Dear Diary
22 Apr 2020Today’s prompt: “You find your great-great-grandmother’s diary. On June 16, 1856, she wrote:”
“Dear Diary,
“The summoning rituals were a complete success. Richard and I held hands in a circle with 22 others from the church. Bernadette and Edie were there, and Sylvia and Mark Peters, and Muriel Jackson. The black priest painted a sigil on the ground in goat’s blood, and we lit candles and held hands and chanted. And then, you’d never believe it, Diary! A whirlwind filled the room. I was very glad I’d pinned my hair up tight. You should have seen Bernadette Wainwright’s hair, Diary. It was a wreck.
“The whirlwind was still building when we felt an earthquake. I lost my footing, but I’m proud to say I kept chanting the whole time. Richard and Sylvia helped me to my feet, just when a crack started spreading across the ground. The crack tore apart into a huge rift in the earth. It was impossible to tell how far down it went.
“The whirlwind snuffed out all the candles, and we were left chanting for a few moments in the dark, hoping the floor wouldn’t collapse beneath us. But then the opposite happened. The whirlwind tore the roof off.
“The stars were shining even brighter than usual, Diary. And one star, one of the stars in the little dipper – the star opposite the handle; Richard said its name is Pherkad – started throbbing with bright light. And as it throbbed, a green light started emanating from the rift. The green light got brighter and brighter, and throbbed along with the star.
“And then something that looked like a comet shot from the star and came straight toward us. It blew past us with a searing heat and buried itself in the rift.
“A small ball of fire raised itself out of the pit and hovered in the air. It was him. Yomagn’tho.
“The levitating fire grew into a large circle of fire surrounding three tongues of flame in the center. It grew and grew, and then finally, it feasted. I’m sure Muriel Jackson would have been insufferably proud that it chose her. If she could talk to us afterwards, you know she would have been lording it over us.
“It was amazing, Diary, but far too brief. After dining on Muriel, the fiery creature was pulled back among the stars. It seemed so angry to have to leave.
“The black priest said Yomagn’tho almost certainly was angry. He is pure malevolence. He couldn’t stay here yet. But our spell is one that is cyclical and builds in strength with each cycle. We have established a pathway for Yomagn’tho, one he can return on every 82 years. And each time he’ll eat more and become more powerful. This time, he only ate Muriel, but next time, he’ll probably eat an entire city block, and when he returns in the spring of 2020, he should be powerful enough to devour an entire city.
“If only I’d be there to see it, Diary.”
So, that explains what’s outside your window right now.