Plague Doctor - Chapter 479

The books fell to the ground and the shelf was empty. Technically there should be a wall behind the shelf but when Gu Jun looked through the gap, he saw a different dimension. It was made up from twisted, bizarre materials, some of which he could identify. While he was spaced out, a voice asked, “What are you guys doing?”

And suddenly, everything was corrected. Gu Jun was standing beside the shelf and all the books had been returned to their places.

“Professor Armitage.” Hannah showed no surprise at Gu Jun’s action. Instead she turned to address a person who was walking over. That was the head librarian, Professor George Armitage, he was a professor of history at Miskatonic University, a professor of literature at Cambridge and a Professor of languages at Princeton. His normally peaceful demeanour was rather flustered at that moment. Gu Jun studied the old man. His hair was half white, his face was wrinkled and he wore a pair of black rimmed glasses.

“Jim.” To his surprise, Professor Armitage knew him. “Please do not do what you did again.”

“Professor, you’ve read the King in Yellow as well?” Gu Jun immediately asked, “You’re awake and crazy like us.”

Prof Armitage sighed, “Come with me.” Gu Jun and Hannah followed the prof to the 3rd floor. The students around them were still absorbed in their studies. It did not matter if these people overheard their conversation because they literally did not matter. However, Prof Armitage still remained quiet. As he guided them to the 3rd floor, he moved lightly and quietly. He ensured the other two did the same as well. Soon they reached the 3rd floor without any corrections.

Both Gu Jun and Hannah had experienced the corrections before. If they were at a place or did things that did not align with the script, they would be corrected. However, they had free reign over their lines and their corrected actions would be remembered.

Clearly the script included the part where they followed Prof Armitage to the 3rd floor or else it would have corrected already. When they reached the 3rd floor, the place was even quieter. Not many students could be seen here. Prof Armitage led the two to his office. The place was classically decorated. If not for the computer and air-cond, one could easily believe one was in the 19th century. The prof poured each of them a cup of tea, and then one for himself.

“Jim, Hannah, I can’t even tell whether I am real or a projection or something else completely.” Prof Armitage sipped at his tea. “Before this, I assume these things were just rumours.”

“Prof, since you know the situation,” Gu Jun began, “Can I take a look at the King in Yellow? Perhaps I can find a clue in there.”

“Don’t need to hurry, because I don’t think the King in Yellow is the key.” Prof Armitage said, “A few days ago, everything was fine but now when I try to think back to something specific, all I could get is blurriness and emptiness. I can confirm that we’re in a different dimension, we’re characters in a play, manipulated by a greater power. But I still remember one thing, it is related to all the dimensions and everything else.” Gu Jun listened patiently as he tried to determine the authenticity of the professor’s claims. Hannah beside him was much calmer. She even picked up the cookies to eat.

“My grandfather, Henry Armitage.” The prof continued as his wrinkles deepened, “Before he became the head librarian and just a regular staff here, he encountered a strange young man who came to visit the library. He wore tattered clothes and was very tall. He had a goat-like face and came from the nearby Dunwich District, his name was Wilbur Whateley. You have to understand this happened several hundred years ago.” The prof’s tone was even but underneath it was a trace of anxiety. “Wilber Whateley had an ancient book with him. It was the Necronomicon written by the Mad Arab, Abdul Alhazred. Wilbur said it was a book his grandfather left for him, it was an English-translated version. The reason he came to the library was because he wanted to check out the Latin version of the Necronomicon the University library carried. Apparently, his version was missing a page and he wanted to see what the content of that page was.”

Gu Jun’s heart skipped a beat. Necronomicon? The first time he heard of this book was from Xue Ba during the Malformed Banyan tree mission. At the Phecda World, Necronomicon was also an ancient tome but it was merely a legend, no one had seen it before. Snippets from the book though were said to have spread among the world. Later with enough confidential accessibility, Gu Jun had read through all these sentences at Phecda’s archives. They did not contain any mysterious power, most of them sounded like crazed mumblings. Research of the Spell Department into them came up with nothing either.

