Those scarce few who remember this place, know of it only as a place they must never go. It is a piece of a time long forgotten, an age - an eon in which the laws of the realms and the worlds were still unrefined.
It is a piece of… before; before the ideas of heaven and hell were molded, before the dreamlands and the waking worlds were pieced together and separated into balancing concepts.
It is a place that the fledgling New Gods - the Spirits sealed away so long ago to hide from those who came before them.
They remember it as Tehom.
Those mortals who have learned of it, know of it as the Abyss.
Bottomless beyond bottomless, the Abyss precedes all ages and eons - precedes the birth of Creation and the Ones Who Rest Above.
Scattered throughout the unfathomably deep and scarcely lit darkness, They are found.
Those who can not die yet, yet do not live.
This is their home.
This is their prison.
…
The Abyss is a quiet place.
That shouldn’t be much of a surprise.
They mostly sleep after all, dream away the ages and the eons without interruption from the mortals who scamper across their tiny piece of Creation under the light of the Ones Above.
It only gets a bit noisy when one wakes them up, peeks beyond the thresholds of their reality and calls out to One who sleeps in the dark.
Now was such a time.
Lounging about in the deep, One could be found cracking their glazed eyes open as they were roused from their slumber.
Pulled from Their slumber, they take a moment to ‘move’, Move limbs and appendages that hadn’t shifted for seventeen of Creation’s Resets. In the dark they blinked, vision needing but a moment to adjust to the light that pierces the veil and illuminates this shard of the fathomless deep that makes up the Abyss.
From their place in the dark, they begin to move again, drifting, crawling, creeping towards the ethereal, whispering gate that led towards Creation, and the one who was calling out to Them.
A Follower?
No. Mortals did not pray to This One, least last they checked they did not pray to Them, and wish to draw Their attention.
But there's always those delusional and desperate and dumb few… this one?
They just stared at Them for a moment, not in amazement or relief that They had answered them.
They looked at them with what could only be described as pants shitting horror.
“What the fuck is that?”
As soon as words left the one who called to them, the one who’d breached the boundary between Creation and the Abyss took a step back then another and other before running off, disappearing out of sight from the Gate’s opening as the One they called upon moved on, limbs curled around the edge of the Gate as the body moved through. A blasphemous apparition pushed themselves through the Gate and found themselves in the domain of Mortals.
Their presence did not go unnoticed.
Mortal’s take on technology started too short.
Animals started to bark and howl and scream out into the world.
Reality itself seemed to shutter and weep as they felt the existential ‘weight’ of something that It could not hold.
They paid it little mind, instead taking a moment to see their surroundings for what they were.
From the looks of it, it was a basement of sorts. Not the largest Mortals had ever managed to create, but not the smallest either. Still it was… filled out a bit. There were candles burning blue and blasphemous symbols etched on a small chalkboard. There were dozens of occult trinkets and a ceremonial knife. Beyond that though, there was a book on the floor.
A book that reeked of overripe fruit and formaldehyde.
Lifting the book with a limp They stared at it looking at the pages laid out before them.
The noise they made could only be considered a sigh.
“Why am I not surprised these things are still around?”
They closed the book, flicking it closed as their form started changing. Limbs to many started to come together compressing into what seemed like a black oily cocoon of sorts. When they unfurled they revealed not an abhorrent thing from beyond the veil, but a young man with long gray hair and golden eyes.
A free hand went to their waist as it rested on their pocket while the other used the book to scratch Their head.
“I swear…” They - He begins as he looks back at the book, noticing that the casing was more like a carapace of a beetle than hard leather. “I wanted to believe that these things were lost near the end of my Creation.” He sighed. “Alas that’s just wishful thinking, isn’t it? You lot will be here even after the New Gods have been reduced to carrion lost in the Abyss.” He muttered as he shook his head before looking backwards to the lingering Gate. Looking through it he saw the Abyss in all its glory.
Dark beyond dark, but littered with the burning light cast from long extinguished stars.
Littered with Others, those who called the Dark home.
Littered with the Lost, those who had gazed into the Abyss, and lost themself to maddening revelation.
Without a word he raised his free hand, ‘touched’ the space between ‘here’ and ‘there’, and twisted a gloved finger as the Gate vanished. It didn’t close like a door, rather it was like an eye closing shut, an eye that refused to open once again.
That done, the One from Beyond turned and started walking off, moving up the stairs and heading towards the door that had been shut - no doubt by the one who had run upon realizing they had no idea what powers they were attempting to deal with.
Just looking at the door, told Him it was locked, but he didn’t really mind, instead he just continued climbing the steps before walking through the door.
