The mere possibility that all of her efforts and sacrifices against the Great Eye had only served to amuse it by fulfilling the thing's hidden goals was enough to leave Lily tottering on the edge of madness.
What could she do? How could she hope to fight against Nyarlathotep if she had to second-guess her every action for fear of falling prey to its manipulations? She could not; it was as simple as that. Without even bothering to face her physically, the Crawling Chaos had defeated her.
Mechanically Lily reached down and removed the magical blade from Ruby's heart. Ruby deserved to be buried as a hero, praised for her honor and courage, but now that would never happen; he world wouldn't be around that long. Bidding her dear friend a temporary farewell and promising to join her soon Lily headed toward the train station.
On her way she met Rita again. In a numb, dead voice Lily expained what had happend to Ruby. She forced Rita to take the golden sword and magical knife. She had no use for them anymore; better to leave them in the hands of one who still had hope. Rita was clearly very worried about her and tried unsuccessfully to get her to talk. Finally she pressed her elephant gun and some money into Lily's hands, insisting that Lily needed something for self-defense.
Not bothering to argue, Lily accepted the gifts, entered the train station, and caught the first train out of Arkham.
In the Black Cave Marie had fallen into an unseen pit, shattering her right hand. The pain was almost more than she could bear and her first thought was to go to St. Mary's hospital. If they could do nothing else, perhaps they could at least give her something for the pain.
But her grandmother's voice came from the knife again, warning her that time was running out and telling her she needed to be brave. Striving to ignore the pain Marie made her way to the Curiousity Shop, hoping Lily might still be browing there.
Instead she met Joe Diamond, and while the two compared notes Rita fought and slew the Elder Thing which had emerged from the Unnameable house to haunt the streets.
Nyarlathotep pressed his avantage, his forces advancing further north. The Bloated Woman stalked the Rivertown streets, while the Beast prowled about the Mistkatonic University and the madman laughed and sobbed just outside the woods. A gate opened at Gardener's Place in Dunwich and a Tcho-Tcho Priest entered the town.
Rita threw herself through the gate at the Unnameable. Considering the extenf of Marie's injury, Joe figured the kindest thing to do would be to get her out of the way. Letting her up against these creatures with only one hand would be suicide. He told her he thought Dunwich was worth checking out, then he headed South on the motorcycle he'd picked up just before the sky went all funny.
He blazed past that huge Sphinx-beast without slowing down. He could see the woods and the shimmering portal, but before he could reach it some maniac tackled him right off the bike! The guy was nuts and Joe couldn't seem to get him under control. When the lunatic's hands went around his throat he was forced to empty some lead into the poor SOB.
He had just got to his feet when he saw Marie appear out of nowhere and pass through the gate! For a second he wondered if mabye HE was going nuts too; Marie should have been at Bishop's Brook Bridge by now, not down here! What was going on here?
As the scenery flashed by Lily heard the voice of Nodens again.
"Leave me alone!" she cried, but the entity would not be silent. It insisted that there was still work for her to do.
"I can't fight him anymore. Everything I do he twists to his own advantage!"
You need not fight him, Nodens whispered. There is still a role for you to play in this, a way to contribute which cannot benefit the Crawling Chaos.
Lily didn't want to listen anymore. She had been through too much, given up too much trying to fulfill her destiny, and it had all been for nothing. She just wanted to fall asleep on the train and stay asleep until the end. But when Nodens urged her to leave the train at Kingsport, Station, Lily did so.
Joe had made up his mind to go in after Marie when he heard screaming from Southside. He tried to ignore it, but then he remembered the last time he had ignored a cry for help. One hand or not, Marie knew what she was doing; whoever sounded so terrified probably didn't. Reloading his guns, Joe mounted up and rode over to see what was up.
He found a bunch of people running out of the Historical Society and following them was . . . it looked like a man-sized white worn. Just seeing the thing made him want to be sick. Fighting with his stomach Joe cut in front of the monster on his motorcycle. As he he'd hoped, it snapped at him, forgetting about the other people. He could stay and deal with it here, but he figured it was more important for him to take care of where it had come from, before any more showed up.
Riding straight up the steps Joe steered his motorcycle through the glowing portal.
In Dunwich the Tcho-Tcho Priest passed through a vortice, becoming the first of the three needed to awaken the Dunwich Horror. A Cultist came through the gate at the Historical Society. Rita returned out of the Unnameable gate and sealed it, sending the Crawling One back to Yuggoth.. Marie did the same at the woods. Then the seal at the Unvisited Isle burst apart and another gate appeared. The mystical protection which had been given to that area had been destroyed by yet another of Nyaralathotep's Masks, the Black Man. Now once again half of the evil in all of Arkahm consisted of three forms of the one thousand and one forms of the Crawling Chaos.
