Touch of the Infinite Ch. 01

"To that which dwells in the darkness of the corners of our minds,

which sinks its tendrils into the deepest depths of our hidden selves,

we give our loyalty, our love and our very souls.

Sancta Tenebrae imple nos...

Shady Glen, Virginia, 1790"

Ash knit his brows, catching his lower lip between his teeth. His heart was still pounding but it was no longer with fear but anticipation. He could feel the familiar thrill of unearthing something new, something he had never seen before. Now he understood why the shop had sent him to this book, why it had called to him. He was trying to unlock the secrets of the town, of its origins... He turned the page.

There was an illustration, rendered in bold lines and crosshatching and it made Ash flush. The background was a black void and held aloft within it, was a young woman with long dark hair which disappeared into the darkness around her. Shadows wrapped around her breasts and around her thighs -- holding her such that her legs were parted, revealing her sex, into which surged that same darkness, no doubt the source of the lascivious rapture upon the woman's face.

The faint memory of his dream from the night before flooded his mind -- the way that darkness had made a home of his body, how it had filled him and swept him away into pleasure...And Ash's body answered the memory with a sudden heat and growing damp between his legs. His breath caught in his throat. He wanted to shut the book, to get up and finish his shift. He could find out what lay beyond the frontispiece after work...

But he couldn't put the book down, nor could he turn the page or take his eyes from the illustration. The woman's belly was swollen and round -- either from the darkness which must have been flowing into her as it had flowed into him or because she was heavy with child... He thought of the impossible thing which had happened in the dream, how the darkness had pushed its way into a uterus that was not there and filled even the deepest part of him with itself...

Ash winced, the sharp pain of a sudden cramp stabbing into his abdomen. He would normally have been irritated with the sudden pain, which had mostly disappeared after his hysterectomy... But it broke the spell of the drawing, allowing him to shut the book and tuck it into the breast-pocket of his jacket, so he was nearly grateful for it this time...

----x x x----

The rest of Ash's shift passed at a crawl, every second that ticked by felt like swimming through quicksand and he found it difficult to stay focused. True, his mind usually wandered while he was at work, but this was... This was different. It wasn't so much like his mind was wandering but rather, that it was being pulled away by something -- something which pushed at the edges of his mind, slowly trying to work its way into his head and drag him away from what he was doing.

Ash passed Marilyn as he left the shop. Most nights, they passed each other silently -- barely even acknowledging the others' existence. Tonight, however, it seemed that Marilyn had something else in mind. She stopped in the doorway, turning to face Ash with a soft, almost motherly smile on her face that made him feel deeply uncomfortable.

"So, Ashley -- how is the research coming along?" Her voice was simperingly sweet, which almost caused Ash to recoil. "Have you made any progress?"

Without even thinking about it, his hand drifted to the small prayer book tucked into his breast pocket, pressing it closer to his chest.

"Uh, yeah. A little. It turns out that the town may not have even been founded by the mining company..." Ash began. "The earliest records of the mining town in Shady Glen are from 1795, but I've found some..." He searched for the right word. "Documents that suggest it may have been founded at least five years earlier."

Marilyn tilted her head, that smile spreading further across her face, one of her carefully penciled eyebrows quirked.

"Really now?" There was an eager light in her eyes as she spoke, and she leaned in closer to Ash, smelling strongly of patchouli and charcoal, "That's fascinating do make sure to tell your mother about it! I'm sure she'd love to know about it. You're such good son to continue her work like this..."

Ash squirmed internally. "Yeah, I will, once she gets back from her conference in Arkham..."

He did not want to tell his mother about his findings, at least, not until he found a source for them that wasn't the luridly illustrated prayer book in his pocket. Sharing something like that with his mother felt wrong.

"Wonderful, wonderful~" Marilyn cooed. "Well, have a good night, Ashley~"

The bell within the shop jingled as she opened the door and slipped inside without another word, leaving Ash standing on the sidewalk, confused and more than a little bit disturbed.

For all of the years that he had known Marilyn, she had never been friendly, she had never been sweet. When she did speak, her voice was usually cold and clipped. And though yes, she had often asked about the results of Ash's personal research into the occult, she'd never really shown any particular emotions about it. Only a detached, professional interest.

He shook his head, banishing the thoughts. He had other things he wanted to focus on -- finishing the book and getting something to eat being foremost among them.

