SWNOVELS Chapter 5: The Nameless City of Al Azif
Clarence blinked and rubbed his eyes in disbelief, thinking he was hallucinating. However, the view continued to solidify in his eyes, refusing to dissipate. After blinking several times, Clarence could not deny the existence of the cyclopean ruined city lying before his eyes with most of it buried in the drifting sands. It protruded like a poorly buried corpse from its sandy grave. Before him sprawled what remained of a vast stone metropolis so ancient and alien it defied everything he knew as a human. Gigantic black columns and pillars of broken stone rose like jagged titan teeth from the sands eighty feet in height along with the collapsed walls of innumerable structures, temple complexes, and pyramids carved with unknown symbols and hieroglyphics in bas-relief. Everything exhibited an eerie unknown alien geometry without a single linear line. Many of the columns and pillars twisted like colossal corkscrews stabbing the skies. Strange spherical structures lay collapsed, smashed in like gigantic eggs. Other structures took on serpentine, insectoid, reptilian, arachnid, or crustacean looks that were demolished. Yet more structures exhibited a purely alien architecture never seen before by humans that seemed right down blasphemous to even Clarence, who had taken time to study such arcane forbidden tomes such as the terrible De Vermis Mysteriis, the abominable Book of Eibon, the sinister Greater and Lesser Keys of Solomon, the obscene Pnakotic Manuscripts, and even the unmentionable Necromicon. He’d even cautiously perused other forbidden volumes such as the hideous Book of Dyzan, the diabolical Cultes Des Goules, and the blasphemous Unaussprechlichen Kulten of Von Junzt...otherwise known as the Nameless Cults, along with more customary occult writings such as the various Talmudic, Gnostic, Theosophist, Zoroastrian, and Kabbalistic texts. He’d even carefully perused many a dark grimoire, including the sinister writings of Aleister Crowley, the Books of Hsan, the Daeomonolatreia Remigius, the Book of Thoth of Egyptian lore, and Justin Geoffrey’s maddening People of the Monolith. Finally, he had warily examined the many of the arcane forgotten Sanskrit and Vedic texts of ancient India along with ancient texts from Persia, China, Japan, and the Americas most never knew existed.
From the moment he set his eyes on those blasphemous volumes, he believed many of them to be fictitious products of diseased, insane imaginations not to be taken seriously or literally. Yet something deep inside him told him not to dismiss these treacherous infernal tomes, especially those alleged fictitious works coming out of the Lovecraftian circle of authors. He had seen too many times in the past as a henchman of various occult masters, including Hades that the world isn’t always as it seems and grains of truth and reality can be found even in the most obscure and blasphemous of arcane texts and relics, especially the fictitious ones. He suspected the tomes hid forbidden arcana of a most hideous sort disguised as fictions to dissuade all but the most devoted adepts from plumbing their diabolical secrets. When he personally witnessed Hades summoning a real living demon using a ritual and incantations from the dreaded Necronomicon and ordering it to take out an enemy, he immediately realized some of the volumes weren’t just fictions to be dismissed out of hand. This had spurred him to study them with far more than casual interest out of a desire of self-preservation. He had to understand the threats written of in the infernal volumes to be ready for them. His main interest in these hideous volumes quickly turned to study the forgotten alien histories and to be able to identify the various entities written within the cursed tomes, along with ways to protect himself and his soul from such eldritch evil abominations. In his studies, he purposely stayed away from many of the summoning incantations and rituals, not wishing to call down inadvertently any of the cosmic monstrosities from the far abysses of the multiverse under any circumstances. Only the protection spells and incantations did he ever practice in order to protect himself from those fiendish elder abominations of the outer darkness just in case he were to encounter one.
As he gawked at the alien ruined city materializing before his eyes, Clarence recalled the tales of both Iram...the City of Pillars along with the Nameless City in the dreaded Necronomicon, which is also known as Al Azif. He paled and trembled as he saw the low sandstorm in the distance slowly dissipating, revealing more of the dark foreboding city in the rising sun. Any doubts about the validity of the cursed texts fled as he saw the terrible truth they spoke of materializing before his eyes. The forbidden texts were the real thing hidden in plain sight as fictions written by reputedly insane authors. Surtur cackled madly as the ruins became clearly visible as the sun rose higher in the sky.
