Chapter Text
“Arthur? Fuck… Arthur!”
His eyes fluttered open. Gasping, Arthur turned to his side, coughing and hungrily gulping down air as the ringing in his ears came to a stop. He couldn’t see anything, but that was nothing new really.
“Arthur! Jesus Christ, are you okay?” A giggle tore itself from his lips at the alarm in John’s voice.
“Yes, John. But more importantly-” He sat up slowly, wincing as his whole body burned with exhaustion. “John, where are we?” he hissed, giving John some time to actually look around now that they were awake.
“We are… Arthur I don’t think we’re anywhere I recognise. The buildings around are- they are too tall, Arthur. The lights are everywhere, everything is so bright, The people- the people here are bright as well-”
“The people are bright?”
“Yes, yes, they dress in bright colours... weird fashion. It’s like nothing I have seen so far and there’s so many of them! We’re currently sitting on the ground in a small alley, nobody walking by even looks at us, they’re all looking at these small glowing rectangles in their hands- some kind of magical item, perhaps?” Arthur sighed. Magical dimension? Great… He slowly got to his feet, using whatever he could feel around himself to stabilise himself where he stood.
“John, why are we here? Did- did Kayne say anything before we showed up here?”
“No, I don’t think so. You think he made a mistake?” Arthur didn’t know that. Kayne making a mistake didn’t sound all that possible… There was probably a reason why he sent them here. He stumbled his way to the street to take a better look around.
" We're standing in front of an older looking building the sign says 'Magnus Institute' I don't know what that means, Arthur." He sighed. Great. They had no clue where they were or when they were. What he knew was that they definitely weren’t in any time they’ve already been.
"Oh! Arthur! There's a man at the steps of the building, the institute. He looks older, tired. He's nicely dressed, dark long hair peppered with grey streaks tied up in a neat low ponytail. Wears glasses. His body it littered many weird scars that I can see... And- he's looking at us! His eyes, Arthur... His eyes are this unnatural shade of green, they're- they're almost glowing! Arthur, I don't think he’s a human." Swallowing hard Arthur made a few steps back but then heard hurried steps and a voice, very pleasant voice.
"Hello? I'm- I'm Jonathan Sims, head archivist of the Magnus institute. I- Would you like to make a statement, mister-?" His voice sounded interested, calm, like the tone of voice you'd use to an wild animal to not spook them. It was working.
"A statement?"
"A statement about what?"
"He's nervously playing with the hem of his coat. But his eyes are not leaving ours." Does he know anything? He sounded human enough but... The mention of his apparently green glowing eyes didn't sound very human.
"Oh. You must not be from around here. The Magnus Institute deals with paranormal sightings... Would it be too far fetched to say that a man like you would have a thing or two to say? We collect information and investigate."
"Maybe he could help us, Arthur!"
"What exactly are you expecting of us- me, of this statement, Sims?" Arthur could hear his own voice grow defensive. There was something weird about the guy... Something really really weird,
"It's- Is it crazy to assume you're not from around here? From around this time?" He lowered his voice. "I would simply like to know your story. Maybe I'd be able to help."
"The way he's looking at us... He- I think he knows something. His eyes are so- so hypnotic." Arthur's hair stood at the back of his neck. He took a cautious step back.
"What are you?" He hissed.
"The Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London."
"Not what I asked." Jonathan sighed at the hostility.
"Well, maybe it's better we talk about this somewhere more private, mister-?"
"Arthur. Arthur Lester."
"Mr. Lester, if you'd follow me to the institute, I could explain things to you, maybe take your statement if you'd be interested."
"He's gesturing towards the building. His eyes are nervously looking around. He's afraid to be seen. He's slowly walking towards the institute, he wants us to follow... I don't like this, Arthur. There's a weird fog covering the building. It's- It's definitely not from this world." Arthur followed the man. He needed answers. He could always just run away, stab the man if anything got too out of hand. He would keep his distance for now.
"Maybe he'll know something useful," he quietly whispered so Sims couldn't hear him talking to John. “I’ll be careful.”
“He’s leading us through the building. We just passed some kind of front desk and he’s leading us- Arthur, he’s leading us to the basement!”
