The Valley of the Urr

I awoke naked in the middle of a road of mud and wet stone. There was a darkness cast by a gigantic cloud that stretched across the horizon. I could not tell if it was day or night. My eyes grew accustom to the gloom. A faint light covered everything, but there was no moon or sun that I could see. A cold humid wind blew across my body as I stood up.

A lonely and desolate plain stretched out before me. There were pools of dank water and a film of green slime covered the landscape. It was as if a great deluge had just passed over the area. I could see in the distance that one end of the road sloped up to a large levee. The other end went to dismal hills with slow waving dead trees and the sounds of the ocean.

I began to walk toward the levee, thinking that it would be better to view this world from a higher vantage point. The road I walked on was of ancient construction. Large stone slabs were intricately carved with countless hieroglyphs. In the carvings I saw the creatures that must have once inhabited this world. There were humanoid figures with the heads and fins of fish, others had tentacles streaming from their heads and wings on their backs, some appeared to be amphibious with toad-like grins and bulging eyes. I walked on trying to comprehend the story the road was telling, but mud and slime made reading difficult.

The dark cloud that had hung above me began to drizzle as I reached the levee. Up to this point in my trip I had not seen any signs of life, but suddenly there came a great flock of birds. I thought them to be birds but to my surprise they were strange creatures. As the passed above me I could see that they were reptilian and or crustaceous in nature. They had heads similar to a praying mantis but there was a flickering flow of electricity between their long antennae. The creature’s necks gave way to a feline upper body with two paws ending in large talons. Two leathery wings propelled them and they had a lower body much like a lobster tail but ending in a whip with a spiked end. The flock came to perch near one of the dark pools of water on the plain. I could see that they used their spiked tails to stab at things that were swimming in the pools.

As I came upon the peak of the levee the sky began to thunder and lightning. I looked into the dark cloud above me hanging ominously closer. Suddenly I felt sick and repulsed, an eerie sensation came over me. I fell to one knee reacting to the queasiness. The gray cloud on top of me began to swirl and boil, churning like a witch’s cauldron. Bolts of lightning ran over the cloud and they shot to the ground lighting up the land. The wind began to blow in large cold gusts attempting to knock me down. Keeping my wits about me I remembered the key that I had in my stomach. The key that I had swallowed comforted me and I stood back up to face whatever may come.

“Urr…” the cloud spoke, ending its word in a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning. The voice was an atrocious blow horn making the ground tremble.

“Urr…” the cloud bellowed as it began to rise away from me.

As the cloud rose I could see that it was actually the body of a large floating entity. The thing roiled in a furry of lightning and gray murk. The higher it went the more I could see the far horizons. In the distance I saw the wastelands of the planet and the dim glow of a far-away sun.

I ran my hands over my naked stomach feeling in my gut The Key of The Traveler. I had trained as a contortionist with the Great Houdini and his lessons served me well in my life as a magus. If ever I wanted to return to Earth all I needed to do was regurgitate the key and say the appropriate incantations and coordinates and I would transported back to my basement apartment in New Century City. People cannot travel between the planes and dimensions with anything material on their bodies. At least I had not found a spell that would allow me to bring things across. The Key of The Traveler, an ancient Sumerian artifact, was made of an unknown metal and was the only object I knew of that could make the trip between worlds no matter who held it.

I looked into the valley that the levee encircled. It was dark and treacherous with shear cliffs, crags and gorges. The road that I was on descended into the valley and made its way over an abysmal overhang. The road continued in the distance in a chaotic trail winding its way down to the center of the valley. It was what at the bottom that caught my attention.

At the floor of the valley was an enormous cyclopean city. I squinted my eyes to see black windowless monoliths of bizarre architecture. I could not see any movement, traffic or people that one would usually see with such a metropolis. I believed the city to be dead, ancient and forgotten, created by the creatures whose depictions covered the roadway. The city looked to be surrounded by a lake and there was a bridge leading across its onyx waters.

My head began to ache and I could feel the tingle of a million needles on my spinal chord. I had lost track of time and I didn’t know how much time had elapsed since I had crossed over. These trips between worlds were a timed affair. The mixture of blood, water and ash I had used in the spell to bring me to this world were what controlled my stay.

I had found the spell in La Biblia Obscura, a primeval book of forbidden knowledge that I had procured from a curandero from Tamaulipas, Mexico. The book had been myth to many archeologists and occultists around the world. The book was said to have been written by an Aztec peasant girl who was visited be creatures from beyond, from the dark gulfs of space. These beings gave the young girl knowledge of the intricacies of the cosmos and the ability to understand them. For to know the workings of the universe, of all that it is, would be maddening to the human mind. She used her understanding to become a powerful witch, but through some unknown reason her name was stricken from Aztec record.

