Etched in Stone

Etch stretched his arms wide, working the sore muscles of his back into wakefulness, and groggily sat up. The shabby and cramped couch that doubled as his bed was in no way ideal, he decided.

-I'm still tired-

The thought came to his mind, unbidden. He didn't mind. It was perfectly true. No matter how much sleep he got, it was never enough. He'd had a pretty busy night in the sleep lands anyways.

-I'm a mess-

Also perfectly true, though he wasn't the only one to blame. The stone gods creaked. They never did anything useful outside the dream lands.

-lazy bastards-

As he slowly got up and went through his morning routine, Etch was trying to work out which day of the week it was. It couldn't be Friday, because he's gotten shitfaced at the bar on Friday, and it couldn't be Saturday, because he'd stayed in bed and moaned all day. It couldn't be Sunday because he'd visited his idiot brother in the hospital that day. Nor could it be Monday. He'd beaten up a would be mugger and gotten another contract then.

By that logic, it was Tuesday. But if it was Tuesday...

-oh hell-

Etch stumbled out to the front door, and sure enough there was a foreboding piece of paper folded in half to hide its contents and then carefully taped to the peeling paint of the door.

Etch pulled it off, and read quickly through it. He sighed. The stone gods clattered. Somewhere, his phone buzzed, vibrating towards the edge of the table. Etch let it. He rubbed his eyes and retreated back into his apartment, with its pizza boxes stacked on occult books, cheese stains on arcane dream maps, and mouse traps pretty much everywhere else. He would need to find a new place to sleep.

At that moment, he looked out the dusty, stained window over his couch, taking in the view. A church from across the street soared up past his head, it's steeple hiding the sun. Several other buildings matched its height, but it was the oldest. Though the old church rarely had tours, preferring praying to photos, there was a small group of people out on a balcony, slightly below the level of Etch's window. They were wearing tightly fitting black clothing, and had their hoods up despite the heat.

-damn tourists-

One of the tourists looked around as though searching for something, and Etch got a good look at her face. She had thin lips, a small nose, and too-wide eyes. Etch belatedly thought that she looked a bit like Mrs Xao from three floors down. Just as he noticed this, she glanced up, spotted Etch, framed in his window across the street, and pointed. The group seemed to jolt, their heads pivoting, some at impossible angles, to look where the first one was pointing. Their bodies turned slightly after.

-what the fuck-

Etch stumbled away from the window. He tripped on a pizza box, and as he hit the floor behind his couch, the window burst inwards, shards of dusty glass flying past him. Perched on what had until very recently been a rather boring windowsill, one of the things surveyed the room.

Etch gasped and scrambled backwards, glass shifting softly around him. He bumped into the doorframe with a dull thud, and the thing swung its head in his direction. It's mouth hung open, revealing rather sharp teeth.

-what the hell is that thing-

If this had been happening in the sleep lands, Etch would have happily blasted the thing apart, but in the waking world, the stone gods refused to provide aid unless Etch was about to die. Etch wondered if they were tied to his life force.

The monster stood to its full height, head almost brushing the ceiling, and slowly made its way towards Etch. He got up and ran through the door into his apartment's main corridor, slamming and locking it before backing up to the front door.

-that should hold it-

The door bucked, hinges complaining. Etch opened the front door and backed into the hallway. The door bucked again, splintering cracks appearing in the wood.

-okay, maybe it won't hold it after all-

With a bang, the door flew off its hinges, revealing the creature standing in the doorway. Etch turned to run but it moved at impossible speeds, grabbing the back of his neck and throwing him bodily through the doorway it had just destroyed, all in one fluid movement.

Etch landed on his couch, dazed. Another of the monsters, the Mrs Xao lookalike, came through the ruined window and into his room. It stood, no, more floated over him.

"Who are you?" He hadn't meant to say it out loud. The thing cocked its head, and then there was a slight but definite change in its posture. A voice, a deep, rasping, definitely masculine voice, totally unforeseen coming from this minute Asian woman, filled the room.

"What you did in the sleep lands last night is having unforeseen consequences. Our master," here the creature gestured at its companions, who had now all filed into the room through the window, before continuing with its message, "has decided to eliminate you to stop any of the terrible outcomes she has foreseen. Consider this a death sentence."

-I am going to die. this is really happening-

The stone gods were silent.

-a little help would be nice-

Nothing. The thing hanging over him raised its arm, arm reshaping into a needle-like structure with a series of cracks.

-oh come on-

Nothing. The arm was still pulling back. It stopped, quivering.

-please?-

The arm fell. Time seemed to slow down as it descended, but Etch was immobilized, unable to prevent anything but able to watch. The needle pierced his skin, and for a moment, the world stood still. A single crimson drop of blood forced its way past the arm.

Then the world was gone, replaced by heat and light and sound, overloading all of Etch's senses at once. It lasted for a second, and then Etch collapsed into the rapidly approaching blackness.