Only now Gu Jun realized Necronomicon had many variations and the real one existed in the Massachusetts World…

Prof Armitage said that out of his grandfather’s wariness of Wilber Whately, he did not loan him the Necronomicon but Wilbur still completed his goal at Britain’s Cambridge University Library. Even though there were many translations of Necronomicon in this world, the original copy in Arabic had never been found. Be it Miskatonic University, or Cambridge University, what they had were the translated copies. In the translation process, some content would be lost and the translators might have purposely omitted some details as well. Because of that, Wilber Whateley had been going around borrowing different versions, to complete the one that he had.

“My grandfather at the time did not know about Wilber Whateley’s real identity.” Prof Armitage’s voice lowered, “But when he heard the page that Wilbur was missing, he knew the young man was going to conduct some kind of ritual to gain conduct with some forces. The force might pull the whole world into the abyss. I heard from my father that something scary did happen later.” The old prof paused to take a sip of the tea. His throat was getting hoarse. “Wilbur Whateley became something half-human or perhaps that was his real identity all along. He returned to attempt to steal the Necronomicon from this library but he eventually died here, dissolving into a pool of horrid flesh and guts. However, he still had a twin brother, one that was even more monstrous than he was. The brother roamed around Dunwich, terrorizing the place. They were preparing for some kind of ritual. My grandfather and 2 other professors from the University went down to Dunwich to end the other brother’s life and stop the ritual. But when they were there, they saw things that could not be described… My grandfather almost lost his mind because of it. Thankfully, he managed to recover and he spent the rest of his life searching for ways to stop that force…”

At this point, the prof’s face pinched with bitterness, perhaps it was the tea or something else. Hearing all that, Gu Jun’s mind boiled with emotions. “Professor, sorry, but how is that related to what we’re experiencing?”

“That force!” The prof suddenly raised his voice as his eyes widened, “The force that the Whateley brothers tried to approach, it was their father. The entity has the ability to break through any dimensional limits.”

‘Father?’ Gu Jun was stunned, “Wait, you mean the Whateley brothers are the products between humans and dark forces?” Hannah’s face paled as well. This was the first time Gu Jun heard something like this. He knew humans could be transmuted into Deep Ones and zombies but to give birth to a half monster? That was definitely unheard of.

“They’re half human, half divine.” The prof said darkly, “The Whateley Brothers were still too young, it was the only reason my grandfather’s group was able to defeat them.”

Right then, the prof reached into a drawer and pulled out a piece of page. It was filled with words. The prof handed the paper to Gu Jun. It was a long paragraph written in English and Latin. With increased eccentricity to his tone, the prof added, “This was the page Wilbur Whateley was looking for. I managed to find it from the Necronomicon based on the clues left behind by my grandfather.”

‘That means Necronomicon is not an empty book at this library.’ Gu Jun frowned as he looked at the paper. Technically he shouldn’t be able to understand complicated English or Latin but for some reason, the meaning came naturally to him. The more he read, the harder his heart quivered.

‘Nor is it to be thought…that man is either the oldest or the last of earth’s masters, or that the common bulk of life and substance walks alone. The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them, they walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen. Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They had trod earth’s fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread. By Their smell can men sometimes know Them near, but of Their semblance can no man know, saving only in the features of those They have begotten on mankind; and of those are there many sorts, differing in likeness from man’s truest eidolon to that shape without sight or substance which is Them. They walk unseen and foul in lonely places where the Words have been spoken and the Rites howled through at their Seasons. The wind gibbers with Their voices, and the earth mutters with Their consciousness. They bend the forest and crush the city, yet may not forest or city behold the hand that smites. Kadath in the cold waste hath known Them, and what man knows Kadath? The ice desert of the South and the sunken isles of Ocean hold stones whereon Their seal is engraven, but who hath seen the deep frozen city or the sealed tower long garlanded with seaweed and barnacles? Great Cthulhu is Their cousin, yet can he spy Them only dimly. Iä! Shub-Niggurath! As a foulness shall ye know Them. Their hand is at your throats, yet ye see Them not; and Their habitation is even one with your guarded threshold. Yog-Sothoth is the key to the gate, whereby the spheres meet. Man rules now where They ruled once; They shall soon rule where man rules now. After summer is winter, after winter summer. They wait patient and potent, for here shall They reign again.’