This small train consisted of three small cars: a steam locomotive, a coal car, and a freight car. It traveled at 150 kilometers per hour, the highest speed possible in the 1890s.
From a nameless station in Arizona to Arkham City in Miskatonic State, a normal train would take seven days to cross the transcontinental railroad. However, this one completed the journey in just two.
Strangely, few people were aware of this train. It took precedence over all other services, operating day and night without regard for economic efficiency. Even fewer knew what cargo it transported.
——Rather, more non-human beings possessed knowledge of its contents.
+
Approximately twenty kilometers ahead of the train that carried a special cargo——or more precisely, in the air above it—was a mass of non-human creatures.
They resembled a flock of pterosaurs from the Mesozoic Era more than a group of humans, and shouldn’t even exist in this time. Moreover, they were larger and faster than any species imaginable from a paleontological standpoint. In fact, they could be considered the fastest beings on Earth, able to outrun a steam locomotive in the blink of an eye.
They flew in swarms of several dozen. Each dot in the swift flock was a monster with a wingspan of fifteen meters. They formed an army of demonic dragons, striking fear into every living being.
Yet now, they——themselves——were afraid.
They were being pursued, and the source of their fear was rapidly closing in on them from behind.
A giant bird of steel, several times larger than them, was chasing the flock of pterosaurs. Its steel wings sliced through the clouds, the air, and the very principles of the world as they propelled the gigantic mass at an impossible speed, ascending at an unimaginable angle.
In an instant, the moon faded.
A roar and a shockwave from the sky scattered the swarm of pterosaurs.
The giant bird overtook them, swooping down and landing on the ground before them with a thunderous thud, blocking their path.
——It was no bird.
Standing with its steel wings spread, its steel fists folded, and its steel feet planted firmly, it was a giant of pure steel.
——A Deus Machina known as “
+
(Don’t be hasty, Azrad.)
The Grimoire [Al Azif] warned her master.
(Aeon and I might be immortal and eternal, but you are still mortal. Do not forget that for a moment, or you will meet your demise.)
“Yes, I understand.”
——Summoning a Deus Machina would bring a great power and great danger. The “Master of Necronomicon”, Azrad, could feel that through his body.
Even at this very moment, his nerves were assaulted by a sensation like a phantom pain; his skull reverberated with a sound that was not the sound
of his soul being eroded. The synchronicity
with the steel giant, governed by logic beyond human comprehension, was slowly but surely consuming the spirit and body of the magus, driving him toward the abyss of death and madness.
Yet, despite that——
Azrad drew the Voorish Sign[2] with his hands and chanted new magic to seek greater power.
Give power!
Give power!
Give power!
The scorching blades manifested from the flame left a glowing magical crest on the surface before quickly cooling. It was the treasure and the weapon carrying the name of the Sage of Ulthar[3]—the “Scimitar of Barzai”.
“——Ia! Ia!”
“Ia! Zs-awia[4]!”
The flock of pterosaurs cried in an uncanny human-like tone and charged forward. It was as if a swarm of insects were charging at a giant bird.
Yet they should not be underestimated, for the pterosaurs of “D∴D∴
[5]” were not just flying lizards. Their rune-enchanted claws and beaks could pierce and tear through thick plates of steel, sinking the largest of steamships in spades.
Aeon firmly stepped through the air with its arms crossed, holding two Scimitars on its shoulders. Great power surged through its body of steel, and the magic crest on the black blades grew brighter. Its light, its heat, its roar——it was the Core Spell of Aeon: the “Lamp of Alhazred[6]”, which drained the soul of a magus as fuel to create a super-physical influence on the surrounding space.
The giant of steel flexed like a coiled spring with paranormal power and swung its two blades. The magic-enhanced long blades slashed through several pterosaurs instantly, scattering the large flock into four.
The flock fell apart and lost their coordination.
Aeon pressed on with its steel wings, swinging the shining Scimitars as it rushed and spun. It fought with all its might, delivering slash after slash——bloody flowers bloomed all around it, dyeing its deadly dance in the heavens.
Suddenly, the flock dispersed in many directions.
Did they give up on attacking Aeon?——Some acted as shields, others as decoys, while the rest descended with great speed.
A moving dot of light marked their landing site; it was the headlights of a steam locomotive. A train of three cars passed by on the land below, leaving behind a trail of black smoke.
Aeon brandished its Scimitars, overwriting the magic crest with the sigil of throwing.
(——Let them be, Azrad!)
Azrad ignored Al Azif’s shout.
One swing after another, the Scimitars were thrown into the flock of pterosaurs. The two spinning blades left trails of light that moved like living creatures, slashing from the edge and reducing their bodies to chunks of bloody meat. In just a few seconds, more than twenty pterosaurs were killed, falling lifelessly to the ground.
