The Color from Out of Space
Chapter Seventeen
The chapter begins with the thunderous fall of Gabriel Sunderland. The young New Zealander continues to plummet into the black abyss, a hell of loneliness, as he is seized by those terrifying creatures with a false hope of not falling.
He asks himself, "What is worse? Death by these entities or dying alone? Is there any meaning to his attempt to survive and return to his hellish life, or is the whole thing pure nihilism? Why does instinct force you to resist death, even when your life is a thousand times worse than death? Even when the flame you burn from while alive is stronger than the flames of hell you've spent your entire life trying to escape? But no, my friend, no one escapes their inevitable fate."
The black hole beneath him began to change. Its shape transformed into a demonic skeleton. The king of the dead, Zolisch, the Lich, had taken form. His head replaced the black hole, and he opened his mouth, filled with sharp teeth covered in blood. From his mouth emerged ghosts—humans, aliens, and animals—terrifying green specters rising toward Gabriel. But they did not attack him. Instead, they targeted the nightmare creatures that had been chasing him, entering their bodies and turning them to ash with ease. Gabriel continued to fall until he plunged into Zolisch's mouth and was swallowed whole.
After this, Gabriel woke up to find himself near the lake.
He spat out a lot of water, drenched and cold. He found Zolisch sitting on a small wooden plank, fishing with a wooden rod. Zolisch said to him:
"Finally, you're awake, mortal."
Gabriel: "What happened? Why am I still trapped here?"
Zolisch: "What happened is that your human friends won their battle, thanks to me. Then you passed out, and I brought you here through instant teleportation. You should be grateful, hahaha!"
Gabriel, screaming and hitting the ground in frustration: "Why this cursed island, of all places?"
Zolisch, turning his head to give him a cold look: "I don't know, but all cosmic entities love this island. The atmosphere here is great, bloody, and terrifying for creatures."
Gabriel: "Ugh!"
Zolisch: "Anyway, your friend, the leader of the fools, Simon or whatever his name is... he's using alien magic."
Gabriel: "How do you know? Where did he learn this kind of magic? Not that I'd ask if
Magic is real since I've seen crazier things."
Zolisch: "I don't know where he learned it, but he wields the power of Xenath.
It's an ability that comes from the eye, granting powers like mind control and others. I don't know if he can only use mind control or more, but beware of that boy."
Gabriel: "I never trusted him from the start. He's suspicious."
Zolisch: "You asked me to teach you magic before. Well, mortal, I will grant your wish. I can train you in the Witches' Forest. It's more powerful than here."
Gabriel, overjoyed and in disbelief: "Are we finally leaving this island?"
Zolisch: "No. The Witches' Forest lies deep within this island..."
Gabriel, shocked and hysterically laughing: "Isn't this a frozen island?"
Zolisch: "This island has a glacial climate in this part. In the far north, there are the Witches' Forests, and in the south, there's a desert climate."
Gabriel: "How can this be real? How big is this cursed island?"
Zolisch: "Bigger than you can imagine, mortal. Now, will you come with me to the forest?"
Gabriel: "No, you're a liar, and you're hiding too many secrets from me. I'm going to find the truth."
Gabriel runs away from Zolisch at full speed, terrified. Zolisch releases spectral snakes and spiders from his mouth, commanding them to hunt Gabriel.
The darkness grows thicker as the hours pass. Time feels like an endless nightmare for Gabriel. His constant escape from Zolisch feels like a pursuit into a dark future with no hope of survival. He runs through the desolate wilderness, chased by death in the form of spectral snakes emerging from Zolisch's cursed mouth.
These creatures, which only see light in the spirit world, attack Gabriel mercilessly, writhing and changing as if they were fragments of hell itself.
Gabriel doesn't know how much time has passed. Time has blurred in his mind between nightmares and reality.
He runs with difficulty, his bones aching as if they are melting from the torment. Suddenly, he feels something strange. The spectral snakes are chasing him, trying to seize him fiercely, consuming the air around him as if Zolisch has sent a curse to control the very fabric of his existence.
He can hear their voices screaming behind him: "You can't escape... There's nowhere to hide... We are here!"
Gabriel reaches a high cliff overlooking a ruined, dark landscape. His eyes are filled with tears, but there's something else in the sky above him. Strange lights, as if burning at the edges of the universe. An ancient castle, a massive leather fortress. He doesn't know how he got there, but something in his heart tells him this is the last refuge.
