The Legend of Silver and Gold Book Two The Old Ones

The three came out of Nichallo’s shop through the backdoor before Carver stopped walking. He could hear movement heading towards them. “Quickly, hide.” He told Elizabeth and Tora. He wasn’t sure what was coming but he knew that they didn’t have a lot of time. He saw an open door that led to the back side of the building next to Nichallo’s shop. “Go in there.” He said before he opened the backdoor to Nichallo’s shop.

Elizabeth frowned but before she could say anything, she heard the same thing Carver had heard. She pulled Tora into the back of the other building. She looked at the door as Carver came in. “What’s out there?” She asked in a quiet voice.

Carver closed the door, sealing the three in darkness. “I don’t know but if we’re right and the kidnapper is making sure that no one is stopping them from releasing the Old Ones, there’s a good chance it’s another Old One or a servant of the Old One.” He whispered.

Carver leaned down and looked through a small hole in the door. He could see into the alleyway. What he saw made him worried. There was a tall thin man in a black suit standing in the alleyway. Carver noticed that the man looked like he was from Egypt. His facial features reminded Carver of the Egyptian sarcophagus the old museum had. The man’s eyes were chilling white.

Carver heard more movement in the alleyway. To his surprise, there were men in black body armor suits carrying large rifles in their hands. They looked very small compared to the tall thin man.

The tall thin man looked at the entrance to Nichallo’s shop. “Ah fahf shop ot syha’h’bthnk nnnogor?” He asked the soldiers.

“Um…do you speak English?” One of the soldiers asked. “No offense but no one here speaks your language.”

The tall thin man looked at the soldier who had spoken. “I asked, “is this the shop of the immortal guardian.” He told the soldier.

“Yes Sir.” One of the other soldiers replied. “According to Mr. Tempest, the three would be here looking for clues that would lead them to the prisoners.”

The tall thin man looked down the street. They couldn’t be there for too long. “Search the shop but be quick.” He told the soldiers. He could sense someone was watching them. He looked at the closed door.

Carver’s eyes widened when he saw the tall thin man look towards the door they were hiding behind. He wondered if the tall thin man knew that they were there. He quietly backed away from the door. He looked in the direction that Elizabeth and Tora were in. He reached out to them. “We need to get out of here.” He told them in a quiet voice. Carver reached out blindly and slowly crept forward. He knew that if he made any loud noise, the tall thin man out in the alleyway would hear them.

Carver felt the wall ahead of him. He started walking to the left to try to find the door. He could hear the soldiers in Nichallo’s shop. They were loud which would work in their favor. He smiled as he grabbed onto a door handle. “Get ready to leave quickly.” He told Elizabeth and Tora quietly before he opened the door.

To his horror, the movement in Nichallo’s shop stopped. Carver slowly crept around the open door and into the main part of the building. Carver realized that the room was a part of a vacant business. There were no windows in the front of the building. It didn’t look like the soldiers figured out where they were. He turned around and motioned Tora and Elizabeth to follow him. They all walked quietly to the front of the vacant building.

“What’s the plan?” Elizabeth asked Carver. Carver looked at her. “We need to get out of here and walk down this street. We can board a charter bus that goes to Brooklyn.” He didn’t want to leave his car behind but it was still in the alleyway where that tall thin man was.

Carver didn’t know why but whoever that guy was, gave him a bad feeling. It was the same thing he had felt when he had seen Shub-Niggurath in the park. Carver wondered if the guy was an Old One too.

Carver then noticed that Tora looked really scared. He leaned down in front of her. “We’re going to get out of here.” He told her. Tora wasn’t his daughter but Carver was still willing to protect her the way a father should. He stood up and faced the door. “As soon as this door is opened, we run. Don’t stop until we get to the bus pickup station.” He said quietly.

Carver opened the door and they ran out of the building, going to their left as they ran. They could hear shouting coming from behind them. No doubt one of the men had seen them running away. Carver looked over his shoulders as they ran. His eyes widened. The tall thin man was standing by the entrance to Nichallo’s shop just staring at them. He had a creepy smile on his face.

Carver looked ahead. “It’s an Old One.” He told Elizabeth and Tora. “I don’t know which one it is though.”

Elizabeth looked over her shoulder at the Old One. Her eyes widened. “It’s Nyarlathotep.” She said before she looked ahead. “He’s one of the Outer Gods like Shub-Niggurath. He’s the messenger, and the Crawling Chaos.” She silently cursed. “He’s the one behind the inspiration for Set, the Egyptian God of Chaos after being popular in Egypt.”

As they ran, Carver noticed that time seemed to slow down until it seemed like it was frozen. Noticing that it was getting darker despite being the middle of the day, Carver stopped running and looked up at the sky. His eyes widened. It was the night sky.

“Carver…” The hair on the back of Carver’s back stood up. It was a chilling voice. He slowly turned around. Nyarlathotep was standing right behind him. The Old One still had a creepy smile on his face. “Did you really think that you could out run the messenger of the Old Ones?” He asked.

