian and Ernest trashed the beach house in their furious lovemaking, tails thrashing, massive muscular bodies decimating entire rooms and covering everything in their cum. They made it out unscathed and when the sun started to set, they made their way towards the cave under the cover of darkness.
When they arrived, both joined the orgy without missing a beat.
There was no warm welcome. No greetings of familiarity. Just another set of cocks and holes to put to good use.
And with the congregation finally complete, each of his men knew what they needed to do.
Nyzda’Kumyr directed his followers into the basin, all ten of them entering the waist-deep pool - it would have been neck-deep for the average human but for these titanic monsters, they were just tall enough so that their cock and balls were visible - this was by design.
Then, the Cast Down King bid them to begin.
The orgy started all over again. Each member of the gathering found a cock to suck, a hole to stuff and a body to worship. They thrashed in the pool, came over and over and found release but never satisfaction. With each orgasm, something great and powerful stirred.
Krthillid the One Lidless Eye.
Caught in a death-like sleep, He Who Slumbers Awake felt the stirrings on the surface world. As with every First One, it latched onto the hapless mortals that had stumbled onto one of its many artifacts. Perhaps to finally break it free from its dreaming prison or perhaps just to allay it’s boredom. The First Ones - like their progenitors - are truly unknowable.
But what is certain is what Krthillid saw.
Sex. Debauchery. Corruption. The stench of his foul brother.
It screamed, a nightmare in its everlasting dream.
This cry shook a small part of the world where it still held influence; the very cave the Brassards and their fellow cultists were furiously fucking others. It was meant as a warning; a cease and desist order. But the sharks did no such thing. They continued to fuck. And cum. Fuck and cum. Over and over again and all Krthillid could do was watch in horror as the waters of his own Eye was corrupted.
So it screamed again and again, the cave shook. Stalactites fell from the ceiling. The shattered on the hard bodies of the sharks. These were no mere mortals. Their bodies were specifically crafted to resist any touch of any First One and even the forces of nature. In fact, the mild annoyance of the falling rocks only made the sharks more virile, encouraging them all the more to the point that their stirrings and lifted tails disturbed the waters of the basin, sending it splashing everywhere.
They came again. And again
They were driven by a simple, primal need. A need to cum here in particular.
Need to cum here.
Need to cum here.
Krthillid thrashed and wailed in annoyance, the nightmare driving it mad as the obscene torture came with another searing spear of agony; the influence of his weak, cowardly brother that had been left with nothing before bargaining with other powers for his own survival. This was a red-hod poker of torture that caused the Lord of Blind Watchers to thrash once more.
Needtocumhere
Needtocumhere
The quake that shook the cave was more powerful than ever. Large chunks of the ceiling came crashing down, somehow avoiding the basin itself and the sharks fucking within it. The mouth of the cave grew smaller and smaller while the toothy arch that had attracted so many to it started to crumble.
Nyzda’Kumyr
Nyzda’Kumyr
The King on the Throne of Eyes had enough.
It permanently shut off its one Eye, draining it of its power and influence. Severed from that artifact, the orgasmic cries, fevered grunts and wet, slapping sounds of bestial cocks sliding into orifices mercifully vanished. Krthillid the Futuretaker once again drifted off into its silent, deathly slumber oblivious to the fact that this was just one of countless moments of torture that the Idiot with Nothing had forced it to shut its eyes, permanently cutting off its links to the world.
The cave itself, however, everything that had been maintaining.
Walls collapsed and the ceiling fell down. The basin was shattered and the cliff side tumbled down to consume what had once been a curiosity to the rest of the world.
All according to Nyzda’Kumyr’s design.
Chapter 13
Excerpt from A Critical Analysis of the Fictional First Ones b** y Anonymous**
Chapter 4 - The Supposed End
Whether fictional or not, the truth about the First Ones is that they are halfway from the often distant and incomprehensible cosmic horrors of the Lovecrafting Mythos and monstrous humans. They deal directly with humans and have human emotions such as hatred, revenge and loathing. More than anything, they embody these traits to the exclusion of all else. None epitomize these more than the First Ones, Krthillid.