Then, he enters the castle.
Cautiously, he steps inside. Everything is dark, and the heavy air seeps into his lungs as if every breath he takes transports him to another world. The castle is filled with silence as if time has stopped somewhere far from human eyes. He wanders through narrow corridors, his fingers touching the ancient walls damp with old blood.
He reaches an ancient tower where cursed books are scattered on the floor. His eyes race to search for anything that might indicate salvation. But when his gaze falls on a massive book placed on a wooden table near an inverted golden cross, he feels something strange entering his depths. The title of the book is written in blood on the first page: Arcanum Cosmicum. Gabriel opens the book. Its pages are slightly torn, but there's something on the cover that sparks curiosity—strange images carved into it. But what catches his attention the most is the strange language written on it.
At first, there's a simple note:
*"This is me, Edward, known as Allen X. I tried to write everything I learned in this book before this island completely consumed my mind. I didn't know all the entities, but I'll write about those I knew and saw."*
Gabriel begins to examine the book slowly. Images of cosmic entities flash before his eyes rapidly. The book is filled with terrifying images and horrifying rituals, and each picture makes him feel as if he's entering another world from which there's no escape.
The first image is of a whale—a black orca with stars on its skin, sharp teeth, and hollow eyes. It leaps from a black sea, screaming, with many witches standing on a hill, pleading beneath it. Below the image is carved the name Cthulhu. The summoning method: *"Slaughter 700,000 children aged 14."*
Gabriel stands, his eyes fixed on the image, feeling his body grow colder. He can't understand how these entities could exist in this world.
Then he moves to the second page :
A giant spider, its body resembling plants and tree branches as if trees grow from it. It has a terrifying face and a scorpion's tail, and it laughs. Below it are many people dead from poison, one of them bowing to it. Carved below is the name Spider Dreadful.
It laughs as if mocking the souls of the victims who died from its poison. Below the image is the horrific method of summoning: *"Slaughter 80,000 pregnant women and eat the fetus."*
Gabriel feels the bitterness of torment and wonders what consequences await this world if these creatures come to life. The book doesn't just show drawings—it shows portals to another world.
The third page is of a skeleton wearing a black cloak and a crown—Zolisch, the Lich Wizard. Behind him is the explosion of a red bomb, with ghostly faces screaming. Red flames erupt from his hands, and before him are demons and humans kneeling. He is called Zolisch, the King of the Living Dead. The method of summoning is even more horrifying: *"Kill the inhabitants of an entire planet."*
As Gabriel stares at the image, he feels his breath quicken. It's as if this book is slowly trying to destroy his mind.
The next image is of a ghoul—a giant with bat wings and demonic horns, a face more terrifying than anything else. Below its mouth are many black octopus tentacles, and on its belly is a pentagram. Below it are many dead children, one of them bowing. The name: The Whisper in the Darkness. The summoning method: *"Destroy religions that call for the worship of God on an entire planet."*
The next image is even more eerie and terrifying:
A black wolf, larger than any earthly creature, with red eyes and a black tail resembling a horse's tail. Its fur is like black flames rippling, and it has massive fangs resembling those of a saber-toothed cat. Its mouth is filled with blood, and it tries to eat the red, bloody moon. Below it are many witches cheering and praising it. The summoning method: *"Destroy the sun and plunge the Earth into darkness."*
The name of this entity was crossed out and I wrote a note that whoever reads it will die, but only the first letter was written and it is Ř
Gabriel stops at the last image, which is of a queen—a witch. Her beauty is unbelievable,
but beneath this beauty lies supreme evil. Her face is dark as if from another world.
Then, when he reaches the last torn page of the book, darkness consumes the place.
On the fifth page of A Beautiful Queen, mesmerized by her beauty, she sits on her knees. A snake with red eyes rests on her lap, and she has a cross tattoo beneath her cheeks. Her hair is silver, and her ears are long—she is half-elf. She holds a large magical staff and casts spells on the many creatures kneeling before her. Her name is Erkantha, the Queen of Witches.
The method of summoning her: kill all the women of an entire galaxy and enslave all its men.