He doesn’t break it down or make it disappear. He just… went through it, like it wasn’t even there. Entering the living room of this place, this home, he took a minute to glance around, seeming to look for whoever had summoned him.
Upstairs. Insight told him as he glanced up and in a certain direction before turning away and heading for the door.
He didn’t have to ‘look’ to know that they were in their parents' room, or that they were putting their fathers usually locked away handgun into their mouth…
Walking into the city they had been summoned beneath, the One from Beyond just looked around for a moment as they listened to the sounds of the city.
The barking dogs, the howling cats, the screeching cars, the screaming televisions, and the weepings of Creation.
It was so damn loud.
Honestly he hated it.
“Quiet.”
Just like that everything stopped, the screams, the howling, the crying… it all stopped, because he told it to.
He likened it to such things not wanting to anger something like Him.
Something old, something that could hurt them in a way mortals could not understand.
He could - but he didn’t want to.
Still that fear was there, an instinctual, primitive fear inherited by anything born of nature.
Walking through the streets the Entity looked around, getting a feel for the city he had come to.The name of this city?
He knew its name without even needing to ask; Canterlot. A city in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by hills with but a single road leading out of town.
He knew, almost on an instinctual level, that it was a boring little town, or at least it used to be, until magic crept in from beyond - not the Abyss, but a realm nearby. He knew why it was creeping in, he also knew where it was strongest, and he knew who had it as of this moment.
It was a curse and a gift of sorts; being able to read - to learn about the Realm and its happenings.
It was not Omniscience - to be all knowing; this was much simpler, and far more focused.
Regardless, walking through Canterlot city, the Entity from Beyond lifted a few twigs and branches that had fallen from old city trees and ran them between his fingers. He barely acknowledged the fact that dogs being walked whimpered in fright as he went by, also ignored the small bit of static punching through a few phones and electronics that he suddenly passed. He just continued on his way picking up a few twigs and leaves as he made rounds about the city. He stopped only when he found a place that caught his attention.
Glad to know these places survive Reset.
It was a jazz club, the kind of place he’d frequented when he took another form. The music was good, as was the coffee.
Walking into the club, his ears found themselves blessed with the sound of a saxophone. He wasn’t aware of the name of the song that they were playing, but to be honest it didn’t really matter. It had been a good while he had listened to jazz - really it had been a while since he listened to any kind of music. Not only that, but the scent of rich coffee that filtered through the air was certainly inviting. Seeking out a place to sit for the moment, he holed himself up to one of the booths before leaning back to relax.
“This is nice…” He admitted as he started to relax reaching for the leaves he had picked up and turned them into dollar bills. “Man, this takes me back.” He mused as he saw a waitress start walking up to him.
“What can I get you?”
“Something strong enough to wake up the dead.” He made a noise. “Or at the very least someone who’s been in bed for way too long.”
“Coming right up, big guy.”
It’s with a relieved sigh that the Entity takes a moment to relax, taking the time to lean back in his seat and enjoy his coffee and the music that accompanies it. “This brings back memories.”
Good coffee and good music… this really did bring back memories. Memories of a time, of an age, of an eon that had passed so long ago. Memories of a time before he went to sleep, memories off a time when he was… something ‘less’.
A time when he was something less…
Truth was he didn’t miss those days, and why would he?
Those were painful, harrowing times; full of the deluded, the dumb and the desperate. Full of people who had found those archaic books and tried to make use of the powers they brought forth.
Without a word he reached for his own tome - his grimoire. His light, but tight smile fading into a thin line as did and stared at the book for a moment before opening it to a random page and started to read.
This book - this Grimoire, was not meant for mortals to read. It poisoned them, drove them mad, drove them to commit great atrocities in the name of Those looked away in the dark. Its pages promised power; a horrible and captivating and addictive power that could shake reality to its core.
Beyond that however it promised Truth. Truth of the Creation, truth of rests beyond the stars, truth of what hides in the deep and so much more.
And the Truth was more terrifying than mortals could begin to understand.
These grimoires… the recreations and mockeries of the lost Necronomicon showed its reader many things. Many who’d looked into its pages had gone mad, others had locked themselves away from the world, and others still had begun walking down a path in delusional fervor to One best left alone.
One like him.
Without a word, he continues to drink as he listens to the music before returning to his reading.
It’s a boring read.
No one must ever know.
Those were the words that echoed into the mind of one Sunset Shimmer as she looked at her soiled underwear and tossed them in the laundry.
