Last Ditch Effort

Deep in the cosmos, a lone Shantak-Bird was flying fiercely towards certain death, mindlessly following a command given by its liege.

On it Randolph Carter slowly opened his eyes.

He felt the dark slippery scales of his mount beneath his hands, desperately gripping onto whatever hold he could get, as to not get

thrown off the abhorrent bird whose will had escaped his control long ago. 

Beneath, nothing but a dark abyss was waiting. And with it a fate he knew all too well.

In front, certain doom was mindlessly gnashing its teeth.

But for Carter none of this mattered.

"I did it", slowly a wide grin spread across his face, "I finally managed to return to that moment"

If other people could see him right now, elatedly laughing to himself while riding directly towards his death, they would surely think him crazy.

But quite contrary Carter was not crazy at all. Rather, he was perfectly sane and had every reason to laugh in joy and be happy. 

His current situation, while looking rather precarious was, actually still very fortunate.

After countless years being trapped in that wretched alien body and searching for a way to return he had finally succeeded.

Carter looked around him. Far behind him the glistening black towers of unknown Kaddath could still faintly be seen.

Before returning he didn't remember much of this part of his life. Like a fleeting dream that disappears right after waking up, he only remembered that there was something important he had forgotten. 

That feeling didn't leave him for the rest of his life. 

Even after obtaining the silver key and gaining the ability to travel space and time, Carter found himself unable to travel back to this moment in his history. 

Later, after meeting that abhorrent unthinkable entity and having his consciousness imprisoned in a disgusting alien body, he tried everything he could think of to return to his original body and escape 'It's' grasp.

But nothing worked.

So as a last-ditch effort Carter put all his efforts and research towards returning to that dark forgotten part of his history, in the hope that he may somehow free himself by doing that. 

And finally, after hundreds of years, he succeeded. 

With his success also came all of his long-forgotten memories.

Memories of his dream quest to unknown Kaddath, where no man had gone before.

Back then Carter often dreamt of a majestic city bathed in golden rays of sunshine. He longed desperately to visit said city, but he did not know it's whereabouts.

Thus, swearing to himself to find that city of beauty and gold he embarked on a long journey throughout the deep worlds of the dreamscape.

Carter resolved himself to beseech the very gods of earth, who resided in a place called unknown Kaddath. 

He traveled through the lands of dream. visited different cities and talked to many a people, natives and fellow dreamers alike. Yet none could help him in his search for unknown Kaddath.

After finally chancing upon a lead in the city of Ulthar, Carter for the first time saw hope in this quest, but ended up getting captured by slave traders that served the ever-malevolent Nyrlathotep shortly after. 

Fortunately, Carter as an Arch Dreamer, knew the customs and ways of the dreamland well and had acquired many allies and friends throughout his years of wandering the dreamscape.

One of which were the exalted cats of Ulthar, extremely powerful warriors able to jump to the moon and back in but a second. 

They found him kidnapped and, honoring their friendship and alliance, bravely saved him from the clutches of Nyarlathotep's lackeys.

Of course, this wasn't the only difficulty Carter faced on his journey. He remembered for example, meeting the dreadful High Priest not to be described residing on the plateau of Leng, or getting captured by nightgaunts resulting in him needing to be saved by his friends once again.

But after many difficulties and trials he indeed made it to unknown Kaddath. 

Flying on a Shantak-bird leading an army of ghouls atop nightgaunts he arrived at the fabled city of gods.

But, upon arrival no gods of earth had been waiting for Carter and his entourage, only a lone pharaoh was there to welcome them.

And in a matter of seconds his entire army disappeared. Now facing the being alone, he had long realized who stood before him.

Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, the embodiment of malice.

It told him mockingly that the very gods he sought had seen the golden city in his dreams and became so enchanted by its beauty and magnificence that they abandoned unknown Kaddath to settle there. 