Eventually, Ash found himself stepping into the only all-night diner in the city, which was only a few blocks from his house, and nearly empty -- as it usually was after dark. The air was starting to grow cold with the approach of winter, that bitter metallic scent on the air and he found himself wishing he had thought to grab a coat...

But the inside of the diner was warm and brightly lit, sending the heat rushing to his cheeks and to the tips of his fingers as he stepped inside and the hostess led him to a booth near the back... Ash barely noticed her, though, his thoughts preoccupied with the book. He knew he probably shouldn't read it in the middle of the diner but his barely restrained curiosity from earlier had overwhelmed him now and he couldn't stop himself from sinking into the pleather-coated foam seats and pulling the book from his jacket.

Looking at it a second time, the creature upon the cover felt even more familiar, the black velveteen seemed even darker -- the light seemed to fade all around the thing, something that should've set off warning bells in Ash's head... Something that did set of warning bells in Ash's head.

There was something wrong with this book. It contained something -- some knowledge or spirit -- that should not have been there. The darkness should not have been seeping from the books edges and dispersing into the light around it like this. Even if it was only some sort of hallucination brought on by mounting obsession, growing hunger and dropping blood sugar... Ash should have known better than to play around with such a thing.

He should have brought it back to the shop, or brought it to his apartment where he could open it in a protective circle, where he could surround it with salt and runes and all of the binding magics that he knew...

But in spite of all of this, in spite of icy fingers of dread that spider-crawled up his spine, Ash opened the book once more and once more, he read the inscription at the beginning...And he felt his lips move to form the words as his eyes slid over them.

"To that which dwells in the darkness of the corners of our minds..." The words were sticky sweet and thick upon his tongue -- sweetness mixed with something sick and poisoned...

The lights in the diner flickered and a sudden chill filled the air, but Ash noticed none of this.

"Which sinks its tendrils into the deepest depths of our secret selves..."

The lights in the diner dimmed and the shadows all around Ash deepened. Still, his eyes remained fixed on the words, still he could not tear his gaze away from the page.

"We give our loyalty, our love and our very souls..."

There was a growing pressure in his skull now, making his head spin and the words upon the page grow blurry. Ash's instincts screamed for him to stop. The years of training with the occult warning him that there was something very, very wrong. That he should not finish this age -- that the completed prayer should not cross his lips.

But of course, Ash wasn't even aware that he was reading it allowed, nor was he aware of the sudden silence that descended upon the diner. Before, there had been the sounds of work in the kitchen, the sound of hot air being forced through the heating vents, the sound of the radio as it played over hidden speakers...But now, there was nothing, only an empty void.

"Sancta Tenebrae imple nos..."

There was a sudden flare of brilliant light as nearly every light-bulb in the diner exploded into a shower of sparks and broken glass before the entire room was sent plunging into darkness -- every light-bulb except the one over Ash's head, the one that illuminated the him and the book.

He looked up from the pages with a start. The sensation of dread that had been slowly climbing up his spine before had become full-blown terror now. All around him, Ash could see twisting, writhing shapes that were even the darkness against which they were set -- and they were all coming towards his table. No light came from the windows of the diner, even though every neon sign downtown should have been visible now.

"MY, MY, AREN'T WE EAGER...?

The sound was a cacophony of voices, all speaking over one another in a thousand different tongues all at once. It shook Ash to his core and dripped over him like cold oil all at the same time. It came from everywhere and nowhere all at once, it filled his mind and commanded every last scrap of his attention.

"Who--" Ash began, his voice shaking. His entire body trembled and a cold sweat had broken out all across his skin, despite the sudden cold.

"YOU HAVE CALLED ME AND I HAVE ANSWERED, CHILD..."

Ash shook his head. No, no he hadn't called -- he had only read the first words of that book! He had read it before and nothing had happened! No darkness had descended upon the bookstore, no voice made of a thousand voices had spoken to him!

"I didn't-- "

Ash's words were cut off abruptly when the bulb over his own head shattered and all the world was as the void -- a deep darkness where nothing could be seen and nothing could be heard but that voice.

Something wet and sticky and cold slithered its way up Ash's chest and then curling around his neck... He tried to pull it off but his fingers simply went right through it -- not like it was liquid, but like it wasn't there at all. It squeezed ever so slightly, filling Ash with the terror of being suffocated in his seat...

