The Wind Beyond the Walls of the
Mind
Chapter 9
Pharos
by Gaius Petronius
DISCLAIMER:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all the characters that appear on
the show are the exclusive property of Joss Whedon, the WB, Fox
and Mutant Enemy, Inc. This story can be read on its own or as
a sequel to H. P. Lovecraft's "The Haunter of the Dark"
from which the Ancient Ones, the Shining Trapezohedron and the
character of Robert Blake are derived.
The Wind Beyond the Walls of the Mind is set
roughly in mid-season four shortly following the death of Doyle
but before the creation of Adam and the death of Maggie Walsh.
Rating PG-13 for some violence.
* * * * * * * *
Giles looked up from the small worn volume
from which he was reading. He stared out the shop window, the
look on his face as if he himself were reliving the horrific night
he was recounting. Buffy and Willow waited anxiously for him to
resume the tale.
"Giles . . . ?" Buffy said quietly
as if she were afraid to break the trance into which her Watcher
appeared to have fallen.
"Hmm?" he muttered.
Buffy stared at him silently and nodded her
head, encouraging him to continue reading.
"Oh, yes, . . . Sorry about that,"
he replied.
Giles returned his attention to the book once
more and as he read out loud, the terrors of a single night from
almost one thousand eight hundred years ago came alive once more.
"And so the entire Roman garrison of Alexandria
fanned out across the streets that paralleled the Meriotic Swamps
from which the darkness was surging. Armed with torches, they
served as a flimsy shield of light as the citizens were roused
and told to make their way towards the harbor."
"And from out of the advancing black deeper
than night came the shrieks of Nyarlethotep, like the hideous
screams of an eldrich bird of prey. There was a flapping of giant
black wings and the three lobed burning eye swept down towards
the defenders. It launched blazing red globes of liquid heat that
exploded leaving nothing in their wake but broken shapes and piles
of charred ash."
"As Cassandra predicted, the torches were
a poor defense and even the firing of whole blocks of the city
only caused Nyarlethotep to shift its assault to other darker
approaches to the harbor. Back, back the defenders retreated,
contesting every inch but still no match for the spawn of another
universe that continuously ripped holes in their lines."
"By now, Cassandra had rallied the Egyptian
and Greek troops in the city as well, and they stood side by side
as brothers with their former Roman conquerors. One lieutenant
among the Greeks even offered to set the Library ablaze. Its thousands
of dry parchments would provide light enough to spare, at least
temporarily, the center of the city from the Hell that continuously
flew down from the sky.
But Petronius flatly refused, threatening with
execution on the spot anyone who so much as harmed a single scroll
in the building. Then he cursed under his breath that he would
be damned if history should record him, along with Julius Caesar,
as the Roman who torched the great Library."
"Meanwhile the bewildered and panicked
citizenry of Alexandria fled up the avenues, past the Serapeum,
around the Library, under the Arch of Trajan toward the grain
warehouses lining the harbor."
"Petronius knew that Cassandra's solution
was little more than a holding action. He, Cassandra and a half
dozen seasoned Roman soldiers guarding the Shining Trapezohedron
had retreated to the north end of the wharves. All the while Petronius
could see the monstrous black shape of Nyarlethotep sweeping out
of the advancing wall of blackness as it tested the strengths
and weakness of the Roman, Egyptian and Greek lines of torches."
"And then suddenly at his side, Cassandra
gasped in terror. As Petronius caught her by the shoulders, she
dropped to her knees. She whispered to him as the tears rushed
down her cheeks, 'She's gone! Karintha is gone! She couldn't hold
out any longer and succumbed!' With those words, Petronius knew,
short of a miracle, that all before him, too, would soon fall."
"In that moment, Cthulhu, relishing his
strength in the new world, stirred the seas into a raging tempest
with winds driving monstrous waves over the docks, breakwaters
and the causeway itself leading out to the Lighthouse. Across
the harbor, the heavily laden grain ships pitched in the massive
swells and capsized. At the same time, Azathoth reached from beyond
the Void and opened the sky, releasing torrents of foul black
rain that doused the light of almost every fire and torch."
"And then, with a screech that pierced
the conquering darkness, Nyarlethotep swept down unrestrained
upon the city of Alexandria. The last lines of defense crumbled
as the Preparer of the Way beat its hideous wings over the cowering
heads of the mob of retreating soldiers and citizens."