Now living in Carter's dream, the Gods of earth were so entranced and content, even if he asked them to return to Kaddath they would never accept. 

Still the crawling chaos in front of him offered Carter to show the way, take him to his destination and help him achieve the end goal of his long and arduous quest. 

Back then, young and naive as he was, Carter accepted, not realizing that his mount served the being in front of him and instead of his magnificent city, headed straight towards the thousand gnashing teeth that lurk in the dark, the daemon sultan's residence and Carters certain doom,

The court of Azathoth.

This was the situation he, Randolph Carter had returned to.

'Now what to do?', Carter mused inwardly.

Jumping off now like he did originally would just result in him forgetting again and he would end up treading the same path as before.

'Not jumping off is even worse though...', he sighed.

Even for someone like him, the court of Azathoth spelt nothing but certain death.

It seemed like every escape route had, one way or another, been cut off. 

'Actually, there's a third option', Carter took out a small object from his pocket.

The silver Key. His most prized and dear possession. it allowed its owner to traverse space and time as if taking an afternoon walk and had been invaluable in his quest to return to this very moment.

The small key seemed to be bathed in silver light, slightly pulsating as if to beckon him to make use of its powers to escape this dire situation.

But Carter only sighed. "using the silver key to escape this disaster may very well set me on a new path, but in the end nothing would change. I'd still be part of that being, firmly in its grasp, unable to live my life in true freedom."

While the Lurker at the threshold might have been better than Azathoth or Nyarlathotep it was by no means ideal, or even good.

Life as part of the All Encompassing One meant a life of being steered without noticing. A life of having Fate pre-determined if 'It' so desired.

He would never be his own person, only ever part of a much bigger entity.

Carter couldn't accept this.

The reason why he spent years researching and finally returned was not to stay content as an ant, blindly following the arrangements of the one looking down upon him.

The court of Azathoth got closer and closer. He could now almost feel the thousand gnashing teeth impacting his body and mind. He had to make a decision now, or it would be too late.

Carter looked at the shining key in his hand, the thing most dear to him, an object he had protected more than his own heart. Its flickering light now almost begging him to take it away, to flee from this wretched place.

Determination settled on Carters face as he tightly grasped the Silver Key and held it in front of him.

At this moment on earth, everything suddenly turned quiet.

Teachers stopped their lectures and quietly turned their heads to look out of the window, their students replicating this behavior.

People got out of their cars, and silently looked up at the sky.

Men and women stopped their conversations to direct their gazes upwards.

A father set down his child, a blank expression settling on his previously joyous face and like his child turned his head.

A woman about to give birth suddenly stopped screaming and like the doctors and nurses around her stared at the lone window in the small operating room.

Children, previously laughing and animatedly running around the playground, now quietly stood in place, their heads tilted upwards.

Even in feline eyes of cats and dogs the blue sky could be seen reflected.

Scenes like this did not only occur on earth.

The whole cosmos turned deathly silent. The gazes of all living beings simultaneously turned towards the same spot.

There, right in the center of everything he sat atop his Shantak-Bird. The silver Key now raised high above his head, a maniacal grin spreading across his face. 

And with the attention of every living being focussed on him, deathly silent as if holding their breaths for what he was about to do, Randolph Carter clenched his Hand and detonated the Silver Key.

Detonating the Silver Key was the same as detonating space and time itself. 

An explosion of this nature and caliber was not something reality could withstand.

As time and space slowly unraveled and reality dissolved into nothingness, Carter could feel indescribable malice directed towards himself.

He felt the malice of all living beings and by extension all those eldritch gods residing in this reality, always mindlessly looking down as if looking at specks of dust.

As the epicenter of the explosion Carter felt unimaginable pain. With space and time no longer present, he felt like he was dissolving into tiny strings only held together by his will. Still, he was smiling madly in the face of doom.

This was the last-ditch effort of a desperate man.

This was a rebellion against creation.

This was a rebellion against Yog-Sothoth.