Carver looked at Elizabeth and Tora. They were frozen in time as well. He looked at the Old One. “Don’t hurt them.” He told Nyarlathotep. “Tora doesn’t have any powers. She’s not a threat to the Cthulhu Mythos.” He stood between Nyarlathotep and Tora. “She’s just a child.”

Nyarlathotep laughed a little. “Do you think you can stop me from hurting her?” He asked Carver. “I am an Old One. I existed thousands of years before the Dark Ones did. Compared to me, the Dark One Chaos, the very same Dark One who possessed you and nearly killed the golden child and silver child, is a baby.”

Carver remembered how powerful Chaos had been. He could still feel the phantom scars that Chaos had left him.

Nyarlathotep snapped his fingers and the scenery around the two changed. They were now in a fancy-looking living room. There were lit candles all along the four walls that lit two couches in the center of the room. On one of the walls was a portrait of a young man in a suit. Between the two couches was a glass coffee table.

Carver noticed that the ceiling was missing and that they could see the starry sky. “Where are we?” He demanded, looking back at the Old One. “Where is Tora and Elizabeth?”

Nyarlathotep sat on one of the couches. “They’re still where we left them.” He replied. “On a street in your city, frozen in time with the rest of the world.” He waved his hand over the surface of the coffee table and it showed Elizabeth and Tora on the street. “As to where we are, we’re located in a pocket dimension. I created it so I have a place to go to when I decide to get away from the messiness of the human world.”

Carver slowly sat across from Nyarlathotep. He didn’t trust the Old One but at least he now knew why he was called the Crawling Chaos. “Why am I here?” He asked.

“Right down to business I see.” Nyarlathotep said. “Very well. You are here because you and your friends are looking for your missing friends. Cassidy and Nichallo I believe.”

Carver sat up. “Where are they? Why did you take them?” He asked.

Nyarlathotep looked at the portrait for a few seconds before he looked at Carver. “They’re where they need to be so they can’t interfere with Mr. Tempest’s plans.” He replied before he smiled. “All I will say is that you won’t find them before the Old Ones are released.”

“You mean Old Ones that didn’t escape being sealed away or when Lovecraft tried to release you guys the first time.” Carver said, looking at the picture. He recognized Lovecraft’s portrait. There was a similar version of it at the local library. He turned back to Nyarlathotep. “I have to say, you don’t look like the Cthulhu Mythos that he described.”

“Our servant didn’t exactly want random people finding out that we were real.” Nyarlathotep explained. “He made sure that only certain people, like Mr. Tempest and others who serve us, knew what he was trying and hid his plans away in his books.”

Carver thought about that. He knew that Lovecraft had written several books. He realized that some of them talked about the Cthulhu Mythos coming out of portals or from the heavens. “He wanted to release your kind back into the world through one of those portals.” He said as he remembered something.

Nyarlathotep nodded. “Thanks to Mr. Tempest, we will soon be back and in full strength.” He said.

“What does this have to do with my friends and me?” Carver then asked. “You never told me why you brought me here.”

“I want to give you and your friends a chance to give up willingly. Let Mr. Tempest release my brethren back into the world. Let us take this world and we can rewrite your lives. You had a chance at having a family once. Now you can have one with Cassidy and Tora. None of you will remember your dead wife.” Nyarlathotep told Carver. He thought it was a good deal.

Carver stood up. “I once nearly died making sure that the Dark Ones didn’t retake this world.” He told Nyarlathotep. “I am willing to die to protect my friends.”

Nyarlathotep didn’t seem surprised to hear that. “Very well.” He said. “I’ll give you a few days to think about my offer.” He said. “If you change your mind, call out my name and I will rewrite your lives.”

Carver watched the scenery change around them, noticing that Nyarlathotep was disappearing as well. Soon he was back on the street by Tora and Elizabeth. Time resumed.

Tora and Elizabeth ran a few feet away from him before they stopped. They both turned to him. “Carver, we need to get going.” Tora said. “That Old One and his men are…where did they go?”

Carver turned around so he was looking towards Nichallo’s shop. He noticed that Nyarlathotep’s men were gone.

“Carver, what happened?” Elizabeth asked. She could tell that something had happened.

Carver looked at them. “I know who killed Skye.” He said as he remembered that Nyarlathotep had mentioned his dead wife. “A servant of the Old Ones was at my home the day Skye was murdered. What’s more, I now know who the important guest was that never arrived at the museum that day.”

Carver went up to Elizabeth. “Do you know a Mr. Tempest?” He asked.

Elizabeth shook her head. “Never heard of him.” She replied. “Who is he?”

“I believe he was the important guest who never showed up at the museum. He made sure that the museum curator kept me at the museum despite the power outages that day.” Carver explained. “He’s also the one who has Cassidy and Nichallo right now.”

Carver didn’t know why this Mr. Tempest had waited this long after the murder of Skye to capture Nichallo and Cassidy but he had a feeling that it had to do with Lovecraft. “We need to find the new silver child before we head to Providence in Rhode Island.” He told them before he started walking.