5.

They were gathered in the middle of the desert, far away from the prying eyes of any city. Arrived there using various cars, RVs and even a small bus they rented for that purpose - driving away from the city, past old signs and empty highways into a dirt road to finally reach their destination in the middle of nowhere. The night sky, unclouded and unpolluted by the light of any nearby city, was in full display, and there was nothing surrounding them but sand and a few dry, twisted shrubs. The grand vastness of the stars, and the trail of the milky way, all were visible to those gathered in that remote place. And they were all ready to die.

“Today we offer our final sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice, but we go with our heads held high, for we die enlightened with True Knowledge,” said the one with the fancier robes. The other wore robes too, some looked well-crafted and ominous, while others had a distinct halloween costume feel to them. But all stared at the speaker in utter seriousness. He continued his speech.

“Oh, Yog-Sothoth, he who brings our destruction and our salvation, Key and Gate from the Beyond,” intoned the man. You could hear the capital letters on the words the speaker emphasised. This was no ordinary beyond, oh no this was The Beyond with a capital B. “We ask for your Blessing and offer in exchange the humblest of offerings - all we have to give a being such as you. We give you our time, our place, our existence.”

He swallowed nervously. Beside him one of the assembly clutched at his robes so hard his knuckles turned white, while a woman to his right blinked furiously to clear her eyes from the tears. Everyone’s mood was grim, and even the speaker had to clear his throat to continue.

“We do this for the greater good, to give light and hope to humanity, so blind in its blessed ignorance. We do this to save the others, stray sheep that graze even as a Great Doom approaches unseen. But we know what they do not, so it is our burden to take this step, our Great Burden brought by such forbidden knowledge. This is our Undoing, and our Salvation.”

“Hey, sorry to interrupt!” Piped in a voice from behind the group, catching all by surprise. “But for a bunch of guys who talk about ‘forbidden knowledge’ this and ‘greater good’ that, you guys sure have a few major facts wrong.”

They turned to see a man walking casually into the firelight. He was young, with short, dark hair, tan skin and wearing a scruffy-looking pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Nothing was remarkable about the man except for his eyes, which looked wild and wide, they looked more alive than the rest of him, reflecting the orange glow of the bonfire as he approached them.

“One thing you guys got wrong is that everyone else is a bunch of sheep, and only you guys know the truth… I mean, c’mon, really? You think NOBODY else figured it out? Yeah, I can prove that wrong right here.” He grinned, pausing for dramatic effect until he had their full attention. “I know the world’s gonna end too.”

“Who are you?” Asked the leader of the congregation, his previous nervousness blossomed into full panic. “And what is your purpose here tonight?”

“Name’s Cody” The strange man said, waving a hand cheerfully. “Pleased to meet you all! I’m really hoping this will turn out to be a pleasant...”

But Cody’s attempt at small talk was quickly interrupted by the head speaker. “WHY? ARE? YOU? HERE?” As he bellowed his question, word per word, he made a gesture to his followers and a few drew out guns or weapons while staring at the intruder. Some looked scared, others were predatory, like wolves. The tension in the group was palpable, getting worse as they all edged closer to violence.

Cody’s grin faded, as he stared at the group.

“I’m here to show you guys how it’s done,” he said.

After a confused pause, one of the people went, “what?”

“I admit you guys had a pretty good idea, asking the one causing this mess for a fix and all,” said Cody, smiling at the group. “Yeah, Yog-Sothoth is not too bad, you could do worse. But asking for knowledge and THEN using that knowledge to change the world? Isn’t that too many steps? And spoiler alert: that knowledge you’re asking for will come with a bunch of nasty side-effects. Not worth it.” He shook his head. “I know a better way.”

“He is a Deceiver, don’t listen to him!” Said the leader, after noticing how rapt some of the audience looked as they paid attention to this new voice. “The stars are right! The Moment we have all been preparing for, it is almost here! If we lose this moment, there will never be another chance! Will any of you let this stranger ruin our only hope of saving the world?”

