Chapter Twenty-Six: Tears of the Red Moon Fall on Avigio Bruno
Hello, friends. The one controlling this world still feels unable to summon his psychopathic intelligence, which he wrote into this hellish story. Today, I will be the one narrating my own infernal tale, which began when I returned to New Zealand from Rome. I am Avigio Bruno, a 29-year-old Italian investigator. I used to work for the mafia before becoming an investigator. My brother, Gabriel Sunderland, from a different father, was with our mother until she passed away.
But Gabriel doesn't remember me. He has been mentally disturbed since childhood. I haven't heard any news from his childhood friend, Rose, and I'm very worried, especially after my second day here in New Zealand when I went to Rose's family's house and found out that their daughter had been crucified following an attack by the strange serial killer who haunts this city, the Reaper of Wainfleet. I grew extremely worried about Gabriel. I went to the police station and asked about him, only to be shocked that there was no registered New Zealander by that name. My concern for my half-brother grew, but my curiosity as an investigator took over.
I asked the sheriff if the world-renowned investigator, Carl Jason, had solved the Reaper's cases. The sheriff, with tears in his eyes, told me the good news: the killer had disappeared months ago. But the bad news was that Carl had gone after him, believing he knew the killer's habits and that he was hiding on a nearby leathery island.
Carl and his team had been missing for two months. Naval forces had been sent to search for the island, but it didn't appear on any map. "Detective Bruno," the sheriff said, "I lit my cigarette and let my mind wander. It seems I've escaped the mysteries of Italy only to find a hellish and enigmatic puzzle waiting for me. But all I could think about was my brother. I went to his apartment and found it destroyed. I found a note from him saying he would escape from humanity and go to an isolated house on a remote leathery island, and that he would never return to Phantom Zero. My worry for him grew after learning he was involved with this organization—a criminal organization even more infamous than the Fog Organization back in Italy. Fortunately, I found a map to that island, but it was old, and I didn't understand how my brother had found it. The island was shaped like a horse's skull, which was very strange. Then, snow began to emerge from the part of the map where the island was drawn.
White snow started spreading, almost freezing my hand. I was baffled, but I thought it might just be a hallucination from my recent overuse of morphine. Anyway, I went to a hotel and decided to go to my brother on that island. Amid the green fog of the harbor and the darkness of the night, under the glow of the red moon, I looked out the window and felt a strange sensation. But I was sure of one thing: I felt that shadows were hovering over Gabriel. "The shadows over Gabriel Sunderland"—this phrase entered my mind. It seems my brother will be the most difficult mystery I've faced as a detective. I opened my book.
I was reading a horror novel, as I am someone who has discovered that I am worth nothing in this vast universe and its limitless entities. I've never been able to understand what's so terrifying about psychological horror. It just makes you nihilistic, nothing more, nothing less. Ah, Gabriel used to love novels so much. Anyway, I'll sleep now and see what happens.
I woke up suddenly in a strange place. I was in the middle of the sea, in a small boat, with a massive ship hovering above me. On it were a large group of aliens with octopus heads, fish, undead creatures, demons, and other beings my human mind couldn't comprehend. Then, the terrifying creatures my mind could grasp started saying, "No, you don't understand. No one should go to that island." I asked them why, and they started bleeding and laughing in a bizarre and eerie way.
Then there was silence.
I don't know how many endless eons I sat there, stunned, whispering and screaming for someone to save me, over and over again. I whispered, screamed, and muttered, but no one heard me. Then, the crowned horror of all that is unimaginable and unbelievable came from above the ship, which was filled with green fog. I didn't see anything, but I heard it.
I thought my screams were the only thing breaking the dreadful silence, but after a while, I heard a strange sound coming from the radio I found in the boat. I strained my ears to listen, and then I heard something that brought a cloud over my mind. I couldn't interpret that sound, nor could I describe it. From the first words that took my consciousness and created a mental void, I woke up in an alley in front of the strange hotel where I had slept. Can I say the sound was deep, hellish, demonic, non-human, gelatinous, distant, unearthly, and inhuman, as if it were a cosmic entity from one of the novels I've read? What else should I say?
It was the end of my dream and the beginning of my story to find my brother and save him from the terrifying demons of the universe. I heard it and didn't know more. I heard it while sitting frozen in that damned boat amidst the raging waves and the glow of the red moon. I heard it descending upon me from above that ship, which had begun to resemble the peak of hell. And this is what it said: "You fool, Gabriel is dead."
After these events, I decided I must continue until I know the end of this mystery. I put on my hat and jacket, went out into the street, called a taxi, and headed to the pier. On the way, I wondered if I was going to that island to save my brother or if my obsession with uncovering secrets was what led me there. I got out of the car and headed toward the ocean, which was filled with fog. I boarded the boat with the captain, telling him to drop me off there and leave.
I am responsible for my own freedom to choose life or death, but I am not responsible for choosing it for others. I boarded the ship on that dark night. My brother's map said, "Follow the blood moon, and it will lead you to the island." And so, we set off toward the icy hell. I felt as if the sea god Dagon himself was beneath us…
In a distant corner of some galaxy where there are no humans, only monsters and demons, Gabriel stood with cosmic entities before the Lord of Demons himself. He was like an ant witnessing a battle between T-Rexes.
The Lord of Demons said, "I understand your plan, but why are you hanging around with a human?"
Zolish: "Oh, this is fine. We'll kill him. What matters is that you're with us in this plan."
The Lord of Demons: "Killing you was fun, my son. My universe was completely destroyed because of the battle. Now, kill the human and use the Rebirth technique to revive the universe, or do you want me to lift my little finger and do it myself?"
Zolish: "It's yours."
Zolish went to Gabriel and said, "Don't be afraid. You're immortal." Then Zolish blew on him, and his body disintegrated into the void. Gabriel woke up gasping and sweating in the old witches' house. Gabriel said to himself, "Who would have thought that even death is not salvation? It seems I'm bound to this witches' shack. Anyway, I'll go out to breathe the air emanating from this icy hell." Gabriel went out and saw a frost dragon with a skeletal head and two feet screaming at him, but Gabriel's face showed absolute indifference.
Anyway, let's move on to the events… Oh, haha, friends, it seems the god of this world has been kidnapped again. Anyway, I'm Avigio Bruno, and I've gotten closer to the leathery island. A disaster happened on the way—a giant shark, about 70 meters long, larger than any shark in human history, emerged and ate the poor captain. But I miraculously survived, even though my hand was injured by one of the flying debris from the ship.
I bandaged my hand, treated it, and sailed toward salvation, hoping to survive until I finally reached the demonic island. What an irony—it seems Dagon himself attacked us yesterday.
Anyway, I finally arrived at that hellish island that was filled with fog and really looked like a horse's skull. Here I am, entering the frozen hell of my own free will.
End of chapter