Rita went up to Dunwich while Marie stopped just outside the University, steeling herself to sneak past Nyarlathotep's avatar. Joe came out and sealed the gate at the Historical Society. Rita sought refuge at Harney Jone's Shack and Lily continued to visit various locales in Kingsport. A book at the Artist's Colony called "Dreams and Fancies" helped give her greater insight into the enemy, but the confirmation that the creature thrived on manipulation and trickery did little to help her sanity.
Rita dashed past the Beast, but had to stop for breath in the Merchant District. If the Black Man should come forth from Unvisited Isle he could easily destroy her; she knew that Mask held great power over those who used magic. Joe came out of the Historical Society to see another guy in funny robes. This time he didn't waste time in conversation; he just drilled the punk at twenty paces.
It was not the Black Man which came for Marie, but the Beast. It sought to pounce on her in the Merchant District Streets, but again she evaded it. By chasing her Nyarlathotep had left the way to the Science Building open, and Joe wasted no time in going there. It seemed the professors had been working around the clock since Marie, Lily and a dame named Ruby brought some funny corpses in earlier. They knew a lot more than Joe expected and when he told them what he'd seen in the other worlds they came up with even more useful info. He knew what he had to do next.
Marie fled from the Beast to the Downtown streets, but it followed her again! No matter what she did, she couldn't seem to shake it. Joe headed straight for the Witch House, driving past the horrible tree-like creature and into the gate. The company of Harney Jones had done Rita a world of good and she was starting to put together the pieces of the puzzle which were in Dunwich. Then a gate opened at Wizard's Hill and a creature of sentient shadow emerged, a spawn without form, identical the the thing coiled around the Gardener's Place gate.
Dodging the Beast again Marie darted through the double doors of the asylum. She needed to take some time to reaffirm her sense of reality, or she really would belong here.
In Kingsport Lily came across the same book again, but this time it had an account of everything that she done in her life, ending with her failure to stop Nyarlathotep and the end of the world. She flipped frantically through the book, searching desperately for the passages she had read before, but they were gone, and Lily's already overstressed mind gave way.
Marie's surpise was total when she saw Lily wheeled in strapped to a stretcher. She snuck into Lily's room that night and started to try to nurse her back to a sembalance of sanity, wrapping the poor women in her dark cloak.
Otherworldly creatures once more poured through the gates. In Gardener's Place a Spectral Haunter took up residence and a Mummy shambled through the Wizard's Hill gate. A Leng Spider joined the Dark Young at the Witch House. When Joe came out of the Ry'leh gate the spider nearly took his head off. He was so busy dodging in and the Dark Young that he didn't have time to even close the gate! At Cold Spring's Glen Rita found the last piece of the puzzle she needed.
With her tenous hold on reality restored LIly crept past the Beast and to the Train Station. She had to get back to Kingsport; she had to complete her destiny! The Black Man missed her only by seconds as he moved northward. At the same time the Mummy moved to the Backwoods Country.
Sweat was really running down Joe's forehead now. At least the tree-thing was slow moving; that spider was greased lightning! Playing hide and seek with it througout this crazy house wasn't exactly his idea of fun. Finally he managed to get past it, race back to the sitting room, and seal the gate to Ry'leh.
In Dunwich Rita evaded the Mummy and the Formless Spawn and threw herself through the gate at Wizard's Hill. Marie snuck past the Beast and placed herself precarously between it and the Bloated Women. If the two converged on her . . .
In the other world Rita found passage back to Arkham and returned to Wizard's Hill. She was about to shut the gate when the Mummy loomed out of the darkness. It had followed her! She was trapped between it and the Formless Spawn.
Joe was between the tree-thing and the spider. He tried for the door, but the horrible tree had anticipate him; it was right in the entrance hall. One good look at it drove the detective mad.
In Kingsport Lily continued her work to keep the rifts closed. Marie dashed into Velma's dinner for more information. On Wizard's Hill Rita began the race of her life. She darted about the steep hillside, avoiding her lethatl pursuers as best she could. The Mummy snatched at her shirt, but Rita dodged it and, her legs on fire, sprinted back to the apex of the hill. There she sealed the seventh and final gate. It was over. Arkham and the world had been spared.
In the mad court of Azathoth the Messenger of the Gods grinned as his Masks left the Earth. It was always so much to toy with humans! He'd have to do it again. Soon.