The spell called for the brewing of an infernal concoction. In a pot of iron on the night of a full moon I created the mixture. The recipe included the blood of a white owl, rattlesnake venom, the crushed petals of blooming cactus flowers, the crushed thorns of white roses, sand from a beech facing the setting sun, ashes of a woman dead from childbirth and rainwater from a night sky. The fluid was to be poured in a line from north to south. Meditating and saying the ancient Aztec phrases would set the line aflame. Five candles were to be placed at varying distances and angles to the flaming line. The candles placement would bring about different effects and destinations in the spell. These candles were to be lit from the flaming line and placed in clockwise order starting with the most northern candle. With candles lit and line aflame the individual performing the spell would jump over the line from west to east. Instantly their body would fall lifelessly on the other side of the stripe of fire. Anyone who would touch them would know them to be dead, but they would not be. The mind and soul would travel across the gulfs of blackest space to any destination in any universe or dimension. These are the acts that I performed. It was a combination of archaic magic and complicated chaos mathematics.

Unfortunately the spell would only last for as long as the flaming line would burn which would usually be for two and a half to three hours. With the fading of the flames came headaches and pains to the traveler, it was a part of the process of being shot back through the expanses of space to your original body. My muscles felt weak as if they wanted to cramp.

I continued into the valley, descending down the road as it hugged a cliff. The road ran for a few yards then turned down into a shadowy gorge. The gorge was lit by an ethereal hue that was cast by strange translucent mushrooms that clung to the walls. I went to investigate them and they let out a low hum and increased their brightness. I felt the road beneath my feet and I found it to be littered with small slithering creatures much like worms. I picked one up to examine the thing and it began to squeal in a horrible high-pitched tone. I dropped the creature on the floor and continued on my way down the road with the cries of worms beneath my feet. Further down the gorge I say an enormous wooden door. The door was fit for a titan and was carved out of the rock wall. The archway and mantle were decorated with the same hieroglyphs that covered the road. On top of the archway was a giant sculpted head of truly hideous being. The thing was a tentacled horror that I would come to know as Cthulhu, high priest of Azathoth.

“Urr…” This time when I heard the clouds calling I felt a pain come over me. The attack came from the cloud-thing. I was amazed at the strange ability of this floating entity. A crack of lighting flew into the gorge setting the mushrooms into frenzy. Their hues began to lighten and dim with the roar of thunder the cloud sent into gorge. The pain was too much and I sank to the floor. My naked body writhed on the wormy road of mud and stone. I looked at the cloud through the slit of sky that split the ceiling of the chasm; rain began to fall on my face.

“Urr…”

My head began to swirl in a frenzy of madness. I tried to regurgitate the key in my belly but I could not. An arching in my back took over me as I tried to fight off confusion and horror.

What would happen if I would die in this world? Would I awaken in the apartment? On other occasions while I was traveling the planes, my body had been injured I returned to Earth unscathed. But death is a different science and I shuddered to think of being caught in this world’s version on hell.

The worms cried as I slithered over them. I gripped my head in pain as I felt a deep probing of my psyche. An incredible throbbing assaulted my spinal column and my cerebellum. I convulsed and my limbs jerked violently. I shot into the air with an extreme velocity. I flew out the canyon then came to a stand still miles above the desolate landscape. I was there suspended in midair in the grip of the entity.

“Urr…” the dooming cloud-thing called to me.

Within the cloud, a swirling patch formed into a roughly human face. The eyes and mouth lit with spasms of lightning.

“Why have you come here traveler? Do you seek conference with the Great Old Ones? Or do you seek pain?” the voice was thunderous.

Rain and wind tore at my body as the words echoed in my mind. Each word pulsed in my temple as I looked across the land. I had flown further into the valley and now I hovered above the city I had looked upon while atop the levee.

“Do you seek knowledge? Do you seek experience? Do you seek understanding, traveler?” as the cloud spoke I could see that across the horizon more cloud-things were making their way towards the valley.

I closed my eyes and I concentrated, I focused my mind and I cleared away the pain and confusion. I subsided the drumming in my temples and I calmed my confusion and fears. The cloud looked amused and it let out a rumbling laughter.

“Who are you traveler?”

I opened my eyes, there were more clouds surrounding me. A dozen faces appeared in the murky chaos of churning darkness.

“I am a magus and yes, a traveler. I seek knowledge!” I yelled across the sky.

The faces looked at each other, another cloud asked, “What knowledge do you seek?”

“Who are you? What are you?” I wanted to know what these beings were.

“Do you not recognize the Urr?” A new face appeared and asked with a snobbish tone.

The original cloud I had come across added, “We are the guardians of the valley. We serve the Great Old Ones.”

“We hold the city of T’bak in order till the Great Old Ones return,” still another cloud said.

This was information. The city of T’bak had been my destination in the spell I had performed. I realized that the mythic coordinates I included in the spell were indeed true. This was a home world of the Old Ones.

From further up above I saw a large cloud moving in, larger than the clouds surrounding me. The other clouds moved aside as it came to rest in front of me. A face formed in the sky, the wind and rain reached a new peak of fury. The cloud-thing spoke directly at me in a booming vocalization. “You are intruder in our valley. We see your true intentions. You seek knowledge to destroy us!”