However, one managed to escape. The remaining pterosaur caught up with the train.
Azrad = Aeon poured strength into its wings of steel. They glowed, howled, and transformed Azrad’s spiritual power into paranormal propulsion. Aeon accelerated explosively towards the final pterosaur.
But there was too great a distance between them. The pterosaur stretched its hind legs and leapt onto the train with its magically enhanced claws before Aeon could catch up to it.
At that moment——
A fist of steel
smashed through the roof of the train.
It was huge——too huge. The fist was several times larger than a human’s, crude and unformed compared to even Aeon’s. The proportions in relation to the train cars were almost comical. The forearm and the train were roughly the same size.
In short, this train was only carrying a single “arm”——or rather, it was.
“Khcie, EeeerOooooh!!”
Was that out of hatred or fear? The pterosaur let out an incomprehensible cry before grabbing onto the fist.
No, the fist
grabbed the pterosaur. It extended its five steel fingers, grasping and crushing the flying creature within its palm.
“——!?”
Azrad stopped in midair. His sharp eyes caught the sight of a human standing on the top of the coal train.
He appears to be in his forties. In his right hand was a hat——while his left was holding a leather-wrapped open book——it was likely his Grimoire.
The man looked up at the sky——
+
——With a whistle, the train departed beyond the horizon.
(You are at your limit, Azrad. Release the spell now.)
“……Yeah.”
Azrad drew a seal and muttered the incantation to seal the Deus Machina. The shining code that covered Aeon’s body dismantled, condensing the spell governing the materialization of the machine into strings of spells spanning dozens of lines, which were then sealed within Al Azif’s pages.
The leather cover closed with a snap, and the lock fell on a sealed sash.
The floating giant of steel in the sky vanished like magic, leaving only the young man carrying a Grimoire, Azrad, below the wasteland’s starry sky.
Azrad took a deep breath. He might have manifested Aeon for a few minutes, but the stamina and spiritual power that were lost in that span of time were enough to threaten his life.
(Take a rest.)
“……Not yet.”
Azrad wandered as he began to head towards a fallen pterosaur that had its wings cleaved. He stood beside the large pterosaur and drew the Voorish Sign with his right hand.
(Don’t use any more magic.)
Azrad ignored her words and continued to chant. A Scimitar of Barzai manifested from thin air——a human-sized replica of the blade used by Aeon.
His gloomy eyes gazed at the face of the fallen pterosaur.
In contrast to its huge wings, its body was surprisingly small, at most the size of a horse or a cow. Its long head had a distinct shape, yet its eyes were somewhat human. Upon careful inspection, its muscle structure was also similar to that of a man.
The pterosaur screamed as the Scimitar pierced its shoulder.
At that moment, when the magic crests on the black blade changed their shape dizzily, the pterosaur’s body underwent a mysterious alteration. Its wings, its tail, its limbs, and its long head shrank——in the blink of an eye, the monster became a bald, naked man. Azrad used his Scimitar to undo the magic of “Transformation”.
With black skin and thick lips, this naked man was not a typical black man——he was not a known human species of the human world, but a hideous combination of a bird, a reptile, and a hybrid
[7] of a human and an ape. The intense pain caused by the blade caused his face to become even more hideously distorted.
Azrad asked the agonized man with a cold glance.
“Where is Loveday?”
The man did not answer; instead he repeatedly moaned an ominous chant.
“……Ia…… Ia…… Zs-awia…… Ia……”
The rhythm to the otherworldly god in their belief, “Zs-awia”——it is gibberish to Azrad, however. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
“I ask you, where is your leader?”
At that moment——the man’s form underwent further alteration. His body oddly writhed, and thin tentacles grew from his eyes and mouth.
The emotionless Azrad warped the pattern of the magic crests and poured more magic into the Scimitar. The scorching blade held back the transformation and inflicted even more pain on his body.
“The leader of D∴D∴, Raoul Loveday[8]——where is he!?”
“……I…… a…… Iaaaaaa……!!”
——At that moment, another strange phenomenon occurred on Azrad’s hand.
The lock on the Grimoire snapped open, and its wind-blown pages scattered in the air. They formed a whirlwind akin to a small vortex——from which the shape of a young girl manifested a few moments later.
The young girl——the avatar of the Grimoire [Al Azif]—placed her hand on Azrad’s arm.
“Any more than this is meaningless.”
Azrad looked at Al Azif and withdrew his Scimitar emotionlessly.
The man’s silhouette crumbled into a sluggish mass of tentacles and mucus, revealing the monster’s true essence.