“The stairs are quite steep, watch where you step.” So Arthur did just that, hand on the wall, careful steps. Sure he’s done more crazy things than going down the stairs, but he couldn’t even imagine how awkward it would be if he fell down the stairs in front of this guy. John would make fun of him as well most likely, which was what was bothering him about the situation more if he was being honest. With John’s help he was able to follow Sims down into his office and sit down at a chair.
“So? You promised we would talk.” He crossed his arms on his chest.
“Ah, yes! Uhm…”
“What are you, Sims?” Arthur leaned a bit closer to appear more threatening, which got a chuckle out of John.
“He looks a bit frightened, caught off guard. You are actually threatening when you want to, you know?” There was a short pause followed by Sims clearing his throat, there was scraping of a chair on the ground, which Arthur guessed was from the other man sitting more comfortably.
“Are you familiar with Fear entities, Mr. Lester?”
“I am not.” That got him a sigh as a response. Arthur heard creaking of a chair. John described to him that Sims leaned back, looking at them with a face that John described as ‘well fed cat’.
“There are these godly figures, entities, they feed on fear, there’s 14 of them, 14 different Fear entities. Each feeding on different aspect of fear. Just to name a few… there’s the Spiral, fear of madness. The Buried, fear of well… being buried, fear of tight spaces, drowning-”
“Arthur, I don’t know what he’s talking about.”
“That’s enough, Sims, I get it. 14… gods or what not. What do they have to do with you?”
“He gave you this weird look, he fixed his glasses on his face and looked away, at the desk. He’s tracing the patterns in the wood with his eyes.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, Mr. Lester, but I think- no, I know that you’ve seen horrors beyond this world.” Arthur didn’t need John to narrate for him to know that Sims looked up, straight into their eyes, John’s eyes. He could feel that stare in his soul. A quiet gasp escaped his lips, or maybe it was John’s gasp he heard. For maybe the first time in forever he could SEE the eyes staring at him. Green in exactly the unnatural shade John described before. “You and your companion are from a different time and place. You, Mr. Lester are blind and your companion helps you navigate the world around you.”
“Arthur he knows about me… We need to leave. This was a bad idea. Get up, Arthur! We need to leave.” On instinct Arthur stood up and took a step back from the desk. He could no longer see the green eyes.
“Please, I don’t mean to harm to either of you, truly I am simply interested in knowing your story.”
“Why should I trust you?” He hissed at the other, ready to fight or flight with a simple word from John.
“Perhaps I started this conversation all wrong… I am not a human, not- not anymore, as you have already guessed. I’m- I have powers of one of these 14 Fears. The Eye, fear of being watched, fear of having your secrets revealed, being exposed, judged… It gives me power to Know certain things and be able to get my answers from people if I need to. That is the truth. What about you Mr. Lester?” Arthur could feel the eyes on him again.
“I-”
“Arthur don’t tell him about me.”
“I think he already knows, John,” he hissed quietly.
“No, no, I don’t actually know anything.… John, was it? How did you two get into this situation?” John was quiet. Like he just couldn’t believe this stranger could hear him.
“A curse. I opened and read a book I was not supposed to-”
“A book?” John cleared his throat.
“He looks interested… I- maybe he knows something about the book, Arthur.”
“I am indeed familiar with books that have certain powers. I am guessing John is not a human either then?”
“No, he’s- he’s a fragment of a very powerful deity. But he’s learning how to be a human. He wants to be a human.”
“He’s smiling, it’s a sad smile. He’s got this weird look in his eyes.”
“Does John narrate everything for you?” His tone wasn’t mocking, maybe a little surprised, but otherwise just plain intrigued.
“Mostly. He narrates what we see around us and what he deems important for me at that moment… Can you really hear him?” It didn’t happen every day that someone would know about John let alone hear him as well. Usually if someone did hear him it didn’t mean anything good for the two of them.
“No, no I can’t hear him, I just… Know what he’s saying. At first I thought he was just your inner voice or something. Many people talk to themselves. But you called him John and he has quite different views on things. I can only Know what he’s saying when I focus on you, otherwise it’s just a weird feeling that someone’s talking about me behind my back.” That explanation made sense in Arthur's mind. It would also explain why John felt like Sims was watching him specifically. Because he was.
“So what do you know about these books?”
“Assuming that your books are same as those in this time and space… there was a man called Jurgen Leitner, he was collecting these strange books with powers. The books are connected to the Fears and give the person who reads them powers. Not good ones. No. Usually it’s more like a curse rather than a blessing. So it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that yours could be a Leitner as well.” A book with special powers tied to an entity. Yeah that tracked, but…
“Does the name King in Yellow mean anything to you?” This was maybe a stretch, but so far all the entities Sims named sounded nothing like the creatures John and he knew from their world.
