"The New Ones are strange beings of unknown sex and gender. Their role is to guide the souls of the deceased to the afterlife to lead them to the Last Judgment on board the boat of Maat. They are represented with a faceless head adorned with a single eye represented by a runic form. This eye is used to discern the path that will lead them to the Weighing Room. They are recognizable thanks to the large white wings that make them undulate in the sky. But beware of those who would want to bother them from the path traced because they will shred you with their powerful jaws.

Excerpt from the Forgotten Chronicles, Chapter 53: Creatures and other infernal entities, Brother Elricci, Doctor of Supernatural Science.

***

Arriving near the cul-de-sac, the group rushed into the narrow passage to their left. They found themselves in the middle of a dilapidated room that smelled rancid and pungent. After getting used to the dimness of the storeroom, the foursome saw cardboard boxes piled on top of each other, an old table missing two legs, and a jumble of dried plants and flowers strewn about the floor in broken vases. At the back of the rectangular room was a door built into the wall.

Aloÿs went towards it followed by Erwë, Rawën and Caleb. Passing through the door, they found themselves in the middle of a large expanse of greenery with a stormy sky. Despite the particularly strong wind, the four friends managed to move forward without any problem. The vegetation followed the wind's jerky breath in an indolent and sad dance. In the distance one could hear soft whistles that gradually became more strident. Caleb stopped dead in his tracks, looked around but saw nothing.

It was Aloÿs' hand that made him come back to himself. The whistling suddenly became louder and the angel took him along. They both entered a huge tunnel following their two other companions. The interior of the tunnel was lit by bluish colored will-o'-the-wisp lights. One could hear the splashing of drops of water escaping from transparent stalactites.

In some places on the walls of the tunnel old drawings of men surrounded by fire accompanied by fantastic animals were represented. The silence of his guides and the heavy atmosphere of the place becoming unbearable Caleb asked in a whisper:

- What was it?

But there was no answer from his companions who preferred to remain silent as graves. And as Caleb wanted to repeat his question, the shrill buzzing suddenly started again. These were followed by the cry of Erwë who had twisted her ankle while slipping in a small crevice.

It was at this moment that the whistling became a scream. Rawën swore and then, in panic, started to run and urged the others to follow him. Caleb took the poor Erwë who could no longer run at arm's length and hurried to follow Aloÿs and Rawën.

As they fled full of anxiety, the will-o'-the-wisps quickly went out and the group found itself in complete darkness. As they hurried along, the rustling of slimy tentacles grew closer until the thing was behind Caleb and Erwë.

The creature's putrid breath made Caleb tremble and the unbearable sound made him speed up. Voices that did not belong to the creature called out for help, tearing him apart from the inside, as if a herd of lârkos* had cut open his skull. Overwhelmed with anxiety and fear, Caleb tangled his feet in his shoelaces and fell to the ground. He protected Erwë, who was trembling, with tears of fear running down her cheeks. Then nothing more. Caleb had fainted.

He woke up in the middle of a crowded pedestrian street. In an excess of distraction, he found himself walking like a zombie. This amorphous state was short-lived when he remembered his friends. Caleb anxiously searched for them throughout the village but could not find them.

Exhausted, he sat on the stone ledge of a fountain, watching the passersby, when suddenly a high-pitched, eardrum-shattering scream broke the stillness of the scene. Caleb then suddenly became a spectator of a nameless chaos. The sky turned gray, people began to flee the streets and an earthquake shook the ground. Those who had rushed into their homes were crushed by their own shelters. A fire had begun to consume the fauna and flora. In the midst of all this mayhem, a shrill howl sounded. Then there was a flat calm without a shadow of life. The cries of agony, the groans and even the lament had fallen silent.

The survivors slowly began to move again, when the chaos began again. Monsters had appeared in the middle of the village and had begun to chase the inhabitants with demented laughter. The population was running for their lives between the destroyed houses and the ripped off slabs. These chimeras made of muscles and black horns were having fun slaughtering and raping these unfortunate people regardless of age. Caleb could only watch them. He couldn't move as if the whole massacre was just a movie he had to watch. Suddenly, a dark mass with no real form invited itself to the carnage. From this creature emerged tentacles of viscous mists. Then spheres of a murky yellow burst from the bodies of the victims. These were the souls of the dead, who were quickly swallowed by the horrible mass.