“……I…… a…………”
The monster emitted one last moan from the vocal organ caught between the tentacles before shuddering and ceasing all movements.
“You displayed pointless action during battle.”
Al Azif spoke in a critical tone while looking up at Azrad’s face.
“——You went too far for mere small fries.”
Azrad responded with silence.
He knew he had made too many irrational mistakes. In fact, despite going this far to chase the Dragonewt
of D∴D∴, he didn’t acquire anything useful at all.
But Azrad was an Avenger; to act irrationally is his nature.
Al Azif continued, seemingly through his thoughts.
“I’m not telling you to treasure and live a long life. However, Azrad, the Chosen of Fate, if you keep wasting your limited life, then you’ll never be able to obtain your revenge.”
Azrad nodded.
“I know.”
“……Then all is well.”
Al Azif’s small hand took Azrad’s left hand.
With a scattering sound of flying papers, the young girl turned into a Grimoire and returned to her master’s hand.
Tucking the Grimoire into his pocket, Azrad walked. There is a limit to how much one can enhance their body via magic. He will need to rest in the nearest city.
——Following the railroad tracks before him, should he head towards the east, or go west instead?
Now that he had lost a clue to his archenemy, none of this mattered anymore——still, Azrad recalled the odd train from earlier.
The thing
Raoul Loveday commanded his subordinate Dragonewts to gather around and attack——
“……Is there any other Deus Machina beside Aeon?”
Al Azif replied to his muttering question.
(It is more correct to say [there is] instead of [is there]. There are powerful Grimoires other than me, and among them, some have Deus Machina. Yet, that one
from earlier——)
Al Azif replied after a moment to gather her thoughts.
(——It was too crude to be the zenith of magic, Deus Machina.)
“Then why did D∴D∴ aim for it?”
(I don’t know…… It could be a magical handicraft
of significant meaning…… or perhaps it was the man riding on the train they were after. I did feel the small presence of a magus.)
Azrad nodded and recalled the man standing on top of the coal train.
The moment their eyes made contact, he lifted his hat to greet Aeon——or rather, Azrad—and grinned. His smile was brimming with positivity and bright like sunlight.
——Azrad frowned a little.
That brightness was an uncomfortable sight for a being of darkness like him. Even so, a clue is a clue.
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1 In Gnosticism, an Aeon is the divine entity emanated from the Godhead. Aeon is the Latin translation of the Greek word “Aion”, which literally means “age” or “eternity”. ↩
2 The Voorish sign is the first sign recorded in the book of Necronomicon as the true symbol of the Old Ones. It is used in various rituals and spells, such as supplicating the Great Old Ones or summoning the Outer Gods, like Yog-Sothoth and Shub-Niggurath. ↩
3 Barzai the Wise is a sage from the village of Ulthar who first appeared in H. P. Lovecraft’s short story “The Other Gods”. He was a high priest of the “gods of the earth”, or Great Ones, and a powerful sorcerer; however, he was ultimately destroyed by his own hubris when he thought that his great knowledge would spare him from their wrath. After he climbed to the Mountain of Hatheg-Kla to look upon the faces of the Great Ones, he was horrified to learn that the earth’s gods weren’t there alone, but also “the other gods, the gods of the outer hells that guard the feeble gods of earth”, and died as a result. In Necronomicon, the “Scimitar of Barzai” is the blade used to summon the Great Old Ones and Yog-Sothoth that named after him. ↩
4 Zs-awia is basically a reversal of the spelling of Aiwass (Ssawia) in Japanese by changing the first letter to z. In Thelema, Aiwass is the name of a figure that the English occultist Aleister Crowley reported to have heard their voice from April 8, 9, and 10 in 1904. Crowley claimed that Aiwass was the minister of the Egyptian god Hoor-paar-kraat and also his own Holy Guardian Angel. ↩
5 The name D∴D∴ is modeled after A∴A∴, a magical organization founded by Aleister Crowley in 1907. A∴A∴ is short for Argenteum Astrum, which means Silver Star in English. ↩
6 A magic oil lamp that appeared in August Derleth and H. P. Lovecraft’s posthumous collaborative short story “The Lamp of Alhazred”. Its lights allowed the wielder to see the scenery beyond space, or even beyond dimensions. In Demonbane Mythos, it is the name of Aeon’s core engine. ↩
7 First used in 1851 by the Scottish geologist Charles Lyell, the mentor of the English biologist and naturalist Charles Darwin, the term refers to a hypothetical transitional fossil that describes the evolutionary process between early modern humans and anthropoid ancestors. However, anthropologists heavily reject the term because it implies evolution is a linear chain. ↩
8 One of the residents in the Abbey of Thelema villa and a devoted follower of Aleister Crowley. ↩
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