“But… Grand Seeker?” said another member of the robed group, fiddling with the lace of his cape. “He said there is another way...”

“None of you have to die,” said Cody, immediately bringing the group into stunned silence. Before he had their interest, but now all eyes were turned on him. Rapt, scared, furious, anxious, hopeful. Nobody in the group was left untouched by those words. Cody repeated, “if you follow my plan, none of you have to die.”

“Lies! More lies!” Said the Grand Seeker, trembling with anger as if the very core of his soul had been insulted. “A fantasy! The Eldritch Gods always demand their Sacrifice! I sought and asked, I begged and pleaded! I wish there was another way, more than anything in the world! But no matter how hard you look, there is no other way! No! Other! Way!” He spat out the last words and actual spit flew as well, landing on Cody’s shoes.

He did not seem fazed by this response. “You’re kinda right there. The eldritch gods are a bunch of assholes. They won’t lift a finger if there isn’t something for them.” He made a grimace, shrugging his shoulders. “But it’s unfair to ask you guys to pay that price, and besides… I can skip the middleman here. I already know what needs to be done to help the world.” He took his cellphone and looked at it, while still speaking. “All I need now are the volunteers to pay the price. Huh, they’re a little late actually... Oh, and look! Here they come!”

He turned to look at a bus that was now approaching the congregation. There were alarmed shouts and furious whispering from the group, as they too noticed they were being approached by another vehicle, and not one of their own.

“Don’t worry,” said Cody, still looking at the approaching bus. “They will die instead of you. Nobody here has to die.”

“You… You have willing sacrifices for the Old Ones? And you’re giving them to me as a gift?” Asked the Grand Seeker, his voice tiny and confused now. He was very much out of his depth now, and his followers noticed that. They turned to the stranger now, intent on listening to him.

“Eeeh… No. Sorry, but I already have a plan ready. You guys can watch though,” replied Cody, following his words with a small, apologetic shrug.

“No!” Shouted the Grand Seeker, looking less grand by the minute. “You can’t… You can’t do this! I Won’t accept this! This moment is mine! It’s… I have done everything… Everything! For this ONE moment! I’ve done…. Awful things… Sold everything I have… It can’t… I won’t… End like this…?” He looked to one member from his congregation to the next, but found no support there. It had crumbled, all his efforts, all his desperation and sweat and blood, all for the sake of some kind of hope after the end. It had all vanished. He had nothing. The grand seeker, exhausted after his outburst, slumped to the ground.

Cody approached him and patted his back sympathetically. “Hey, it happens. And if you stick around there might be a way for you to get a second chance. Maybe.”

The bus finally came to a stop, a few meters away from the group. The door opened and Cody went to greet the first one out of the bus, a woman in a yellow hoodie and far too much make-up, with wild yellow eyes that blinked far too little. She smiled at him.

“I think we still have a few minutes, right?” Cody asked her, taking a peek inside the bus, where more movement could be seen from the windows.

“It’s not a dentist appointment,” the woman in yellow grinned back at him. “So long as we’re here around this time we can contact Yog-Sothoth. Don’t worry.”

One of the group, not the leader, approached the pair in front of the bus while nervously fidgeting with a bit of lace in his robe. “Um. Excuse me, sir? Madam? You… You said there was a way to save the world without us dying…? Without us being sacrificed? Is… Is this true?”

“Yes, it’s true,” said a voice from a man inside the bus, and when he walked out there was surprised muttering from the congregation. Because the man who had just walked out of the bus looked exactly like Cody. Sounded exactly like Cody. It could be his twin. “We will die instead of you,” he said with a small smile.

“Yeah, don’t worry. We’ll take care of it.” said another one behind him, and he too, looked and sounded like Cody.