"It seemed in a moment more all would
be darkness, but then Petronius' head spun in the direction of
the sea, for he saw something reaching out like a limb of hope
extended to a drowning man."
"Light! Faint, but light nonetheless coming
from somewhere! And then he saw it."
Willow almost leaped out of her seat.
"The Lighthouse! Giles, the Lighthouse!"
she cried out.
Smiling, he nodded at Willow and continued
to read.
"Yes. 'At the end of the causeway commanding
the entrance to the harbor! The mighty Pharos! The great Alexandrian
Lighthouse! Quickly Petronius whispered a prayer of thanks to
Isis."
"Grasping the despairing Cassandra by
her shoulders, he directed her face up towards Alexandria's most
famous landmark. She instantly understood and was on her feet.
Petronius signaled the soldiers guarding the Shining Trapezohedron
to follow and, in a moment, all had leapt from the dock down onto
the Great Stone Causeway leading to Pharos Island where the Lighthouse
stood."
"Now, picture if you will the scene, as
I, Lecritis saw it, the little band struggling across three hundred
yards of sea drenched stones, all around them the foam tipped
waves cascading, each second threatening to sweep them away. Overhead
a rain of red fireballs descended on the city as Nyarlethotep
rejoiced at the impending destruction of humanity and the final
victory of the Ancient Ones."
"As they stumbled through the blackness
and tripped over slippery stones, Petronius, on Cassandra's urging,
forbade the soldiers from lighting their torches. He remembered
well her warning that the Preparer would attack any perceived
strength or threat. As it raged in fury over the fleeing crowds
and crumbling warehouses, Nyarlethotep was still searching for
the Shining Trapezohedron, now concealed under a soldier's cloak."
"The Crystal had to remain hidden at all
costs even though the screams from shore made the Governor stop
as they finally reached Pharos Island and pause at the foundation
of the Lighthouse. Drawn by the despairing cries of a city facing
its end, he nearly turned back to look, but Cassandra quickly
and firmly placed her hand on his shoulder. I, Lecritis was with
them. I saw their eyes met for a moment, and then the soldiers
in the small party burst through the locked door leading inside."
"'Come! This way!' Cassandra shouted as
she began the ascent up the winding stone staircase that hugged
the inside wall. The others followed. They directed their eyes
above to a single torch burning three quarters of the way up the
center of the tower barely illuminating above it the entrance
to the great beacon itself."
"Although the hand of Cthulhu thrashed
the Mediterranean into a fury and all around the foul breath of
Azathoth flattened buildings and overturned ships, the Pharos
barely creaked and groaned softly in the tumult. The climb seemed
to last for hours, but when one of the soldiers' spirits began
to fail, Cassandra called out over her shoulder that Pharos was
designed to withstand any power of wind or wave this world could
hurl at it. It was built for one purpose, so that the mariners
of the East, lost and in peril on the sea, could reach port safely."
The little band finally reached the beacon
chamber at the top of their ascent. The room that encompassed
the entire top of the Lighthouse was shuttered tight against the
outside, the fire in the lantern itself barely glimmered. The
great lens, nearly ten feet in diameter and pointed out ocean
ward, was dark. Hours earlier, in a panic during the first assault,
the Keeper had fled his post and let the light die."
"Now Petronius and the soldiers, oblivious
to the shrieking winds and the human cries of despair mingled
with the howling, gathered the wooden buckets of pitch and tar
the Keepers used to ignite the beacon fire and tossed them whole
scale into the lantern chamber. One younger soldier, Alexandros,
carried over to Petronius a large closed amphora. The Governor
was about to break the seal when Cassandra called out to him."
"'No! Don't open it!' she cried."
"Petronius examined the mouth of the amphora
and carefully sniffed the seal. His eyebrows raised with recognition.
He then ran his hand across the vessel's mouth, and when he drew
it away, his fingertips glowed with an eerie luminescence."
"'Phosphor!' he exclaimed to Cassandra."
"'Greek Fire!' she whispered back. 'It'll
explode on contact with air.'"
"Petronius was silent for a moment; then
he grinned back at Cassandra."
"'So be it,' was his response. 'Isis be
blessed!'"
"Flames were already lapping at the tar
and pitch in the lantern chamber. Beyond the concealing planks
of the beacon tower, the beating of Nyarlethotep's mighty wings
made the wooden louvers shudder in their framing."