It was true. My heart was not dark or set in evil ways. I had traveled here on a reconnaissance mission. I was meant to infiltrate and to seek a possible weakness of the Great Old Ones. I knew that the day would come on Earth when the stars would be right. Cthulhu would awaken and walk the face of the Earth once again. I had lived my life to combat these circumstances and I quested to destroy what I knew was futile to deny.

“Your adventures are at an end traveler.” the giant cloud beckoned. “The Urr shall see what secrets you hold!”

Lightning came from every one of the Urr and the bolts attacked my body. I convulsed at the sensation of a million volts of electricity running through me. My mind raced as a thousand images from my past flashed through my mind. The Urr were extracting every bit of my emotions and memories. Through my blood and the meat of my body they took the history of me, of my family, of my love and of my fear. They slashed away at my body at the cellular level, extracting the strands of life that gave away my humanity. I shuddered violently at their probing, drifting in the rain and wind of the sky.

“Urr…” the clouds sounded out in unison.

The time for escape had arrived. I forced the pain into the other part of me, the side of my consciousness I used as a buffer. I compelled the agony to go there. Flexing my muscles, I concentrated on my body. I moved the key from my stomach, to my throat, then to my mouth. I spat it out and the key shot into the air. A bit of fear slipped from me as I thought I might loose the key in the midst of the rain and thunder of the Urr. The key fell into my outstretched hand and I held it against my chest. I closed my eyes and whispered the cryptic phrases in Sumerian that would activate the key.

When I opened my eyes and I was back at my basement apartment. I was naked lying in a small pool of rainwater on the floor clutching the key against my chest. The flaming stripe on the floor was about to dwindle. My body ached and my brain pounded as I shook reality back into my head. I looked at the clock on the wall. I had been gone for little over an hour and a half. I tried to stand but the trip had left my exhausted. I fell back to the floor. Outside, the sounds of New Century City hummed.


2 Responses to “The Valley of the Urr”

  1. Eric Norton Wrote:

    Cool story. I especially liked the method of traveling.

  2. Ken Wrote:

    Hello…
    I have much to share: after reading your experiences I just had 2 share with u experiences i have so many things that I do…..
    From when I was a baby in cot so many things happened and still today….things I do in dreams and in actual things I do………I will share some with U now..ThankU

    1)I Always flying Arms stretched out as I hover and fly
    healing moving objects……????????? so much more

    When I was 12 or 13 I remember getting out of bed early hours of the morning…myself still in bed….I walked down the hallway in my parents home..I walked past the Kitchen Thru the back door….I walked out onto the Patio: I stepped down 3 steps then I am transfered into a valley of green rolling hills with the bluiest of skies you have ever seen same as the color of the green hills…..And Massive white fluffy clouds….I am looking up to the sky clouds over the valley hills then a massive warm shadow falls over me VIBRATION SENSATION..words were said…don’t remember….Then I turn to my left 2 others on their knee’s smiling @ me..so deep their smiles of happiness…I then was return back to self…when I awoke it was daylight and the vibration was still in my mind strong: Words were said?
    DOES THIS SOUND FAMILUAR:? …Valley of shadow…..

    2)
    Now with this it happens many times though I know I do this as actual accounts of the event as I created this….this is who I am..though will I remember…Its all of truth and that I cannot lie as lies R hold back illusions of self:

    In Dreams I call dreamscapes….I have seen myself in robe
    I lift my hands to the skies…my head tilts back and echoes comes from my voice…RRRRRRHMMMM and I become louder
    I brings SWIRLING CLOUDS LIGHTENING AND WINDS….As my voice echoes from clouds to all over…I don’t even breathe I just call…An event happened where I was in dream I bring the swirling clouds winds and Lightening…That night I was there: though I live a 900 mile away…I was not far from where massive clouds appeared with winds and massive bolts of lightening which was hitting a stadium A football game had to be cancelled sent off field people had to be evacuated…..You can get proof of this……Parramatta Leagues Club NSW Australia
    In this event I was near the Stadium in dreamscape I was there…..other places I go though I don’t know what’s happening but another experience journey: beings I meet said I will remember…I was in a smoky substance that moved around me and vibrations all over..When I was returned my head almost shook off but the sound in my ears came from inside my head: On the return..Amazing journey
    They call me a Powerful being..Yeh right…
    Whats a powerful being?…..If I am so powerful then why can’t I do things now….maybe its just my imagination
    though I do: I have done things actual..
    Clearing others show them there hate anger by touching there heart with my finger………many witnessed this
    And they cry even strong large men….Understanding

    Well I must go…wether U believe me: It does not matter
    though the sharing I feel is important. Now I am going for it…..The Shinning Eye’s….and winds around me like thousands of fingers massaging me…I love it.

    Oh..I would love to hear more about this being named cthulhu
    Though I loved your sharing.ThanKU

    Cheers
    Ken

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