Before the bewildered stare of everyone in the suicidal cult, now stunned into silence, filed one Cody after another, all walking out of the bus. They mingled and chatted with each other or offered consolation to the congregation and the Grand Seeker. Some had different clothes, others spoke or acted slightly different, but they were all Cody. A crowd of Codys.

“A good way to cheat the system, huh?” One of the Codys muttered to the man fidgeting with his robe. “No killing a bunch of innocent people or forcing people to kill themselves. No… If those pricks want their sacrifice, they can take it all from me. And ONLY me.”

He grinned at the man, who returned him a terrified glance. “How…?” Asked the poor, defeated man who gripped his robe so hard he was in danger of ripping it off.

“Oh, this little trick? Well… I had help,” replied Cody, looking at the only lady in the other group. She noticed his stare and grinned back at him, her yellow eyes glinting like jewels in the firelight.

“Excuse me, everyone! Everyone! Attention, please!” Said one of the Cody’s, different from the first. This one had a small coat on top of his ratty t-shirt. He directed this shout to both the Codys and the robed congregation, now lost in stupefied silence. “Everyone gather round! Important announcement here!”

Once he confirmed he had everyone’s attention, Cody smiled and said, “Alright everyone, this is it! Tonight all of us will sacrifice ourselves, except for one of us, to give Yog Sothoth what he wants. And in exchange, we give humanity a chance. No one else needed, by the way!” He said, addressing the cult members. “Leave it to us. We got this!”

One of the Codys raised his hand. “Is everyone here ok with dying, by the way?”

“Yeah,” replied the lady in yellow. She was apart from the crowd, leaning against the bus. “I screened everyone and made sure only those who were willing to sacrifice themselves would be on the bus.”

“Oh, okay.” The hand went down.

“Alright,” continued Cody With A Jacket. “So… Now we have to decide which of us gets to live. So this is what we’re gonna do.” And he raised his right hand, showing everyone what would be the arbiter of their fate. The guiding hand to decide who would live and who would die among the Codys.

It was a bunch of sticks.

“Everyone picks up a stick. Whoever gets the short stick lives,” he said.

After they had drawn lots and the survivor was duly chosen - me. I apologized to all the other Codys while they also apologized and assured me it was ok. Some cracked jokes, laced with the blackest of humor, others just shrugged. I guess we all knew what we were signing up for.

It was strange, seeing so many of myself in the same spot. There were little differences in opinion or behavior here and there, some big, some small. Suzy explained they still needed to be different minds, even if they were all me. Everyone had lived a bit in a different place, gone through different experiences thanks to Suzy, to change us enough for Yog-Sothoth’s liking.

I had been taken to a land covered in ice and snow, where I wandered alone. I never met any other creatures while I was there, I walked for what felt like miles and all I saw were weird obelisks, impossibly tall, looming amidst the white snow. When the sun was setting in that land, the shadows of the obelisks covered half the world until everything plunged into darkness. I didn’t freeze or starve while I was there, courtesy of Suzy I suspect, but the cold and the hunger weren’t as scary as the fact that the obelisks followed me into my dreams, every night. And now I cannot dream without seeing those vast statues, standing tall over the vast plains, nothing but emptiness and ice.

The other Codys had probably seen similar things, or maybe something completely different. I didn’t bother wondering which one of us was the ‘original Cody’. I didn’t worry about that kind of stuff anymore. I had changed, in more ways than one.

But it was still eerie to see all my other ‘Me’s gathering together in a circle and chanting the call of Yog-Sothoth, in the right time under the right stars. The other cultists surrounded them, gawking shamelessly.

It was also disturbing, when their deaths came. First they started babbling, stumbling over half-words and muffled screams as one after the other, they had their minds linked to The Gate in the Stars. A light poured from their eyes, their nostrils and their mouths, of a color I had never seen and could not quite describe, the faces of those that would otherwise have died that night were all suddenly lit up by the glow of that eldritch light, as the multiple Codys all screamed and gibbered.

