April

On this brisk spring afternoon, three hikers were taking a stroll through the woods of rural Montana miles away from anything. The one leading the small group was a tall, stocky tanned woman with blonde hair done in a ponytail carrying a large backpack. She stopped to turn around and motioned for the two men to hurry and catch up. The two men, one with short light brown hair wearing glasses and the other with medium-length black hair and a neck tattoo, were already out of breath.

"Come on slowpokes! The cabin is right ahead of us!" The woman shouted, her tone fairly deep. The man with the neck tattoo flipped her the bird. She just laughed it off and kept going. The two men sipped water from their canteens and picked up the pace to catch up.

The group turned a couple more corners and there just up ahead, was a beautiful wooden cabin with a dock jutting out to the nearby lake. The woman's eyes went wide and she snapped a couple photos on her phone. The two men finally caught up with her while she waited for them. They stared at the cabin in awe and let out sighs of relief knowing they were finally there and could rest after walking for several miles to get here. Just as the three of them started to walk towards the cabin, on the dock a surge of energy started to gather around and a strange, thin rift suddenly appeared in the air, hovering over the dock. The woman put her arms out and halted the others. They all looked at the rift, just barely being able to make out the void space condensed inside the tear.

"Wha-?" The man with the neck tattoo gasped.

"My word what the hell is that?" The man with the glasses spouted, adjusting his spectacles. "What oddity have we just witnessed right now?" He studied the rift and whipped out the notepad from a side pocket on his backpack and started jotting notes down.

The woman was flabbergasted at first, but then took a deep breath, narrowing her eyes.

"Wonder if this is a special effects project some of those nerdy college kids from the city are working on? But if so then why are they at our cabin? We're supposed to be renting it out for the weekend!" She huffed. "What do you think Alfred?"

"Miriam...I am not sure. If this is some 'project' then it is very convincing. But there have been more and more sightings of bizarre phenomenon recently. This could be one of those."

The man with the neck tattoo stepped away, pulling out his phone out and dialed a number. Miriam was now recording the rift with her phone while Alfred was sketching it below the notes he's taken. After a few minutes passed both Miriam and Alfred felt a finger tapping on their shoulders and a voice spoke;

"I just contacted the local news station. They're on their way here." He said. The two turned around and saw the man with the neck tattoo.

"James you did what?? Is that why you stepped away??" Miriam asked.

"Yes. Look we have no fucking clue what that 'thing' even is. Whatever it is it doesn't seem normal in the slightest. And you must be stupid to think that is some special effects project. I advise we keep our distance for now."

"Ouch. Ugh fine. Alfred, any clue what it could be? You're into researching strange, paranormal things like ghosts and cryptids."

Alfred finished his sketch and showed it to the others. He had notes written above it and small keynotes with lines pointing at the sketch. He shook his head in disbelief.

"It appears to be some kind of tear in the fabric of our reality if I'm going to base this off of my vast knowledge of science fiction and fantasy. It's shaped like a long thin diamond and inside it appears to be empty space, a void, consisting of what looks like stars. Like peeking into a telescope aimed at outer space. It's truly puzzling." Alfred explained.

The three hikers all waited patiently observing the rift carefully until a news van arrived from the dirt road nearby. Behind it was a sheriffs squad car that parked to block the narrow road. A cameraman stepped out of the van being joined by a beautiful young lady with brunette hair carrying a microphone. The cameraman quickly started getting in position. The young lady approached them. James peered behind her to see two officers stepping out of the squad car and approach them. He then pushed Miriam and Alfred aside to face the reporter.

"Hello! Are you the one that called the station?" The reporter asked with a bright smile.

"That's right. Over there on the dock. We have no idea what it is. But if it's dangerous, others should know." James said, pointing at the rift.

"Thank you for the call. We're about to get started. This slow day just became interesting!"

"By the way, why the cops?"

"Oh well, two reasons. They're here in case for one, you were on psychedelics because what you described sounded insane. And two, if you were right which you are, they're here in case this oddity here is, like you said, dangerous. Also they're blocking the road in case anyone was following us driving out of town. Anyway, time to start this session. All of you stay where you are."

The reporter went to go check with the camera crew to ensure everything was all set up. Her microphone was on and hooked up. The cameraman started rolling. Miriam, James and Alfred only stood in silence and watched the live broadcast happening in front of their eyes. At the same time the three of them were eyeing the rift in the distance. Nothing about it changed since it first appeared but had them all worried regardless. The reporter cleared her throat.