All the Scooby Gang were now on the edge of
their seats. Anya's fingernails dug deep into Xander's shoulder
but he never noticed. Willow sat motionless, nervously nibbling
at the tip of her finger she had in her mouth. Buffy, too, was
frozen in her seat and unable to take her eyes off of Giles. She
hadn't so much as twitched since Giles described the death of
Karintha.
And still Giles continued the story.
"'We must turn the lens so that it shines
back over the city!' Petronius shouted. The lantern chamber was
mounted on a cantilever rotating base but held in place by a massive
bolt mechanism secured with a giant bronze lock. The releasing
key was nowhere to be found. Petronius cursed the cowardly Lighthouse
Keeper."
"The Governor was almost in despair when
Alexandros stepped forward and placed his hand reassuringly on
Petronius' shoulder."
"'Please stand aside, my Lord,' was his
cheery response. Alexandros drew his broad sword and swung the
blade repeatedly against the golden padlock. With each blow, the
soft bronze gave and bent until, with one last furious stroke,
Alexandros severed the locking mechanism in two. His sword was
deeply notched and for all future use ruined but it had accomplished
its job. The bolt dropped out to the floor with a loud clang.
The giant lantern chamber and its massive lens were now free to
turn."
"Without waiting for an order, the soldiers
put their shoulders to the metal case enshrouding the lantern
and slowly began turning it away from the sea and back in the
direction of the beleaguered city. The beacon tower groaned and
creaked under the shifting weight. Necessity gave the soldiers
a strength they never knew they had. They completed the rotation
of the lantern chamber in less than a minute."
"Every moment, Nyarlethotep swooped closer
and closer towards the Lighthouse, the foulness of its breath
penetrating even the beacon chamber. Far below, the Causeway was
now drowned under the seas at Cthulhu's command and the giant
waves crashed against the stones fully halfway up the Pharos itself.
Petronius, Cassandra, Alexandros and all the others in the tower
knew there would be no escape. Their fate, and indeed that of
the world, rested on their actions in the next few moments."
"'Now,' Petronius shouted to Cassandra
over the rising din, 'I must lure it to us.' But before he could
move, the Priestess of Isis stepped up to the soldier concealing
the Shining Trapezohedron beneath his cloak and held out her hands.
The soldier cast a questioning glance at Petronius who only nodded
in assent. The soldier drew the Crystal out from under his cloak
and passed it to Cassandra. An unearthly color of an unknown spectrum
flooded the beacon chamber as Cassandra held the glowing object
out in front of her."
"'What we do now is not for this world.'
she spoke loudly to Petronius, 'It is for revenge! To bring peace
to the soul of Karintha! To make the Ancient Ones pay for daring
to desecrate Isis and those whom She loves!'"
"At the same time, many struggling to
survive on the shore, saw Nyarlethotep break off its attack on
the city. It was as if doubt, even fear, had suddenly intruded
upon the mind of the Preparer, distracting it from its final purpose.
It spun around in mid air, the three lobed burning eye searching
in confusion this way and that."
"'Then, let it be so,' Petronius said
to Cassandra. 'May the Goddess be with us!' The Governor then
commanded four soldiers to line up, their shields raised in front
of them, facing towards the giant lens. The burning pitch and
tar in the lantern chamber was now strong and the shields reflected
back the beam generated by the lens, preventing the light from
reaching the boarded up openings of the Lighthouse tower.
"'You will hold that position until my
command,' Petronius shouted to the four men. 'Then you will quickly
step aside. Is that understood?' The men nodded as Petronius turned
to Alexandros."
"'Break open the tower cover that faces
out over the city.'"
"Understanding the Governor's plan, Alexandros
grinned once more."
"'With pleasure, my Lord!' and he lifted
a large iron bar the Keepers used to stir up the fire and coals
in the lantern chamber."
"Cassandra protested. 'The beacon from
Pharos may keep Nyarlethotep at bay for a while but it will not
be brilliant enough to cast the Ancient Ones back into the Void!'"
"Petronius stooped and lifted the sealed
amphora. He stepped over by the open door where the Keepers fed
fuel into the light chamber."
Willow cried out again, as if she were seeing
the story unfold before her eyes.
"Oh my God, Giles! He's going to blow
them up!"
Giles looked up momentarily from the Chronicle
and spoke with authority.
"Lecritis reports here that Petronius
cast a fatalistic Roman smile at Cassandra.