Krthillid is known by many names as is with most First Ones. The One Lidless Eyes, He Who Slumbers Awake, Lord of the Blind Watchers, King on the Throne of Eyes and the Futuretaker. He manifests as countless eyes complete with stalks of nerves all intertwined with one another. Strangely, these eyes have no pupils and just irises. This is his supposed ‘slumbering form’ forced upon him when his elders cast him down for attempting to overthrown them. Krthillid’s true form is supposedly that of a magnificent androgynous creature with four wings made entirely of oozing, seething brain matter. He has no neck or head and the lower half of his body twists into something resembling the gnarled trunk of a tree complete with roots only made of gray, undulating flesh. Thing, rail-like arms with two fingers that reach down to his base stretch from a bony torso. He sits upon a throne made entirely out of twitching and swiveling eyeballs which experts theorize is how he ‘sees’.
Krthillid’s role in the mythos is the harbinger of the end. When he wakes, his mere presence will destroy everything due to his paradoxical nature. He both sleeps and watches at the same time, when he awakens, he will die and when once again fully he exists, everything ends. It is there paradoxical nature that both prevents Krthillid from awakening and drives him forward as he must permanently look for his waking but fears it for he will end. At the same time, he wishes to search for it simply because it will end those who put him in this position. In that way, Krthillid embodies ‘spite’ itself for he has long resigned himself to looking for that end even if it means he will die as well.
This leaves his followers somewhat… fanatical and suicidal. In fact, his name is derived from the death rattles of those that kill themselves in worship of Krthillid. The favorite means of death is to slit one’s throat. They believe that by cutting their throats and, at the same time, trying to breathe, embodies the very existence of Krthillid as they are simultaneously dying - by their own hand - and trying to live - by breathing.
Needless to say, Ngzat’dhrathal hates Krthillid’s followers and does everything he can to keep them from gaining power. Thus, the First One Hero of Mankind does what he can to twist all of Krthillid’s cults and artifacts to keep them from waking He Who Slumbers Awake.
******
Kate
Katherine Coleman reached the site of the ruins, emerging from the bright red car of her boyfriend and lawyer, Norman Kale. The beach house was in utter ruins much like most of this gray, drab location. She regarded it distress and hurried over to what had once been the front porch only to stop a few feet.
“What the fuck!?” she cried in dismay. “What happened here?”
“I told you, Kate,” said Norman, lifting the sunglasses onto his bald head. “No one has lived at this place for decades ever since Pargrove Beach was abandoned. You saw and felt the state of the road. This place is shit.”
She whirled around towards the fat, balding man, barely able to hold back her disgust at him. “I’m telling you, my husband owned this place! He renovated it over years! We went here every few years until he was diagnosed with cancer! He took my kids up here and now they’ve all outright disappeared!”
Norman pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. This was a conversation they had had for several months now since they had been together. “Kate, for the last time. You don’t have a husband. You’ve never had kids. All this…” He waved in the general direction of the house. “… is just a coping mechanism for… I don’t know… something. I need you to let me in so we can talk about this.”
“I am not crazy!” Kate screeched, stomping her foot. “I am not! I swear, this house was gorgeous and I had a husband!” She turned towards the ruins of the flattened home, doubt flickering in her eyes. “I swear…”
Norman knew better than to cast doubt and lifted a hand. “Okay, okay. I’ll give you some time. In the meantime, I’m going to go check out the beach. Just give me a call whenever you’re ready for me to come pick you up. Maybe we can even go down to the beach and have some lunch. Sound good?”
“Fine,” came the aggravated reply.
Norman got back in his car and drove about five minutes back down the road to Pargrove Beach itself. While far from the golden sands of California and the mild weather of Florida, it was still a beach and he enjoyed beaches. Living in Seattle, they were few and far In between. The gray sands were a little depressing but nothing was perfect. He was just glad to be exposed to the sea breeze and get away from his hysterical girlfriend.
He wasn’t sure what had gotten into her recently but he hoped it would pass.
The northern cliff had a lighthouse that he thought would be nice to visit. Maybe get Kate up there to calm her down. The southern cliff looked a little more depressing, however. It looked like a whole section of the cliff had collapsed into itself forming a slope of unstable rocks and boulders right out to the sea; a wall of debris that made it impassible. No one was on the beach itself. It was abandoned and there was no structures there safe for a sole lifeguard station that looked abandoned.
Casting his gaze around, he wondered what this place had been back in its prime or what had ever attracted people to try and build houses here. He crouched down into the sands, letting the coolness of the grains ease his sore rump that had been stationary on the car seat for over four hours.