“Yog-Sothoth’s mind,” whispered Suzy as she stood beside me. “It’s too much for anyone to link to without suffering the consequences.”

They started burning, one after the other. The light burned them from the inside, poked holes through their bodies, tore them with its strength, like fire tearing at a paper lantern. In a blinding blaze, they burned and crumbled into ash. It was over before I could register it. When I opened my eyes the light was gone and we were all in the dark again, under the desert sky and its uncaring stars.

That is when I walked to the center of the circle, as my former selves were still dissolving into ash. All eyes were on me as I turned my own sight to the stars above. I gave them what they wanted. They’d better pay me back.

“Yog-Sothoth, listen up!” I shouted. “I don’t ask for knowledge or gifts. Instead, I ask you only this: open a gate to the place I seek!”

Everything was quiet for a moment, full of anticipation. I felt eyes glancing back and forth between me and Suzy, expectant. Or perhaps fearful. At that moment I would have offered a quiet prayer, except I knew my prayers would never reach Yog-Sothoth. Nothing short of sacrifice would suffice.

“Did it work…?” I muttered under my breath. For a moment, a terrible doubt…

But no! Before our eyes, a tear appeared in reality, in the center of the circle created by the ashes of myself. At first as a tiny, slim crack barely a foot above the ground. But it grew, it stretched and tore wildly at the fabrics of reality that constrained it, willing something that could not be: A portal in space and time. It glowed in the same eldritch light I had seen before, but harmed nobody this time. Instead it grew and took the rough shape of a large gate made from pure light, eight feet tall. Once it had finished taking shape it was imposing, impossibly bright. Yet when you blinked, for a brief second you could almost fool yourself into thinking it was never there. That gate could not exist. It was impossible, but I had done it.

There was no hesitation. I walked towards it, as the cult stared at me in silence, and without a word I walked into the gate, and I was no longer there.

I was in a forest. It was day, and there was a waterfall that roared as it fed a river that ran inches beside where the gate stood, in the middle of a clearing. I could hear birds singing and the rustling of the trees as the wind blew through them. It was a complete contrast. I knelt on the grass and reached into the river, bringing a mouthful of the water into my mouth. Fresh, cold, with a tiny bit of grit. I hadn’t realized how dry my throat was. I took another mouthful, looking at the scenery surrounding me.

This place didn’t look too bad.

“I did it...” I whispered, wiping my chin and taking in the nature around me, the sounds of the forest, the freshness of the river water, the warmth of sunlight.

“I DID IT!” I screamed, causing a nearby bird to take flight. “I FOUND A WAY! NO SACRIFICES OF INNOCENT PEOPLE! NO COWERING IN SILENCE WHILE THE END APPROACHES! I DID IT! I FOUND A WAY!”

There was nobody around to hear it, nobody to see me go down on my knees, legs suddenly too weak to support my weight. I hadn’t realized how nervous I was, how anxiously I had waited for this moment, until now. I breathed a sigh of relief, as my hands trembled and my cheeks flushed. At last, I had found a way.

I took a moment, quietly recovering from my outburst and splashing some water on my face. I had to look calm for what would come next. When I stepped through the portal once again and set foot in the desert, my hands no longer trembled with emotion.

They were all whispering to one another, but went quiet when they saw me. I had their attention.

“Listen up!” I said, raising my voice as I addressed them. “This portal is the way to another world. One very similar to our own, BUT… This world will not be touched by Yog-Sothoth. If you go there, you will survive what will happen to earth. If you go through the portal, you get to live!”

The anxious tension in the air, already palpable, increased even more. Many turned to look at the portal, tears welling up in some eyes, while others clenched their hands and looked back at me, full of suspicion.

“However,” I added. “That world doesn’t have any people in it. None whatsoever. It’s a clean slate. Life will not be easy there, and you’ll have to rebuild. More people will come, but it will still be a struggle. You don’t have to go right now. If you want to prepare, you have a bit of time. But in five months the portal will close, right before the world ends. If you want to live, go through the portal before then.”