"This is Alison Graves of channel seven news. We are coming to you live from the woodlands miles outside of Kalispell at Flathead Lake. We were contacted by a group of local hikers to report on this strange phenomenon you see behind us." Alison stepped to the side to point at the rift so the cameraman could zoom in and focus. "As you can see there, we are currently unsure as to what we are witnessing. We have police blocking the road nearby. We will continue to remain at a safe distance. Now I'm going to speak with the gentleman here who gave us the call. You sir right there. Did you and your friends stumble across this anomaly?" The camera moved so James was in frame.

"No actually. We witnessed it appear from thin air in front of our eyes." He replied. Both the cameraman and Alison appeared surprised.

"You..you saw it appear? This wasn't an accidental discovery?"

"Nope."

"This is unbelievable! You heard that right folks! This gentleman and his friends all witnessed this crazy...whatever it is, appear before them!"

Alfred took his eyes off the rift and ran up to interrupt the interview, pushing James out of the way, showing his notes to the camera then to Alison.

"Hello! What I believe we have here is a dimensional tear into some void space! I have taken many notes and even sketched out a drawing with various labels as you all can see here! This is truly a fascinating discovery! Perhaps you should call for some scientists to head this way and examine this from a more studious mind!" Alfred rambled on.

The cameraman noticed behind all of them, the rift started to shift and warp slightly. From out of the void, what looked like a deformed, blackened hand with claws inch out and grab the edge of the tear. His eyes grew wide and he pointed it out to the others. He zoomed in to get a closer look. Alison, the hikers, and the police officers all turned their attention to the rift. Another clawed hand inched out to grab the other edge and started pulling. What could be seen crawling out was a warped, slender, beastly head with a snout and tendrils surrounded by sharp teeth poking out of it's open mouth followed with a ghastly, skinny body with multiple tendrils attached to it's back grabbing onto the edges of the tear assisting in forcing it out. The creature had crawled out, revealing a set of muscular legs with claws embedded in it's feet. It's entire blackened body stretched out and a set of bat-like wings extended out from it's back. The entire group was in complete shock. The creature reared it's head towards the camera and let out an ear-screeching cry before hopping into the air and hovered with it's wings. Everyone plugged their ears briefly as it's cry started piercing their eardrums.

"What the fuck is that?!" The cameraman cried out.

"Whatever it is it's not from around here! Get the hell out of here all of you! Take it down!" One of the officers said drawing his handgun. The two officers started firing at the creature. It cried out and started flying towards the group at high speeds.

"It's heading this way! Run for it!!" Miriam screamed.

Alison and the cameraman were too frozen in fear to move. The hikers started to run as the creature swooped down and pounced onto one of the officers, sinking it's claws into his belly and grabbing the other officer with it's tendrils, slamming him onto the ground. The creature started feasting on the officer's innards, his screams loud and painful as his blood spilled onto the ground below him. Alison snapped out of it and grabbed the cameraman's hand, pulling him away while he was still filming, eyes filled with fear as he watched the other officer's limbs being torn off one-by-one before being pounced on and feasted on by the horrific creature, crying out in pain. He dropped the camera as Alison forced him into the van where the hikers had all jumped into.

"Go! Go now! Get the hell out of here!!" Alison shouted, shutting the van door and pounding on the side of the interior's walls, signaling for the driver. He shook himself out of his state of shock and started the van to immediately pull out of the area. The last thing they heard were the pained cries of the dying officer.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The news broadcast of the otherworldly creature attack that came out of Montana reached out all over the state and soon the entire country. Millions were stricken with fear and shock upon having seen the live dismemberment of two police officers even after it was cut off from public access in the state itself. In the modern age of social media the broadcast spread like wildfire. Now everyone all over from neighboring states like Idaho all the way to Florida and Massachusetts were left wondering what will happen now? What does this mean? Disappearances and mysterious deaths had already been cropping up everywhere since February and the public was starting to fear for their own safety. The National Guard had gone to investigate the area near Flathead Lake and found nothing but the dismembered, bloodied corpses of two police officers.

Joseph Carter paced the floor in his top floor office. The rest of the cabal had all gathered upon his request. Laurie, Peter, Maria, Xiang, Edmund and Omari all were sat down closely watching him while being weighed down with their own thoughts. Joseph took deep breaths and managed to calm himself down. He faced the room.

