Page 28 of Dark Stars
Stepping back, giving them both plenty ofroom, he finally gave the space they were in a proper look over.Dreary cave, with only torches for light. Guess they hadn't beenable to get their dubiously strung electricity down this far. "Ismell petrichor. Not a smell you find in caves. There's green downhere somewhere. That would explain a lot."
"What do you mean?" Alejo asked as theystarted walking.
"Shub-Niggurath is the All-Mother, a deityof fertility, if twisted and perverse, and so her powers are boundto the earth, to soil and growth, to life. She can only be summonedby mortals in the midst of an ancient forest beneath the light of anew moon and with a steep offering few are willing to pay—at leastimmediately. Instead baby cultists wait until the dark of the moonand make a blood sacrifice in the woods to summon her Dark Young.To find them skulking in caves, well beneath all that feeds theirpower…Well, it's like finding a fish swimming in sand. Combine thatwith the fact they've summoned not just one or two butseveral…and you can call me highly concerned." He paused asthey came to a crossroads, their one tunnel splitting into threepaths, and took a deep breath.
After a moment, he pointed to the left-mostpath, dark and narrow, with no light visible from where they stood,though that wouldn't affect him any. "This way, the petrichor smellis coming from that direction."
"Smell anything interesting from the othertwo?"
"People, though not currently present.Blood, old and new. Gunpowder. Steel. More of those herbs we foundearlier. Nothing good, that's for sure."
Alejo sighed. "Well, let's go find thesource of this petrichor, and then go from there."
"Stay behind me, stay close. I don't darecall up light, not until we know what's on the other end."
"Got it."
Bobby resumed walking, some of his growingtension easing as he felt Alejo hook fingers through his beltloops, close but careful not to trip either of them up. They walkedfor what felt like ages, but probably wasn't more than ten, twentyminutes. They took several tight turns in a tunnel that seemed toget smaller and smaller, until they were hunched over to getthrough the last stretch of it.
On the plus side, the further they went, theless dark it became. Never bright, but just visible enough thatAlejo could let go of him and walk on his own without issue. Therewas one last bend, and a sharp increase in light, and then theywere tumbling out into…
A forest. The caves hid an entire whole assforest, growing in a natural stone dome. High, high above sunlightstreamed down from various cracks. What must all that look likefrom the outside? How had it never been found before?
Well, that wasn't a hard question to answer.Between creepy cults and primordial assholes, entire cities couldbe hidden, nevermind a cave forest that wasalreadyhidden.
It was absolutely beautiful, like the thick,dark forests of famous fairytales, filled with creatures that mosthumans accounted myth these days. The damn thing must be at least afew acres, like a great forest that had been entombed, even thoughthe cave had obviously been here first. The petrichor smell wassoft, pleasant and soothing in a way wholly unique, found nowhereelse he'd ever been.
He could hear wildlife, birds and squirrelsand other small creatures. How would they have adapted to life in acave, versus their relatives who lived above the earth? He was noscientist, but the studies would be fascinating, enthralling. Maybewhen this was all over and he'd cleansed the place of primordialrot, he'd make certain the right humans found it and saw it treatedwell.
"Incredible," Alejo breathed. "Like afairytale. I want to explore it like Little Red Riding Hood."
Bobby snorted a laugh. "Didn't she get eatenby the wolf?"
"She got free again," Alejo replied with ascoff. "Anyway, I have a boyfriend way worse than any wolf."
Shamelessly preening at the words, Bobby ledthe way into the woods, taking hold of Alejo's hand just because.He could easily get used to this, walking hand in hand with Alejowherever he went. Though he'd prefer to do so strolling down astreet or dragging him into the bedroom, but those were thoughtsfor later.
For the present, he focused on the steadilyincreasing presence of evil he was feeling, letting it guide himthrough the forest, finally reaching what was probably the exactcenter of it. Where they found precisely what he'd expected:
An enormous statue that had Alejo gaspingand jerking back to huddle behind him, arms wrapped tightly aroundBobby's waist; and an enormous stone altar, stained with blood oldand new. If he explored the tree line surrounding the clearing, hewould probably find all manner of bones, including those of newbornbabes.
"Wh-what is thatthing," Alejo asked,shuddering against him, head buried against his back. "It'sawful."
"A representation of Shub-Niggurath." Bobbystared at it, grimacing slightly, because he might not struggle tolook upon his relatives the way nearly all other creatures inexistence did, but that didn't mean looking at the All-Mother waspleasant. This statue was of the most common way humans interpretedher form, a larger, grander, and more ominous version of her DarkYoung, a creature reduced to the size of a redwood in mostinterpretations, a branching tower of writhing tentacles anddripping maws from which spewed all sorts of ill-born creations,from feeble things that barely drew their first breath before beingconsumed by something else, to beings much, much worse than theDark Young.
Far worse than the statue itself, though,was the base, where stone vessels like those used to store pickledand fermented foods in ancient times had been carved. They werealso covered, and those covers locked in place. A bad sign if everhe'd seen one.
He turned and hugged Alejo close, kissinghim softly, stroking his hair. "Stay here. I have to investigatethose vessels."
"Why?" Alejo asked. "I'm getting reallytired of getting freaked out by statues."
Bobby kissed his temple. "In your defense,they're meant to freak you out. Stay here, and if I tell you torun, do it."
"I will."
Reluctantly leaving him at the tree line,Bobby headed across the field, making a wide berth around the foulaltar before approaching the statue and climbing up until he wasstanding amongst the stone vessels. It took no effort to snap thelock, and he tossed the pieces aside before removing the lid andtossing that as well.
Inside, exactly as he had feared, was thegrayish, faintly pearlescent Milk of the All-Mother. Humans whodrank it were twisted and warped into unholy perversions of life,yet another way she 'birthed' her many dark creations. If he drankit, it would be like snorting cocaine. Nobody wanted that.