'The Goddess has given us a gift,' he said. 'I trust fully in
Her wisdom . . . as I trust in you.' Petronius quickly kissed
Cassandra and for a moment, as Cthulhu, Azathoth and Nyarlethotep
raged all around outside the Pharos, Petronius and Cassandra stared
deep into each other's eyes as their thoughts, loves and dreams,
their very souls teetered together as one on the edge of the end
of the world."
"'Romans!' the Governor shouted to the
shield bearers in front of the lens, 'On my command! . . . Alexandros!'"
"Alexandros tightened his grip on the
iron rod."
"'Let us teach this scum of the Void what
it means to fear . . . the Light of Isis! Break open the tower!'"
As Giles read, the entire Scooby Gang gave
a collective gasp.
"Instantly, Alexandros swung the iron
bar in his hands over and over against the planks concealing the
beacon chamber from the City of Alexandria. As the boards shivered
and dropped away, Azathoth snatched them in his breath before
they could fall even a few feet. And then the colors from the
Shining Trapezohedron poured out into the blackness of the Void
that hovered over the city. And Nyarlethotep beheld and knew his
arrogance and folly."
"The Preparer of the Way banked sharply
over the blazing warehouses below. All its energies were channeled
toward the Shining Trapezohedron glowing in the tower of the Pharos.
And the three lobed burning eye instantly recognized who still
possessed the last obstacle to the Ancient Ones' final victory.
It was Cassandra, the High Priestess of Isis."
"In that moment their eyes met for a fraction
of a second, the infinite evil of the limitless worlds beyond
human understanding and the cold green eyes of the High Priestess
that spoke only one word, revenge! Cassandra stepped forward and
raised the Shining Trapezohedron high over her head."
"'Come!' she cried out. 'Come to me, foul
beast of the realm of Shaggai! Feel the wrath of Isis!'"
"'Here kitty, kitty, kitty,' Alexandros
muttered as he grinned evilly.
"Nyarlethotep's black skin-webbed wings
beat madly in the winds Azathoth whipped across the harbor. Sweeping
down out of the heights of the darkness, Nyarlethotep soared towards
the Pharos, following the straight line of the Causeway directly
at the open face of the beacon chamber. The three lobed burning
eye released a ball of red liquid that struck the tower halfway
up, spattering in blazing globules off the massive marble stonework."
"'Just a little closer, you bastard!'
Petronius growled outloud as if he were unable to hear his own
thoughts. The black form with the blazing red monstrosity of an
eye floating at the end of its snake like neck roared forward
and was almost upon them. The evil of its very presence weighed
like massive stones laid on their chests, crushing the air out
of all in the tower."
"'NOW!' screamed Petronius and the shield
armed soldiers jumped aside from the front of the beacon. The
light from the lantern chamber poured through the giant lens illuminating
Nyarlethotep from top to bottom, and halting the Preparer of the
Way in mid flight. For a moment, the three lobed burning eye floated
in the roaring winds only yards away from the tower."
"And then a voice pierced through the
din, a voice Petronius and Cassandra instantly recognized, the
deep rasping tone of Necror."
"'Is that the best you can do, Governor?
Do you think a little light will stop the return of the Ancient
Ones from reclaiming what is theirs! In seconds, you will all
be eternal food for . . .' but the Voice halted in mid sentence.
Something had distracted its attention.
Nyarlethotep's slithering neck yanked back
sharply as if an unseen entity from the other universe had seized
it in a furious stranglehold. Struggling against its invisible
tormentor, the Preparer rose up so that its massive underbelly
faced the beacon chamber."
"A young woman's voice suddenly rang out
from all around them."
"'Now, Petronius! NOW!' she called."
"'Karintha!' Cassandra cried out in despair."
"At the same time, Petronius raised the
amphora over his head and cast it with all his strength into the
lantern chamber. The large clay vessel shattered on impact in
the fire, releasing an explosion and a flash of piercing light
that threw everyone in the tower to their knees, left them temporarily
blinded and reeking of phosphorus."
"The mighty lens concentrated the sudden
burst of illumination into a beam of light that shot out of the
Pharos like a blazing javelin from Zeus himself. It struck the
soft upturned underbelly of Nyarlethotep in an instant, piercing
the dark flesh and spilling out its foul innards to rain down
on the Causeway and harbor below."
"Screaming in a sound never hear on this
earth and soaring up into the sky, the Preparer twisted in spirals
towards the wall of blackness enveloping the city. In a moment
its body dismembered, the fragments tumbling in all directions."
