THROUGH A DREAMLIKE HAZE, FORT found himself running next to Dr. Opps through a door. Damian stood in the middle of a room, his eyes wide, his mouth hanging open, as a creature out of horror books floated in the air above him, its transparent and vaguely humanoid body covered in crystal armor, its tentacle fingers locked on Damian’s head. A helmet in the shape of a screaming skull topped the body, and another mass of tentacles splayed out from the face hole grotesquely.
Whatever it was, Fort knew he’d seen it somewhere before, or one just like it. Through his daze, he barely recalled the officers’ mess from the day before, and a similar set of armor, with tentacles for hands and feet. “It’s back, Dr. Opps!” he tried to shout, but nothing came out of his mouth, and he cursed silently at his own powerlessness.
And that was when he realized where he was. Another memory of Sierra’s, another dream he couldn’t escape.
“Get away from him!” Dr. Opps shouted, pulling a gun from his waist and firing at the creature several times.
Each of the bullets passed through it harmlessly, and Damian slowly raised a hand.
“THERE IS NO NEED to hurt it, Dr. Opps,” Damian said, his human voice flickering in and out with something darker, and much more ancient. “It found me. It can GUIDE US IN OUR USE OF THE BOOKS.”
“Let the child go free now,” Dr. Opps said, not lowering his weapon, even though it was useless.
“THE HUMAN IS NOT UNDER its control,” Damian said. “It joined with me, so that YOU MIGHT UNDERSTAND US. SPEAK FOR US.”
“Sierra, look inside and tell me if Damian’s okay,” Dr. Opps whispered. Louder, he said, “What do you want?”
“It just told you,” Damian said. “It really is here to TEACH HUMANITY TO USE THE POWER THAT’S BEEN REDISCOVERED.”
Sierra slowly reached her mind out toward Damian’s, gently searching around the edges of his consciousness to see if he actually was under the creature’s control. Though she could feel the creature inside his brain, hovering like a terrible coming storm, Damian did seem aware of what was happening and in control of himself still.
Unless the monster was somehow deceiving both of them.
“How do you know about us? Who are you?” Dr. Opps asked, slowly lowering his gun.
“It once lived here, OUR FORMER HOME,” Damian said. “HUMANS LIVED ALONGSIDE US. WE DISCOVERED MAGIC, AND TAUGHT IT TO YOU. BUT YOU WERE NOT READY, so the magic went away, and WE LEFT. BUT YOU ARE NOW CAPABLE, SO THE MAGIC HAS RETURNED. AS HAVE WE.”
Something lit up inside Damian’s head, catching Sierra’s attention. In a human being, she would have thought that she’d just heard someone lying to her. But this creature was so alien, it could have meant anything.
“Why did you leave?” Dr. Opps asked, his fear dropping away in the face of curiosity and excitement. “Where did you go? What should we call you?”
“We apparently used to CALL US THE OLD ONES,” Damian said. “AS WE WERE ANCIENT WHEN HUMANITY FIRST LEARNED TO CRAWL. WE HAVE JOURNEYED FAR TO return to their former home. But they need THE HELP OF THOSE WHO CAN USE MAGIC TO FULLY COME BACK.”
“Why?” Dr. Opps asked. “What use could that be to you?”
“A DOORWAY,” Damian said, and inside his head, the creature seemed to be expanding its reach, like it was searching for something. “OUR FORMER WORLD HAS BEEN LOCKED TO US. OUR POWER ENABLES US TO PROJECT A SHADOW OF OUR FULL PRESENCE, BUT ONLY THAT. WE NEED YOUR MAGIC TO OPEN A DOORWAY SO THAT WE MIGHT RETURN. DO THIS AND YOUR REWARD SHALL BE BEYOND YOUR UNDERSTANDING.”
Damian’s voice had disappeared, and inside his mind, Sierra could hear him begin to scream. “Dr. Opps,” Sierra hissed softly. “We need to get that thing out of Damian now.”
The doctor immediately glanced at her, then turned back to the Old One. “Please leave this child for now, and we’ll consider your offer.”
But the monster didn’t listen, and its hold on Damian’s mind grew stronger. “It’s not leaving,” Sierra whispered. “Should I push it out?”
Dr. Opps swallowed hard. “Please. Give us time to speak about this. But you need to release the boy.”
Sierra readied a Mind Blast spell and prepared to cast it at the creature, but right before she did, it removed its tentacles from Damian’s head and slowly disappeared into nothingness. Damian toppled to the floor with a groan and went still as Dr. Opps leaped to his side.
“His body is okay,” the doctor said, checking Damian’s pulse. “How is his mind?”
Damian? Sierra called out inside his head. Are you okay?
I think so, came his reply. I feel like my brain just ran a marathon. The Old One’s presence was beyond anything you could imagine.
“He’s okay,” Sierra said as Damian opened his eyes, groaning softly.
“Damian, listen to me,” Dr. Opps told him. “If that thing returns, do not speak to it. Alert me immediately. I don’t know if it’s telling the truth or not, but we can’t take the chance either way. Before we communicate with it again, I want to be prepared. And that means finding a way to send it away if need be.”
“What?” Damian said, giving Dr. Opps an incredulous look. “Are you serious? It offered to help us. It can tell us more about magic than we’ll find out studying those books for centuries.”
“If we open a door so it can come through completely,” Sierra pointed out. “Am I the only person here who just saw a tentacle nightmare beast? Anyone else in favor of burning it with fire?” She raised her hand.
Damian glared at her. “Of course it feels unknowable to us. When it was last here, we barely had written language. Those things discovered magic, Sierra. We could reshape the entire world with their help.”
“Unless it was lying about that,” Sierra said. “And if they’re so all-powerful, why does it need us to open a door for it?”
“I don’t know what the right answer is yet, Damian,” Dr. Opps said. “But we need the power to send it away if it turns out to be misleading us.”
“It’s not—”
“That’s not a chance I’m willing to take,” Dr. Opps told him. “Do not seek it out, Damian. If it returns, call for me at once. You are not to speak to it alone, not ever again. And you certainly shall not use any magic at its request or command. Do you understand me?”
Damian started to say something, then looked up at Dr. Opps’s stern glance and just nodded instead.
“Good,” the doctor said. “Now you rest for a bit, Damian, and try to remember if there’s anything you saw in your mind that you haven’t told us yet. Sierra, come with me.”
She nodded and walked with Dr. Opps outside Damian’s room. The doctor gently shut Damian’s door, then paused and turned to Sierra.
“I want the power to destroy that thing,” he told her. “Just in case. What spells do you have that might work?”
She grinned. “I’ll make a list.”