"I DID NOT EXPECT WE SHOULD BEGIN OUR COURTSHIP SO SOON..."

Ash shook his head vehemently. "No!"

Fear filled him, set his heart pounding and made his stomach sank, causing nausea to rise up in his throat. The wet slimy thing was snaking its way up the side of his face and he could feel it dripping onto him as it did -- leaving a trail sticky trail behind it. His breath came in heaving, desperate gasps...

It curled around the outer edge of his ear, probing the ridges and folds of it before Ash felt something cold and wet push its way -- gently -- into his ear canal.

"Stop!" Ash's fingers flew up to attempt to grab the thing again, to pull it away -- to stop it from doing whatever the hell it was going to do to him. He thrashed and squirmed, trying to push himself up from his seat to escape over the table. "DON'T!"

It dripped down further, wet and formless and filling the narrow crevice like water trapped after swimming. He could hear it swishing around inside, hear it as it spread through the middle-ear and then deeper. Ash cried out -- screaming and begging for the thing to stop. He didn't want...want whatever this was in his head! He forgot even, that this should have been impossible.

"DO NOT BE AFRAID, YOU ARE TO IMPORTANT TO ME TO KILL IN THIS WAY..."

The voice was anything but comforting.

"GET IT OUT!" Ash screamed. Tears rolled down his cheeks now and sobs caught in his throat. The thing wrapped around his throat tightened again, cutting off his voice and making his head spin, "pl -- please!" He choked.

He felt that sticky, wetness in both of his ears now, felt it trying to find a way deeper inside. It was going to kill him, it was going to spear into his skull and he was going to die. The voice was lying. It had to be -- this wasn't something he could fucking survive!

There was a loud POP! And that wetness flooded into Ash's skull, the swishing sound of liquid filling his senses as it pushed into him in waves. In his mind's eye, he could see it -- see the darkness that surrounded him as it wormed its way through his brain, following the crevices and wrinkles perfectly, sinking into him, becoming a part of him. He felt a thrust of it, knocking his head to the side and he moaned.

The sound that left his mouth shocked him.

"THAT'S IT -- THAT'S A GOOD BOY... JUST RELAX."

Ash felt the wetness seeping through his clothes, felt the cold work its way up under his shirt and down his pants before it peeled them off. It wrapped around his wrist, guiding his hand to the meeting of his thighs.

"Nooo..." Ash murmured. "I can't...Please..."

Another thrust into his head, the swishing sound grew louder. Something dripped from his nostrils and down the back of his throat. Something mingled with the tears that trailed down his cheeks, something dripped down from his ears and onto his shoulders...

"Don't...Please..." He whimpered. "I'm...going...to..."

A third, rougher, deeper thrust sent pins and needles through his entire body. He could barely think and he tried to pull his hand free, but he couldn't move. His body was frozen, incapable of following the commands of his brain... His fingers sprang to life -- though Ash was not the one who was controlling them. They slipped down between his legs, middle and forefinger pressed to either side of his clit, spreading his lower lips wide.

"Ah--" Ash gasped as his other hand cupped his chest and took the nipple between his fingers, rolling it between them and sending shudders through him.

He tried desperately to regain control of his body, tried to will himself to stop but he couldn't. Nothing was listening to him and that swishing sound still filled his skull as what Ash could only conceptualize as tendrils of darkness thrust into him, harder and faster as the seconds passed by.

His fingers rubbed at his clit and he felt pleasure rising up within him. He pinched and pulled at his nipple -- feeling it in a way he hadn't been able to since his top surgery. It felt so good, sending sparks of pleasure through him, heat building.

"MMMM, GOOD BOY. LET ME INSIDE OF YOU, LET BECOME ONE WITH YOU IN YOUR PLEASURE..."

Something pushed into his cunt, the sensation pushing Ash over the edge suddenly and he cried out in exultation.

"OH! OH GOD--" Wave after wave of it rolled over him and the darkness swelled again and something burst out inside of him -- inside of his head, inside of his cunt. He felt it come gushing out of his nose and his ears and his eyes. Felt thick, sticky wetness come splattering out between his legs. "C-CUMMING!"

The feeling of climax just kept extending into what felt like forever and Ash found himself drowning in it, drinking it in and letting it fill his lungs until he dissolved into it and all consciousness left him.