A soft smile came onto his features when he noticed a couple of fins breaching the waves not too far away. Squinting, he wondered if they were dolphins. Then he remembered that dolphins don’t ‘knife’ the waves like that.
“Sharks,” he grumbled. “Probably why this place didn’t kick off.”
Then that smile turned to a frown as… he could’ve sworn an arm jutted out from near those fins. Was there a guy that was being attacked? He jumped to his feet and pulled out his phone, trying to zoom in on the location of those fins. Pity he didn’t hit ‘record’ because he could have sworn he saw that arm was strangely brown and covered in dense hair and connected to the fin by a broad back. There was a moment when he saw another fin burst into the air, this one having what looked like a mane of white hair running down the edges. He blinked once and just as his thumb was going to hit the ‘record’ button, he saw a shark’s head breach the surface; one wearing a broad grin, silvery eyes and having some sort of spiky barnacle at the top of its head.
He started recording but after a few minutes… nothing else came up. A scan of the horizon revealed nothing else. It must’ve been his imagination or his camera was just terrible. No one lived here in Pargrove Beach. No one would be stupid enough to swim in an unattended shore. That delusion was just from four-hour drive over.
Some rest was necessary and maybe it was time to talk to Kate. Maybe they could drive back home before the sunset. Now that house had seen the beach house for herself and no evidence existed of this supposed husband or her kids, she’s finally give up on this delusion.
He wasn’t giving up on her. Not yet.
“After all,” he laughed softly. “What kind of man would I be if I just gave up on someone after fucking them?”
Afterword
This report concerns the mystery around Pargrove Beach.
Five years ago, seismic activity was detected off the northwestern coast of the continental United States and a new cave was discovered in the region known as Pargrove Beach. Due to the relative obscurity of this location, few took notice of it even in the scientific community. A few amateur spelunkers and cave explorers, however, decided to take the opportunity to make the first discovery. This party consisted of five individuals; Emanuel Klepnicky, Andrew Marshall, Maximilian Delroy, Marcelo Guinness and Rashad Gupta. They charted a small boat to take them around the coast and cliffs of Pargrove Beach to enter the cave.
They were never heard from again. No search was ever conducted. The families of the men who had gone missing acted like they never existed and no official records remained of them ever existing; no school records, no dental or medical records. Nothing. The only records that remained seemed to be a letter from one Ernest Kulkain to the mayor of the county warning about the missing boys.
About eight months ago, there was further seismic activity detected and a portion of the cliff separating the cave from Pargrove Beach itself collapsed. Again, due to the distance and relative low population of the beach, no one noticed. Mr. Kulkain once again wrote to the mayor to warn about people potentially exploring the cave only to get hurt but was summarily ignored. Further, Kulkain’s subsequent emails to the mayor became borderline psychotic so his warnings were not given any credence and dismissed as the ravings of an attention-seeking madman.
However, recently, a father and his two adult sons went missing from their Pargrove Beach home. Once again, no records of Mr. Julian Brassard, Theodore Brassard and Sebastian Brassard seem to exist save for the testimony of one Katherine Coleman who claims to have been married to Julian Brassard for the past twenty or so years. No proof exists of this union or the existence of the three men. Similarly, claims of Ms. Coleman that the beach home that she claims was owned and renovated by her supposed-husband were unfounded as the house in question has sat on the market for decades and never refurbished. No one has lived in it for nearly thirty years.
Curiously, the Ernest Kulkain appears to have not existed either and no one can provide testimony on his existence. Analysis of the emails sent to the mayor appear to have come from the nearby lighthouse but no one has lived in a lighthouse for decades as most - if not all - lighthouse in the United States are now fully automated and do not require anyone manning them which adds to the mystery.
The official theory is that there is a serial killer who went under the pseudonym of ‘Ernest Kulkain’ that may have abducted the eight men over the course of five years - perhaps more. This man likely possesses some modicum of hacking capabilities and has systemically removed traces of themselves and his victims from the world’s databases. This, however, does not explain how any of the relatives of the victims seem to recall them save for a select few.
On an unrelated note, a Dean Agnostio has also been reported as missing with similar circumstances though he was reported missing by his roommate in Seattle, several miles and nearly four hours drive from Pargrove Beach.
As for the cave in question, there was more seismic activity that occurred before Ms. Moore arrived at her ‘property’.
The cave itself collapsed and is no longer accessible.
Report from of Agent Christopher Winters
Federal Bureau of Investigation