It Opened

Woe to the great city of Akkoron, the magnificent Canaanite city, for today the fires of hell have taken her. It's mighty king devoured by infernal fire, it's cattle and crops consumed by raging inferno, it's noble guardsman ripped to shreds, and the flesh of its citizens eaten by creatures not of this world. Curses upon the tyrants of Judah, who sought to claim her, and a million more curses upon these hellspawn who have brought misery to us! And a million magnitudes more curses upon the hell baron who brought these monsters to us!

Though our city was fantastic, it stood no chance against the wretched Israelites. They sought to control us, make us bow before their God, and destroy our wonders and idols! If I had known then what I know now, I may have let them. Let it be known now that in my final hours, I have seen horrors greater than any in existence.

I renounce the bastard gods I once worshiped, all of whom I shall list by name: Shalim, our god of darkness and shadow, who haunts the darkness and blesses his followers by absconding them to his realm, where they unite unto him, becoming as he is. Pazuzu, the god of the harvest and fertility, who brings locus and plagues upon our enemies. Humbaba, the god of war and combat, who strengthens our soldiers with his rage. Dagon, the oceanic patriarch, who through Mother Hydra (who is also known as Lotan) gave birth to the great Leviathans and the things that dwell in the sea. Qadeshtu, the goddess who governs love, sex, and friendship. Hadad, the god of rain and storm, who sinks our enemies ships and ends our droughts. Kathirat, the goddess who makes our women give birth and marries our young lovers. Melqart, keeper of the souls of the underworld and watcher of the afterlife. Yarikh, god of moon and night, who is the lover of Nikkal, goddess of the orchards and the gardens. Molech, god of holy fire, who takes the form of the owl to watch his followers. Shachar, brother of Shalim, bringer of light and keeper of the sun. Perhaps it was even the Archgod himself, Ba'al, the creator.

Once I believed in all of this, but now I rebuke it! No longer do I serve these demon lords! I renounce them all! Each and everyone one! I once offered praises to these abominations, now I offer only curses! A thousand curses upon you and all your followers! A thousand curses upon your kin! Curses, curses!

All at once, we heard the voice calling us. We didn't know who it was, but we knew it was once of our infernal false gods. It cried to us, knew of our imminent defeat at the hands of the wretched Israelites. It offered us respite, victory. It offered us a chance to ascend beyond them and conquer them. All it required of us was blood. Every newborn child under the age of three years, all of our most beautiful virgins, all of our elders, and the first-born son of our royal family were to be brought to the center of our city - the altar upon which we sacrifice our criminals and our ill. We were to bring them all there and slaughter them all, one by one until the altar was red with their blood.

We did as the voice asked. There had never been so many bodies all at once in our city. The smell was unimaginable, horrific! The site brought even the mightiest men of our city to tears. But it would have been worth it, if only our city could remain free. But when the skies turned red and the ground began to tremble, we knew something was terribly wrong. It was as if some great power had abandoned us, and left us to our fate.

Then, it opened. The ground ripped itself wide and from it came a disgusting red mist that blinded everyone caught in it. Millions of locusts rushed out, and swarmed all of us, biting and stinging as we ran and screamed in terror. But it didn't end there. From that same mist came all sorts of abominations. Golems made of pure fire, flying fiends with sharp claws and pitch-black skin, dog-like beasts that had the shape of worms and no eyes, flying horned skulls that seemed to burn with infernal fire, brown mauler demons covered in spikes, short little imp monsters that hunted in packs and swarmed their victims, and demonic footsoldiers that appeared to be red skinned men with long black horns and weapons of an otherworld design that were made to rend and cause suffering.

All at once, they were upon us. They chased us down as we ran. The lucky ones died instantly. The rest were either made to suffer as the demons tortured them, or dragged into the center of town and forced to watch as their city was destroyed, knowing they soon would be next. Our buildings were shattered, burned and seized, our women were violated, the flesh of our foot soldiers was devoured by the creatures. The screams were like nothing I every heard before - as if the viscera of their throats were ripping away as they screeched.

Rising up from the center of it all was the most horrific creature I had ever laid eyes upon. Standing over a hundred cubic feet tall, some kind of strange dog monster with large bat-like wings, looking like a humanoid hybrid of hundreds of different animals, with hundreds of snakes jutting out from his body and spewing fiery acid.

He declared to the people: "Rejoice, children! I am Pazuzu, the god of your fates. You will follow me into paradise, and I shall rule over you for all eternity."

The earth itself swallowed our city, and we were dragged down into the flames of the underworld. We were utterly consumed, completely obliterated, and not a single trace of us exists any longer. Now all that remains is the shattered visage of our king buried beneath the sands, and nothing else for hundreds of miles of desert wasteland. But sometimes at night, when the moon is full, travelers can still hear our faint screams from the center of the earth, crying our in pain and gnashing their teeth in despair. We are truly the followers of the dark gods now, and we have made ourselves their playthings.