"This is bad people. Really...really...bad. We're drawing ever closer to the expected date of the fall. All around the world, there has been strange phenomenon and mysterious deaths occurring more then ever before. It's all been condensed and frequent and it is really worrying me. That news broadcast that's been making the rounds everywhere has the public in a state of disarray and fear. You just cannot write off what happened. Two members of the law, mercilessly slaughtered in front of many wary eyes. Things are looking bleak...and on top of that the president had already been catching the public's eye with her new "cleansing" policy still in full swing." Joseph rambled on, sweating profusely. "In light of this I had just contacted the Secretary of Defense and ordered him to deploy the National Guard posts in every state into full alert. They'll be trying to calm things down and keep the people safe by patrolling high and low to keep their eyes peeled for anything unusual or dangerous like that creature we saw on the news. As of now they have yet to find said creature or have any luck."

The other cabal members were muttering amongst themselves. Joseph was trying hard not to start pulling his hairs out from all the stress weighing on him. Xiang raised his hand to get Joseph's attention.

"I fear for my own people as well. We too are staying vigilant for such, well, extreme threats. The news broadcast you spoke of...has reached us overseas in China. Ask Omari or Maria. They too, have bore witness to the spread of the broadcast in their respective nations." Xiang spoke in a calm manner.

"Is true. Social media is rampant with conspiracy theories right now. Many believe it was a stunt or prank. Others think it was just fake. But many too, believe it to be genuine and it scares them." Maria stated.

"We have enough problems as is. This is only amplifying panic amongst the general public where I'm from." Omari added.

Joseph let out a sigh and shook his head, turning around to point at the whiteboard where his bunker drawing was.

"Ah yes, you were going to bring that up with us, were you not?" Laurie asked with her arms crossed.

"Yes miss Dawson. All of you, it seems clear the fall is coming whether we like it or not. I had you all study this earlier to I can keep this brief. Once June comes around, for those of you who may not have anywhere safe to go in your respective homes, the doomsday bunker we have under the Washington Monument will provide a safe space for all of you and your families. Should we survive the catastrophe to come, the world's brightest and most important minds will be encased within this bunker. If the world is going to be reborn anew, then we must be there to lead those who survive. If...anyone survives. I'm trying to remain even the slightest optimistic here. For my own family. Madame president will be addressing the public on these issues to calm the public down. We all may have this knowledge of the fall, but they do not. And we still have time so we need to remain on the same level and continue to keep the world economies stable. Now with all the doom and gloom out of the way for now, let's get to today's meeting. We have must to discuss."

Victoria glared at her phone screen watching the news broadcast together with Adrian. They were both horrified by what they were witnessing. The video finally ended with the camera dropping, causing the screen to cut to black.

"Fuck me..." Victoria mumbled rubbing her temple. Adrian sipped on his coffee. The two of them decided to grab coffee and head to Central Park to get some fresh air now that the weather has started to warm up. The air was warm with a gentle breeze blowing lightly through the air. Adrian placed a hand on Victoria's shoulder.

"That was...fucked up. Those poor cops. Well...now I'm really starting to understand everything you've been telling me since your chat with um...that thing inside of you. Hastur, was it? Things are kinda' scary right now not gonna' lie babe." Adrian said.

"If we don't find this harbinger he told me about, we're all fucked. The world around us is already falling apart, now we have shit like reality-bending phenomenon messing with people's minds and eldritch beasts emerging from thin air. It's like a nightmare. And I may be the only one who can potentially stop this cataclysm from killing us all."

"To think that after we uncovered what we did in Maine, with the knowledge we have now that there is even a glimmer of hope, has me a bit relieved. But it doesn't change the fact I'm fucking terrified if we can't do anything. Doesn't that asshole have any idea where we would even begin to look?"

"He said the only clue he himself would have, would be that the harbinger must be someone of significant importance to humans. That could be anyone from a politician to a celebrity. If some nobody was spreading word of the end times they would come off as a lunatic. But if it's someone with a tremendous following and loyal trust of many people, then their word would be taken seriously. According to what he told me."

Adrian took a moment to ponder any ideas. Victoria just quietly sipped on her coffee. Two teenage girls started walking past them, blabbering on about a concert coming up next month and how excited they were. That sparked something in Adrian's overwhelmed mind.

"Hey that's right! The concert coming up! We may not live in California, but Silvestria's concert is next month and considering how ridiculously popular she is, maybe we'll find who we're looking for there! Tons of people from neighboring states will be coming to this concert! It's a short tour with only a select few states so anywhere she's going to will draw hundreds upon thousands of people! We could get lucky and find who we're looking for there!" Adrian said enthusiastically. Victoria turned to him and nodded.