“By all the gods of darkness and light,” Clarence breathed in utter astonishment. “Iram...the City of Pillars; it’s Iram! I thought it was just a myth! Al Azif was right! It’s real! All of it is real!”
“Excellent, my ignorant apprentice,” Surtur retorted with glee, realizing Clarence had started to grasp the hideous implications facing him. “You’re starting to get it now, but you err in your identification of this long forgotten cursed pile. This is not Iram. Iram lies far to the east of us in the remote desert wastes of western Oman, buried for seven millennia under the burning shifting sands in a place only a handful of your kind have ever dared to go. Only this place is more shunned than Iram in these desolate wastes where no sane human ever ventures. This truly is what you know as the Nameless City written about by the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred in Al Azif. It’s a city far older than anything you can ever imagine, a city ridiculously ancient when Iram was just starting to be built. It’s a place of unimaginable impossible antiquity and hideous ancient power from long before your species even appeared on this pathetic mud ball of a planet.”
“I remember reading about it in the old texts and histories,” Clarence remarked softly in awe. “But I never truly believed it to be real until now. Moreover, I haven’t been able to understand why it was called the Nameless City. Is that because it rose and fell before mankind ever walked this planet and they have no memory of it like Alhazred suggested?”
“Abdul Alhazred was a fool of fools who saw far too much,” Surtur chimed with menacing delight. “What he learned about this city drove his feeble human mind insane, and he met a fitting end when he stupidly unleashed forces beyond his ken he couldn’t even dream of controlling. The forces of the Most Ancient Darkness do not take kindly to mere human germs summoning them like dogs to do their bidding. They are the ones who summon and rule, not pathetic humans germs like you. That’s why they sent a Kandarian Shambler from the darkest abysses to rend his body and soul as a brutal example to those who would dare to summon and try to control them. After all, if you recall your studies, Alhazred was reputed to have been devoured alive in broad daylight by some gigantic invisible monstrosity in a most gruesome manner witnessed by everyone in that square in western Damascus. They never saw the creature, but saw its fiendish work very clearly and a colossal hideous flitting dark shadow leaving the scene after it finished its gruesome task. All that was left of Alhazred were splashes of blood, a few grizzled chunks of his flesh, bone, and viscera sticking to the walls and ground where the Shambler ambushed him from the shadows. Only those who had eyes to see knew what was happening and made sure to say well out of reach of Alhazred’s shadowy nemesis. Those who couldn’t comprehend or see what was really happening ran screaming in utter mad panic, scurrying away like the vermin they were. Once the creature had taken its target, it vanished back into the shadows with Alhazred’s soul, never to have its actions witnessed by another living human germ. Remember that, my apprentice. Do not tempt the Dark Powers unless you’re prepared to take their wrath and lose your immortal soul to them for all eternity.”
Clarence’s eyes grew wide at the words, despite the sands blowing into his eyes. He suddenly realized Surtur spoke not as one recounting a legend, but as one who had actually witnessed Alhazred’s gruesome death. Furthermore, he suspected Surtur knew the exact nature of the Kandarian Shambler that had devoured Alhazred all those centuries ago and wished to understand the creature as a potential foe. As the questions coalesced in his consciousness, Surtur interrupted his chain of thought, warning darkly with his eyes blazing brighter with the smoldering hellfire, “Your thoughts betray you, my stupid foolish apprentice. Have you forgotten I can see the innermost thoughts and machinations of your mind? You seek answers not meant for you, so drop it if you value your life and soul. Just be satisfied knowing I didn’t lie to you about Alhazred’s fate, which will become yours if you persist now that you realize Al Azif is not just a dark morbid fairy tale. You willingly took on the risk by delving into those arcane cursed volumes the way you did.”
“That I did,” Clarence agreed, cowering before Surtur not willing to defy him. “I admit....”