"The blast of light from Pharos did not
stop there. Searing across the sky, it punctured a hole in the
wall of darkness so that Ra, in his manifestation as the brilliant
Egyptian dawn, pored through, dissolving the night. The black
clouds, as if washed in a bath of aqua regia, bubbled, foamed
and shriveled away. The winds died and the sea returned to its
appointed boundaries as Nyarlethotep, Azathoth and Cthulhu, in
one final howl, cursed their fate and were sealed up in the Void
once more."
"And it was said that miles away across
the city in the temple of Isis, Karintha opened her eyes as a
soft warm breeze blew the long strands of her golden hair. Lying
on her catafalque, she smiled at the startled attendants watching
over her and breathed a deep sigh. Then her soul, freed from the
Ancient Ones, passed on to Paradise Beyond the River and her body
died."
"Thus did Cassandra, Petronius, Karintha
and Alexandros seal the Ancient Ones back in the Void. That very
morning, Petronius and Alexandros, by themselves, sailed a small
boat out into the Mediterranean and cast the Shining Trapezohedron
into the sea. In the weeks following, Petronius broke open the
surviving granaries to feed the populace of Alexandria. But the
grain ships, many destroyed in the conflagration, ceased traveling
to Rome, and soon the Emperor's legions came and arrested Petronius."
"Cassandra and Alexandros fled the city
on Petronius' orders but the Governor remained behind. Turning
himself over to Caracalla's troops was the only way he saw to
spare the Province further turmoil and bloodshed."
"At Rome, Petronius was tortured by Caracalla
himself, but the Governor would not reveal the resting place of
the Shining Trapezohedron. His only response as the Emperor inflicted
torment after torment upon him was 'Put your mind at ease, my
Lord. It is safe.'"
"Finally, Petronius was strangled and
his body cast down the Gemonian Steps, the Stairway of Mourning,
where the corpses of executed criminals were discarded, there
to be food for the vultures and the dogs."
"I, Lecritis, heard it on good report
that Caracalla posted guards at the Stairs that night, but by
dawn his men fled in terror before the Shade of a young woman,
a Priestess of Isis they swore, with long blond hair. And as the
soldiers ran, one looked back over his shoulder in time to see
a tall dark haired woman dressed in eastern fashion accompanied
by a soldier gather up the body of Petronius. Together with the
Phantom, they all disappeared among the streets leading away into
the dawn shadows."
Giles slowly closed the worn leather volume.
There was a long pause. Willow gave a tiny sob, while Buffy, her
face expressionless, stared at the floor.
"You understand . . . don't you?"
Willow finally said to Buffy as her voice quivered.
"Yeah . . ." Buffy murmured, "I
wish I didn't, Will."
Willow stood up from her chair, and knelt down
beside Buffy who sat motionless. Willow wrapped her arms around
the Slayer and held her tightly.
". . . They're us, . . . aren't they Will,"
Buffy said, her voice barely audible.
Willow's eyes were wet as she answered.
"Buffy, you won't do this alone. I'm gonna
be at your side all the way. I'll use all the magic I know . .
. and I'll find more. Buffy, you're not doing this alone."
"Thanks, Will," Buffy said sadly
as Willow released her grip.
Xander jumped down from the counter and began
to pace in confusion back and forth across the shop. He still
couldn't take in all he had heard.
"Wait a minute Giles! Are you trying to
tell us that, even if we burn down all of Sunnydale, we still
might not be able to stop this thing?"
Giles gazed for a moment at the closed book
in his hand. He replied to Xander's question, but as he did his
gaze was focused on Buffy.
"I don't know," he said, motioning
with the book, "We must learn from their experience."
Buffy glared at the Shining Trapezohedron.
"Put that damn thing away . . . "
she growled at MacDuffie, "I don't want to see it ever again."
The Guardian nodded and collected the wooden
box up in his arms. He quickly carried it into the storage room
and shut the door. As the bizarre color from the Shining Trapezohedron
was closed up once more, the shop seemed strangely dark.
"They were the first, weren't they,"
Willow said softly to MacDuffie.
"Yes," he answered, "Legends
say, Petronius was the first of the Guardians, Cassandra the first
Watcher . . . . ."
MacDuffie stared at Buffy who looked back at
him, her eyes wide.
". . . and Karintha . . . the first Slayer,"
she murmured with understanding.
No one moved. The shadows from the morning
light through the front window crisscrossed the room like a maze
of prison bars.
* * * * * * * *
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