"You may be onto something. It's something at least to go off of. Then...we'll just have to wait until that concert comes. God I hope you're right and we find the harbinger."

Victoria and Adrian, with a goal set in mind, continued to idly chat and try to enjoy the rest of their day together amidst the doubt and fear they have clouding their minds.

"I understand all of your concerns regarding the recent...viral video coming out of Montana that has been spread around. While we are unsure what is going on regarding the frequent mysterious disappearances being reported all over the country, this broadcast has greatly shook all of us and we are addressing our current plan to hopefully prevent this from happening again! The National Guard has been deployed to keep watch in various isolated and rural areas. If you are to spot any unusual phenomenon similar to what was seen in that broadcast, you are advised to evacuate the area at once and contact local authorities immediately! We are making big changes in this country right now so we should not let anything distract us from the path forward we are carving! Regarding the ongoing Cleansing Act, we have already subdued well over a thousand of societies worst criminals and offenders. Cleaning the streets comes at a cost unfortunately. But this is what needs to be done to stabilize order and start reparations such as what has been accomplished in Chicago and Los Angeles! This country is already on it's way to improving the life of it's people. Because we care! I care! And so should all of you!"

A wave of applause erupted from the massive crowd in front of Natalia following her speech. She smiled, feeling confident from seeing the stunned faces of the people, both young and old. Madison gave a thumbs up to the other cabinet members watching from behind. They promptly responded with thumbs up from everyone.

Back inside the office Natalia was seated behind her desk with a hand resting on her forehead. She sighed and slammed that hand down onto the desk. Her other hand pulled out a pocket mirror and started looking into it with determined eyes.

"Okay. Start talking. Explain what the hell I and millions of others saw on that news broadcast." She spoke in a demanding tone. The reflection inside the pocket mirror changed subtly, with it's eyes glowing red and a wicked smile forming on it's face.

"Don't you see? It's already began my dear Harbinger! Reality itself is very slowly crumbling apart bit-by-bit and it's just wonderful. The day of reckoning is growing ever so closer!" The voice of Nyarlathotep spoke. Natalia noticed something different, more ominous and creepy, with his tone and differing speech pattern.

"Wait, the way you're speaking...it's different."

"We've grown close enough. I've experienced enough with you. I grew tired of speaking diligently. The real self is speaking now. I must say Harbinger it has been delightful having you as my vessel. Everything you see, do, hear, and say I get to share with you. From the way you speak to others of your kind and command them to do your bidding as one in a position of real power, to the lust that fills your mind whenever you share intimacy with that other human you care so much for. I may lack my own corporeal form and ethereal power, but to be chained down to one such as yourself. Well...I cannot say I have despised it. But it's okay. Soon, I will truly awaken and revel in the destruction of humanity as a whole."

Natalia was feeling a mixture of anxiety and comfort at this point. She fears what she is becoming over time the longer she shares a connection with this cosmic being, but she also has grown closer to the point where now they are speaking so casually like this. She looks down at her free hand for a brief moment.

"You're right...we have truly become one. You and I. The world is ending. May as well make the most of it while I can. You better keep your end of the deal regarding me and Madison though. Sparing us from the fall."

"Of course. I never go back on my word. I want you and your significant other to witness His awakening and what is to come after all. It will be a wonderful sight. Your precious companion better shift her beliefs, because no God is going to save your people from this. No matter how hard they pray." Nyarlathotep started chuckling. Natalia just set her hand down and looked once more at the mirror and closed her eyes, smiling.

"No matter what she believes in, I love her dearly. Even if all these innocent people are going to perish...at least we'll be together...and everyone will move on to the afterlife where they'll be happy. I cannot shrug off my duties at the president however. I will keep these people satisfied and living meaningful lives until the fall comes. That I can say with pride."

"You truly are a gem of a human. It is a shame more of them are not like you and your friend. Perhaps had humanity not been poisoned with greed, corruption, and selfishness...fate would have weaved a more peaceful path for your kind. Nevertheless, never change Harbinger. Be the beacon of hope for a doomed species. For once He awakens...the feeble minds of humanity will not be able to handle His presence. Terror and madness will strike their minds and hearts before they are erased from this planet. A fresh start is just what Earth needs anyway..."

Natalia nodded, and closed the mirror down to put it away in her pocket. She struggled and hesitated with accepting what was to come and what she was given, but now had finally accepted the hand that fate has dealt the human race.