“No, I’m afraid it does not.” Sims hummed. “Maybe we’re looking at it from the wrong angle. Maybe your King in Yellow is more of an equivalent of a certain Fear of ours- or two or three mashed together. Being named a king would imply that he’s a ruler. What does he rule over?”
“The Dreamlands. It’s a place where logic doesn’t apply. For most creatures it’s a place of psychological torture. It’s not a place where Arthur is from. It’s… a place that resides within our reality, but usually you can’t travel there or out of there.”
“That sounds awfully like my experience with the Spiral- place of madness,” A tired sigh was all they got out of the man. “So you two are sharing a body?” Arthur noted that Jonathan dropped the cold exterior he was trying to hold up.
“Not exactly. John can use my eyes, my left hand up to here,” He let his fingers rest at the midpoint of his biceps. “And some of my toes. everything else is me.”
“Sadly…”
“Hey!” Arthur slapped his left arm out of a habit which got a low chuckle out of Sims. He sounded caught off guard and tried to cover his laugh with a cough, but Arthur knew.
“Would you mind if I recorded this? I don’t think the recorder will pick up on John so if you wouldn’t mind saying out loud anything he has to say, I would love to hear about your journey.” There was palpable excitement in his voice.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I don’t know exactly how this works, but if you are connected to The Eye- as you called it, it wouldn’t be wise to have any records of us being here. I don’t feel exactly welcomed in this building.”
“Ah- you might be right. If the deity you are connected to is some kind of Fear equivalent, the Eye would not be keen to have their Avatar- for the lack of a better word, run around.”
“Avatar?”
“Yes. I would say you are an Avatar of John, or what John was. I am technically an Avatar of the Eye. Serving the Fear, bringing it sacrifices to feed on…”
“So you’re a cultist?” Arthur spat out and reached for a dagger.
“I can assure you, that I am none of that sorts, Mr. Lester...I was tricked into this position.” His tone grew defensive, but Arthur didn’t believe any of that.
“Why not leave when you realised it then?”
“I’m afraid that is not possible. I cannot be fired and I cannot leave this institute. I am tied to the Beholding. I was promised a simple work of an Archivist, turns out by signing the contract I have signed myself as a servant of the Fear.”
“Why are you telling me all of this?” A creak of a chair signalled that Sims changed his position.
“It can’t see you. It doesn’t know about you. You are unseen by The Eye.”
“But you said you Know what I say.”
“Yes. That is true but that is the only thing I know about you two, I cannot pull information out of Mr. Lester and I can’t seem to Know anything about you, John either, only what you say. My powers are very limited around you.” Jonathan crossed his arms on his chest.
“The Beholding doesn’t like the uncertainty. All my previous claims about you were simple deductions. Mostly from your appearance. You don’t dress like anyone from this time period, you don’t look at anything in particular but you seem to absorb what is around you- that is why I thought you might be blind, but I wanted to Know how are you able to navigate the world. I- I used my powers on you and Knew that there was someone describing things to you. I could see the micro movements of your eyes better once we sat down. I would say that John can’t fully operate your eyes, his field of vision is your field of vision.” Arthur was speechless. This man could read them so well even without the powers he said he possessed.
“It’s like- it’s like there’s a second pair of eyes right behind yours, sometimes I think I can see them move behind your own eyes, Arthur. Those eyes belong to John.” A sigh escaped the Archivist. He took a few deep breaths, only now realising that he’s been rambling and running out of air.
“I am unsure- if my powers simply cannot reach John because of what he is, or because my sight is blocked by your blind eyes, Mr. Lester. But the truth is- I cannot Know things about either of you and that makes me so curious.” His voice dropped into something more sensual, thick and sweet, honey-like almost.
“What do you really want from us?” Jonathan cleared his throat.
“I don’t know. I have a feeling that you might be a valuable asset to our team, but I don’t want you to sign a contract as I don’t know what would happen were you able to get back to your reality. I could provide you with a place to sleep at, food and a library full of supernatural books. I’m not going to ask you to work for me, I am merely extending my hand to you to help you find your way back… and in return you will help us if It comes to that.”