Pandemoniac Pages

Thursday, January 23, 2014

HUMAN HOST (NYARLATHOTEP)

HUMAN HOST (NYARLATHOTEP)
"A black squamous growth that had begun around his foot wound and his mouth spread quickly over his limbs and torso, itching terribly and emitting a thick putrefying odour."

"By the time they left for Haiti, Henley's face was darkened with scales. The ears, cheeks, forehead, and scalp were still clear, but he had the mouth of an iguana, and his eyes were ringed with black circles."

"His fingers were gradually becoming webbed, and his joints rearranged so that he could move his body as could no other human."

"The closer he got, the less like Henley it looked. For one, the character was too tall, way over six feet. And there was something about the way he was standing, legs akimbo, head tilted to the side like a puppet, that wasn't Henley and, very nearly, wasn't human."

"When Rapf saw the man's face, he knew at once that it was Henley. They were his eyes. That was the line of his jaw. That was his hair. But that was all that was his. The skin was an oily black. Not negroid, but ink black. And the body was all wrong. Bizarrely elongated, loose as a marionette. Seeing it standing there, cool and lean its eyes bright as nails, Rapf felt his mind peel away.

"On the opposite side of the nearest pool, from behind a massive shaggy tree trunk, the long man with black skin emerged. He was naked, elongated, unreal and there was a sheen on his shoulders that made them look like glass. It was a peculiar body light that addled the air around him. He glided through the grass like an apparition, his arms writhing, unjointed, undulant. Even as far off as he was, rounding the turn of the pool, it was obvious that he was not human. The flesh was crumbling off his bones like soaked bread, and the bones themselves were long and rubbery."

"The shriek was white hot, and they knew it would kill them. Nyarlathotep was screaming."
A.A. Attanasio, The Star Pools


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