“Shut the fuck up and listen, you stupid yapping human cur,” Surtur demanded imperiously in a deadly icy tone. “You still don’t fully realize the peril of your position. With revelation comes the responsibility of that revelation along with what you do with it. Now understand this and let it sink in to that stinking rotten melon on top of your neck. The old gods of the Most Ancient Darkness do not tolerate mortals seeing or interfering with them nor their plots. Alhazred saw far too much and paid the ultimate penalty for his curiosity and greed for forbidden knowledge, as you are dangerously close to doing. Take his example to heart and do not follow his path to destruction. You still have a use to me. I do not wish to see the Kandarian Shamblers devour your body and soul before you have fulfilled my purpose in my Great Game. Neither would I wish to see one of the many other treacherous dark enforcers of those old gods send you to your fate before I’m finished with you, so keep a tight rein on your curiosity and don’t seek knowledge you can’t possibly comprehend or deal with. Don’t tempt them or me with your insignificant lurid lust for knowledge and power. It will only lead you to destruction, and possibly mine, which I will not allow under any circumstances. We are far too close for you to fuck up what I what I’ve planned with ill-advised musings about the nature of this cursed ruin haunted by the old gods themselves. They’re are not going to tolerate anyone snooping around, and neither am I. Do I make myself perfectly clear, my foolish, stupid brainless apprentice?”
Clarence realized abruptly with Surtur’s savage rebuke of his very thoughts that first, he could not hide any of his questions or intentions from Surtur and second, this was not the time or place to entertain such musings. Furthermore, as Surtur chastised him verbally for his curiosity, Clarence suddenly felt an inexplicably ominous chill race down his spine again while he scanned the ruins hearing the same eerie inhuman moaning howl on the wind he’d heard from the Land Rover while approaching the city. It was the same feeling he had when he saw Surtur looking like a fanged alien mummy in the Land Rover, but this was a hundred times worse. It caused him to pale, which Surtur noticed immediately.
“You’re starting to get it now, don’t you?” Surtur hissed icily, “You sense the dark power of this place. It unnerves you, and rightly so. Concentrate on your surroundings and not on the idle musings of the nature of this place that will most likely attract the unwanted attention of the Dark Powers still haunting this pile. Am I perfectly clear on this? The last thing we want is to bring down the dark djinn enforcers on us for trespassing for they ruthlessly punish any transgressor of this cursed place.”
“Transparently, boss,” Clarence replied grimly, “I know I’m just a man who can’t possibly understand, harness, nor control the Dark Powers the way you can, nor would I want to. Just from my studies of the forbidden tomes, I have some idea how hideously heinous and powerful they are, and want to keep as much distance between them and me as possible.”
“Good; you’re finally learning...very good. You may yet survive this,” Surtur chimed icily, his evil voice echoing softly, but menacingly off the ruins around them in a way that unnerved Clarence further. “Being wary of their presence is the first step in surviving them. By being sensitive to their presences, you can avoid any unnecessary encounters with them, which would most likely end in your grisly death,” he instructed coldly, looking directly at Clarence, who suddenly realized Surtur no longer looked like an ancient evil mummy sorcerer he’d only seen described in barbarian fantasy novels. Surtur now looked like a normal human in appearance where his mask didn’t cover his face while his hands likewise looked human. However, Surtur’s eyes still reflected an inky blackness with hellfire flickering in them that Clarence could not miss, nor could he ignore the empowering of Surtur’s evil aura just by being in this place.
“Right; I get what you’re saying, boss,” Clarence replied as he finally grasped the concept Surtur had verbally bludgeoned into him. He also was relieved that Surtur now looked more normal. However, his fear of Surtur gnawed at his mind and gut like a jackal chewing on a bone. It made him very cautious with his words and thoughts around Surtur. “But I still don’t understand why this place is called the Nameless City,” he admitted carefully. “Every city has a name, even if my kind can’t remember it. You don’t happen to know what this place called, do you.”
Surtur sneered with a venomous reptilian hiss escaping his veiled lips. He slapped Clarence roughly on the back of his head so hard it sent him sprawling on the titan block they stood on. “Are you truly dense?” he snarled, now becoming truly irritated with Clarence’s insistence on finding out about the place. “What did I just tell you, you fucking idiot?”
Clarence rubbed the back of his head as he rose to his feet. “Forgive me, boss,” he apologized sincerely, “I didn’t think knowing the name of this nameless ruin would be a problem. I just wanted some way to identify it from all the other places I’ve been; nothing more. Is that such a crime?”
