It began with the storm, and the nightmare. Afterwards, nothing was ever the same.
I’ve never been the same.
The nightmare came first, at least for me.
I walked across a bleak landscape. The black dome of the sky extended forever in all directions, unmarred by stars or planets, yet somehow there was light enough for me to see by. Gray, featureless land stretched out to all sides. No hills or mountains interrupted the desolate plain; in fact, the only evidence of geologic activity was the presence of large stones, boulders really, that lay half-buried in the grassless, monochrome soil.
Not that life didn’t exist in that dreary place. A double handful of trees, each one spaced hundreds of feet from its nearest kin, dotted the monotonous topography. Their distance from each other suggested a repulsion for their own kind, either environmental or emotional. Drawing close to one, I understood their aversion to proximity; in fact, I felt it myself. Festering wounds gaped in the drab bark, weeping fluids colored mold-green and pus-yellow. An atrocious odor like nothing I’d ever smelled before emanated from the oozing sores.
I backed away from the abominable stench just in time to avoid capture by grasping tentacles masquerading as branches. The entire alien growth leaned toward me, appendages extended and waving in my direction. I took myself farther away, fearful the creature might uproot itself and follow.
After my encounter with the botanical nightmare, I chose my path, such as it was, with more care.
I’d gone perhaps another hundred yards, certainly no more than that, when a violent bolt of red lightning ruptured the ebon sky.
I froze as the afterimage left blinding jagged lines of color across my vision. The empty plain offered no protection, and I grew nervous about being exposed. I had no desire to serve as a human lightning rod. More angry flashes fractured the all-encompassing blackness. I held my breath, anticipating the tumultuous thunder I felt sure would come with such a spectacle.
Instead, a sepulchral voice spoke to me.
“Open your mind to me, open yourself to me. I am the gateway; through me they speak. I am your legacy, your history and your future. You and I will be as one. The past and present shall reunite. I will fill you, and you shall rise above those of lesser status.
“Together we shall speak the unspoken and call those whose names are not known.
“The spirits of the great places beyond space prepare themselves for battle once again, waiting only for you to guide them forth. Before you stands the Gate to the othersphere. Only speak the words and those of the realms will enter three wide and seven strong.
“Those who hold the stars in their power and live in the spaces in between shall awaken!
“Azathoth! Tulzscha! Cthulhu! Yog-Sothoth! Shub-Niggurath!
“Nine hundred ninety-nine times I shall call their names! Listen to my words. For I am—”