Suddenly an intense burning sensation spread through the mass of flesh that Caleb had become. Overcome by an excess of pain, he screamed to break his voice and then he sank. To wake up thereafter in a world made of fog and smoke in the middle of a nothing made of souls torn from their bodies, moaning, shouting, scratching. This fateful depiction made Caleb want to vomit his guts out. His ears were bleeding from the abominable wailing. He then understood that the strange place where he was was the interior of the creature. Then, as if by magic, Caleb found himself in a room made of broken mirrors. He approached one of the pieces of ice and touched it.

The scene suddenly faded away and he appeared in the center of a huge empty plain, when everything started again. When the storm calmed down, men fleeing from a herd of centaurs and demons with goats' feet broke the peaceful silence of the heath. The fugitives of the first wave were pierced by fiery arrows, while the second wave could do little more than flounder on the ground like stones: dead. The carnage intensified and the plain was suddenly laid waste. A fire started, burning to the heart's content the grass and the charred pulpits of the martyrs from which the sacrificial blood fell. Then the same black mass arrived with a great roar, picking and devouring like ripe fruit the souls of its unfortunate victims.

Caleb returned to the hall of mirrors to be transported once again into the middle of an equally bloody landscape. A desolate picture, murderous to his eyes which despite their knowledge of violence, could not turn away. He wished he could do something about it, but the scenes seemed to come from a distant and frightening past, which he could not erase or even stop.

The scene repeated itself several times abruptly, changing time and world. Disturbing memories, innumerable nightmares, sinister scenes flowed and did not stop scrolling in front of the already weakened eyes of Caleb.

Remained frozen, the being of this one trembled and his head hurt suddenly. He had the impression to have already seen this kind of desolating scene but he did not know where when a large fresh hand closed his eyes gently cutting him of this bloody decoration. Then a soft, deep voice like... like who? gently rocked him.

- It's... still... time.

Then Caleb's soul was ejected from this aberrant furnace.

He woke up a few seconds later surrounded by little fireflies, his arms wrapped around Erwë's waist as she seemed to be sleeping. The dust and coolness of the floor tiles made him sneeze and shiver. Sitting down with difficulty he did not notice that the angel in his arms had opened his eyes and was staring at him with an unreadable look. It was only when he felt him move uncomfortably that Caleb stared at him, a questioning look in his colored eyes. Erwë struggled to his feet, and Caleb followed painfully.

He helped the youngster with the twisted ankle to stand more easily and then took him in his arms as he began to walk.

- Is your ankle okay?

- I think so. Hey Cal, do you think Rawen and Aloÿs are okay? Asked his worried interlocutor

- Yeah, don't worry. Tell me, did you... see these scenes ?

- No, Erwe answered curtly, We shouldn't have survived, why? he wondered, but if you're talking about that thing we were running from, it's a Nemëkè'xī, or Nameless. I... I didn't know that this thing still existed, but in Aloÿs' imaginary book it was there. If I remember correctly, in ancient times, it appeared whenever the world came close to its Kiv'tr. We do not know the origin of this thing. Erwë shudders at the very thought of its possible death. Besides, the book of Aloÿs said that souls were destined to be transformed or something like that.

The conversation fell silent when clattering sounds were heard on the floor. Both stopped when beams of light blinded them. After blinking, they saw a group of men in guards' clothes followed by another man in richly decorated clothes, with a paunchy belly and white hair, a vicious and superior look stuck on his face. Then from this group came two blond angels in brown capes. They ran to Caleb and Erwe with joy and eagerness.

- Are you well? Rawën asked with anguish written on his face followed by Aloÿs with tears in his eyes happy to find his friends safe and sound.

- Yes, it's okay, don't worry," said Caleb in a reassuring voice, ruffling the angels' hair. Then he turned to the group of men, I thank you for your kindness.

- Indeed, indeed. Nice to see you... Safe and sound, answered the man with the fat belly while making a small gesture of the wrist sign that he would have been well without coming to save them if he had not seen the angel with the half-long hair. Let's go ! he ordered, turning around with a pretentious look, followed by his guards.

Letting the group and his friends pass, Erwe looked away from the place of the fall and with a movement of his little finger made a small insect appear. A tiny flying messenger that had taken over the whole conversation between him and Caleb, in addition to the frightening scene of their beginning... All this without Caleb noticing.

kiv'tr : end of the world, renaissance
Larkôs: a kind of horse with airy hooves