There was a pause, hesitant silence. Those that were hopeful before looked even more hopeful, those that were suspicious did not look pacified.

“Is that it?” Asked the the Grand Seeker, getting up and rallying his pride again, looking angrily at me. “This is the solution that you offer, after robbing us of our opportunity? To starve and die in a primitive world? THIS is supposed to be your solution?”

I smiled a little, shrugging. “Yeah, kinda sucks, doesn’t it? Sorry, it’s the best I could do… But at least if you go this way... Well, you won’t have to tangle with any of the Eldritch Gods. You won’t be dependent on any other creature or forced to abandon... Who you are.” I glanced quickly at Suzy, who was still grinning as she lay back against the bus. “It’s a big, scary universe. Going unnoticed… It’s not a bad thing.”

With a burst of motion, one of the congregation was walking towards the portal, not looking back.

“Edward, wait!” Called the Grand Seeker. “Are… Are you going to trust this man?”

Edward stopped, a step away from entering the portal, and fiddled with his cape. Nervously he turned, lowering his cowl. He was middle-aged, balding and sweaty, with round glasses that made him look even older. But he stared back at the Grand Seeker without wavering.

“I would have been dead right now, if it weren’t for him,” he said, while fidgeting with the lace of his robes. “And I was ready. I was willing to do it, to help the world… To help someone. I should have died right now.”

He nodded nervously, looking at me, then back at the portal. “I was supposed to have died now. So every minute that I live is extra time. Everything new is more than I should’ve gotten, if I died.” He took a deep breath, finally undoing the lace of his robe and letting it fall to the ground. He was wearing dress pants and a button-up shirt, stained with sweat.

“I’m not afraid,” he said. And those were his last words before he walked into the portal and vanished. I may have been the first to see the new world, but Edward was the first to move there, to make it his home.

The first inhabitant of my new world.

After that dramatic exit, people broke off into different groups. Some had followed Edward immediately into the portal, others were discussing possibilities with each other or had left the desert in their vehicles. The ones that paid any attention at all to me and Suzy looked at us with a mixture of fear and awe that made me self-conscious and embarrassed. Some of them asked me questions, to which my replies mostly boiled down to ‘I don’t know’ or “it’s hard to explain”. I didn’t want them to take any guidance from me, and certainly not from Suzy. And besides, it wasn’t all lies. There was still a lot I didn’t know for certain.

“So this is the best we’re gonna get?” I asked Suzy, at a quiet moment when no ears were on us. I was staring at the portal as I asked her.

“I’m afraid so,” she replied, shaking her head. “Sacrificing multiple variations of the same mind will only get so far, and this is the limit.” She gestured vaguely at the portal, then grinned at me while adding. “You could go further if you were willing to sacrifice a bunch of people...”

It was my turn to shake my head, without hesitating. “No. Not my place to decide who lives and who dies. ”

“You could do it randomly! Like a roulette, where...” she seemed to be excited with the idea, before I cut her out.

“Nope. Putting a veto on your suggestions, right now. ”

“Aww… You didn’t even let me finish.” She pouted theatrically, crossing her arms. Her wounded gazelle act didn’t last long, turning into another predatory grin as she added “I thought you promised to make this entertaining?”

“I will,” I replied. “Give me time, and I will give you entertainment.”

“I did teach you how to create the portal,” she said.

“Yeah, I know.” I replied.

“And I brought your alternate selves, for the sacrifice.”

“You kept your end of the bargain, I know.”

She smiled wider, so much I could see the gums as well as the teeth, framed by her thin, red lips.

“And I’m helping with the next step too,” she said.

“I appreciate that.”

“So I’m holding you to your promise,” she said. “It better not disappoint.”

I blinked back at her, refusing to back down, to show weakness. “It won’t.”

She only smiled in response.