Furies from the Deep
by Richard Dinnick

The sound of ominous thunder shook the scorched landscape and unnatural lightning arced across the ochre sky revealing in its flashes the ruins of a temple. Fog and filthy air swirled around the building and from the dark recesses between the shrine’s limestone columns emerged three figures. They wore robes of corvine black and voluminous hoods of the same shade, which obscured their faces.

As they entered the circular inner sanctum, a swarm of hazy, two-dimensional images appeared and began thronging around them. The pictures were varied, each depicting a different scene. Some were of people, some of landscapes – all pertained to one being. Here the face of a young man with golden hair and beard, there a more elegant man standing before a portrait. A woman in a white dress, reptilian warriors and silver-clad cyborgs all danced in the air. Other places buzzed around the temple, verdant jungles and barren deserts, alien cities and cathedral-like caverns.

The tallest figure lifted a diminutive hand and one of the images came to a halt before them. It showed a man dressed in black, surrounded by humans and robots that appeared to be juggling. He seemed to be addressing a woman sitting on an ornate throne

‘Advance,’ said the tallest figure.

The image jolted as the scene began to play out.

The man dressed in black nodded in agreement to some unheard statement or question and then, having bowed to the queen backed away a little to where a plump, dark-haired woman was standing. He took her arm and led her towards a tall blue box sitting in an alcove beside a large arch. As the odd pair reached the box, the man opened the right hand door and performed a low bow.

‘After you, madam,’ he said to the brunette.

The woman laughed. ‘And who says chivalry is dead?’ she said.

They both laughed as they entered the box.

‘He should be alone,’ hissed one of the figures watching the image.

‘No matter,’ said the tallest.

On the image, the door of the blue box closed and a wheezing, groaning sound filled the foul air as the blue box slowly faded from view.

‘He comes,’ said the tallest figure.