“No, I guess not,” Surtur replied after a lengthy pause and another irritated hiss escaping his lips. “I suppose you’re going to figure it out at some point anyway since you’re far more clever than most of your kind with a perchance to take daring risks most would not even think of doing. If I tell you, will you stop pestering me with incessant questions you have no business asking?”
“Yeah boss, I swear it,” Clarence answered softly, rubbing the lump on the back of his head that rose from where Surtur struck him. It then occurred to him that Surtur knew exactly where they were, what was there, and what the name of the city was. “You know it, don’t you?” he surmised.
“Of course I know its name,” Surtur crowed evilly in a tone so alien and ancient it made Clarence shudder. “However, the true name of this city is unpronounceable in your human tongue since it was built by a species far older and superior than you pestilent human germs. Eventually, your species discovered this place long after it fell into ruin and took it for their own without realizing it was not abandoned. They quickly discovered their mistake as they strove to rebuild it while plumbing its secrets. The true masters of the city swarmed from the Abyss Gate and slaughtered all they encountered, tearing them apart and demolishing all the humans had done to their city in an orgy of annihilation. Only a handful of humans escaped their wrath, including a rather clever sorcerer mage sent here by their gods to discover the truth of the dark city lost in the desert reputedly to have been built before time itself. Before escaping the calamity, the mage discovered their archive and managed to decipher some of their writings. In those forbidden archives, he transcribed the unpronounceable name of the city into something you humans could comprehend, along with some of the city’s history.” Surtur purposely paused with the tale, gazing into Clarence’s eyes like a serpent mesmerizing its prey. He clearly saw his apprentice hanging on his every word.
“What did the mage find?” Clarence asked softly with fearful anticipation.
“The foolish mage discovered the city was called Vendikar in the tongue of your kind,” Surtur answered with an icy imperious tone that jarred Clarence to his core. “That was when he realized their peril for his penetration of the archive had alerted the masters of the city, who came charging forth to find verminous humans looting their treasures and rebuilding their city according to human tastes, which utterly revolted and enraged them. They swarmed in a flood of slavering toothy death, devouring all they encountered and driving a handful of survivors into the forbidden desert without any supplies. Most didn’t make it across the lethal sands, but those who did, including the mage, who refused to name the city after the escape out of an abundance of caution, spread word to stay away from the nameless ruined city in the deep desert...that it was cursed by unspeakable ancient evils that would annihilate any who chanced on it. Those who escaped the city and its masters didn’t escape their ultimate fate, for one by one, they were hunted down and destroyed by the same Shamblers that destroyed Alhazred many millennia later. This place is cursed by an ancient evil older than time itself and wider than this universe, and the masters of this place do not suffer fools and thieves to intrude on them. The repercussions of trespassing and defiling their territory are dire, so if you wish to survive this encounter, stop trying to discover their secrets and don’t disturb anything. In fact, do not think or touch anything at all. They still guard their treasures and secrets with extreme prejudice and will eat your human ass as quickly as you consume a candy bar. Now no more questions; I have work to do. Follow me, and keep you mind quiet and your trap shut. I will not tolerate any idle thoughts or chatter. We must be as quiet and silent as the ghosts that haunt this cursed pile. You give away our position and I’ll kill you myself. Do I make myself clear?”
“Transparently boss,” Clarence answered, cowering beneath Surtur’s inhuman gaze and deadly imperialistic tone. “You don’t need worry about me giving us away by doing anything stupid. I know when I’m in over my head. I’ll follow your lead since you know far more about this place than I could ever know.”
“Good,” Surtur hissed darkly with a sinister smile. “That’ll do.”
“Before we move into the city, what’s your objective so I can keep my eyes open for it?” Clarence asked very cautiously.
Surtur turned a very sour look to Clarence, clearly annoyed at the question. “Never you mind,” he snapped menacingly, “Just follow me and do EXACTLY as I tell you. I know where I’m going. You just keep your eyes open for potential enemies and do not touch anything. If Fate favors us, we’ll not awaken the masters of the city.”
“Lead on, boss,” Clarence murmured, realizing he’d best shut up.
“This way,” Surtur ordered imperiously. “Stay close, and keep your eyes open.”