The words are written on the intact part: *"The Overlord of the Universe, the Shadow Demon, the Nominal Ruler."*
Suddenly, all the lights disappear. Gabriel hears a terrifying echo throughout the castle. The candles that lit the place begin to extinguish rapidly, and the book in his hand begins to fade as if it were just a mirage. Suddenly, the book disappears entirely, leaving Gabriel in the dark, surrounded by the sound of mysterious whispers echoing through the castle.
The book is now more than just a memory. The hands of death have reached into the world... and now, there is no place to hide.
The book suddenly disappears, and then
The ghost of Edward, with blood and toys dripping from his mouth, then pushed him, causing the floor of the castle to collapse around him, and he fell into the void.
Gabriel falls endlessly, the void swallowing him, pulling him toward eternal solitude until he suddenly stops before a scene that the human mind cannot easily comprehend.
Before him stands a massive throne made of black bones and twisted metal, upon which sits a majestic female entity, a witch with deadly beauty and eyes glowing like hellfire. Her body is clad in black leather armor adorned with demonic details, and her limbs are decorated with sharp metal spikes. In her hand is a massive sword, its blade reflecting glimpses of other worlds, as if forged from embodied darkness.
Behind her stands a shadowy figure, a faceless being, a mere dark presence that fills the place with an aura of absolute terror. His hand, covered in metal gloves, grips the hilt of a dagger carved from the bone of a non-human creature, as if ready to slaughter any intruder.
The hall surrounding them is impossibly vast, its columns twisted as if pulsating with life, and the walls are covered with carvings of creatures bowing in absolute worship. Blood-red lights burn in the corners of the room, but they emit no warmth—on the contrary, everything here is cold and deadly as if the air itself is poisoned by the spirit of this place.
Then, without warning, the woman raises her eyes and looks directly at Gabriel. At that moment, he feels as if his soul is being pulled from his body as if he were nothing but a puppet in the hands of a greater power. He hears a voice echoing inside his skull, not a whisper but a command, a voice that plants terror in every part of his being:
"You are too late, Gabriel."
The woman waves her sword near him, causing him to fall back into the void. The void swallows him, as solitude swallows its companion, and as excessive awareness swallows the truth he was never meant to know. Is it the truth of the existence of these terrifying entities, or the truth that he has become utterly alone, or perhaps the truth that everything in this universe is absurd, meaningless, and devoid of any purpose? Falling into the deepest point of the void might give him the answer, or perhaps he will never find the answer, no matter how hard he tries, no matter how much he thinks, no matter how much his intelligence increases.
He will never grasp the truth and never transcend the limits of human understanding. Perhaps this is part of the plan of the God who makes us understand the meaning of everything, for when we do, we will see the true hell. But will the hell of awareness be hotter than the hell of ignorance? This is a question Gabriel will answer for himself, at least before he dies...
Now, Gabriel stops falling, for a moment, but the void shows no mercy. He is suspended between existence and nothingness, between dream and nightmare, until suddenly another vision opens before him... a vision no human mind should ever perceive.
Before him stretches a scene overflowing with sacred surrealism and cursed damnation. In the sky, a triple face gazes at him, three faces intertwined as if a distorted divine reflection, their light burning his eyes, but Gabriel sees clearly—it is not light, but a spectrum of doom.
Beneath this celestial entity, intertwined creatures with merged bodies, wings fused with flesh, legs that are mere extensions of their twisted torsos, hands raised to the sky as if in supplication or command, their eyes empty yet filled with awareness... the awareness that existence itself is nothing but sacred chaos.
Then he sees Adam and Eve, but not as in the myths. Eve rises from Adam's body lying on the ground, but she is not innocent—she is the first to understand the secret of the curse, the first to see the truth, and never lives the same again.
She sees Gabriel, her glowing eyes meeting his, and she smiles.
Before he can scream, ominous beams shoot from the triple faces above, piercing his body as they pierce all who came before him, beams not of light but of fate, wrapping around him like the limbs of an entity that seeks to consume him, to turn him into something else, something that is no longer Gabriel, no longer even human.
He knows now... this is not just a vision.
It is a summoning.
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Then, Zolish pulls him from this place with his hand and says to him:
Zolish: "Have you rested now? You have gotten what you wanted. Come, let us go to the Witches' Forest."
Gabriel: "Whatever it is, you psychopathic pile of bones."
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END of the chapter
to be continued.....