“The girls can never know about this.” Especially Rainbow Dash; she’d never let her hear the end of it. Starting her laundry the young lady sighed to herself, before walking over to her bathroom to wash her hands and splash a bit of water on her face. “I can’t believe I just peed myself.” She muttered to herself.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d wet herself, if she had to guess it was back when she was a filly in Equestria - and that was a long time ago.
Groaning, the red and yellow haired lady dived her head under the water in embarrassment. “Least it was this end and not the other.” She admitted, trying to make light of her situation. “Still…” She started thinking back, trying to make sense of her sudden loss of bladder control.
She couldn’t really explain it, she hadn’t felt the need ‘to go’ just yet,she hadn’t had some bad dream or gotten into her secret stash and got blackout drunk.
She just… she wasn’t sure what happened. One second she was fine, the next? The next she was scared beyond reason, scared to the point that she… well… soiled herself. “Why was I scared all of a sudden?” She couldn’t figure it out, just out of nowhere her body, her instincts - no her very essence was screaming out in fear.
She’d never been that scared before. “Just what came over me?” She asked and found no response. Still, she picked herself up, pulled her head from out under the sink faucet and turned it off before walking back to her living room with head full of soaked hair and half of what her mother gave her hanging out for the whole world to see.
Or at least her living room and her pet lizard Ray.
Throwing her head back on the couch Sunset took a much needed breath.
She was feeling a little better. Not by much, but it was better than nothing.
Her body was still shaking a bit, but at least instincts weren't telling her to hide or risk dying.
"What was with that feeling?"
In their apartment complex, Aria couldn’t help but groan in annoyance. It wasn’t that she was angry or annoyed by something, the noise was more of a reflex than anything. Something she often did because she wanted to express her discomfort with something.
Coincidentally, this wasn’t one of those things.
Knocking on the door to one of three bedrooms, Aria pushed it open and was greeted by the sound of both sniffling and an almost motherly ‘shhh’.
In bed she found Sonata coiled up in her blanket with Adagio next to her, trying to help her relax.
“Got the Hot Chocolate.” Aria admitted as she used her off hand to show that she indeed had a cup of coco in Sonata’s favorite mug; a little white thing with Hello Kitty pressed on it. Without a word Adagio nodded her head, and Aria stepped into the room and handed the cup to her youngest sister. “Here.” She muttered as Sonata looked at the cup before slowly taking it. Her hands were still shaking, but at least it wasn’t as bad as before. “How you doing kiddo?” She asked as she sat on the opposite end of the bed and looked at her sister. “Feeling better?”
“A little.”
“Good.” Aria mutters. “A little goes a long way.” Adagio nodded her head as she adjusted herself to give Aria a bit more room.
Of the sisters, Aria knew for a fact that she wasn’t the most affectionate. It wasn’t that she was awkward in showing her feelings or something along those lines, she just never felt a need to show her affections to her family. Even if she didn’t, her sisters knew she cared. Sirens were empathetic by nature after all. They didn’t just feed off emotions, they felt them as well. So yeah, she’d never really felt a need to say or show her affection for them.
Besides, Sonata was affectionate enough for all three of them. The girl was like a puppy; affectionate, energetic, and probably as dumb as a brick. The girl was affectionate enough for all three of the sisters.
And yet… here she was hurting and in dire need of something - of someone to hold onto. So Aria and here for her. She could deal with her personal shit later, right now Sonata needed her - needed them by her side.
“I’m sorry.” Sonata muttered as she looked down at her cup.
“Don’t apologize.” Adagio muttered. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” She muttered as she ran her hands through Sonata’s hair. “You’re fine hun.” The three fell silent for a moment as they let Sonata drink her hot chocolate as Aria glanced around the room.
Sonata's room wasn't particularly dirty, but it wasn't exactly clean either. There were a few things scattered about and in need of being picked up, but it wasn’t something that a broom couldn’t take care of.”
“I’ll take care of it.” She muttered as Sonata seemed to squirm.
“Hey girls?” Sonata started.
“Yeah?”
“What was that?” Her sisters just glanced at each other as Sonata seemed to hug herself. “You felt it right, something just…” She stopped. “It just… I felt…”
“I know.” Adagio muttered. “You’ll be fine, I promise.” Aria nodded her head.
“We won’t let anything happen to you.”
Leaving the club with the remnants of his coffee in one hand the Entity releases a noise in noise that may very well be pitiable before returning to the city of Canterlot. The sky has taken on hues of burning twilight, a pleasant change from the cloud-kissed blue sky that was here earlier.
Giving it a light smile, he nodded in approval before wandering off in order to see what else this city had to offer before day turned to night, and just like before, he paid little attention to the fact that electrical equipment was starting to go on the fritz.