“What home?” Matt said. “We die here or we die there. Unless we find an answer right here, right now, our home, our entire species, will be gone before we even make it back to the surface.”

“Ah, shit.” Abrams backed into them. “Whatever you’re gonna do, now would be a good time, or we’re about to end up like Drummond.” From the cave mouths along the shoreline, the Shoggoth, the bloated bags of amoebic flesh, now poured forth. They came quickly, moving on slug-like pads, insect limbs, and in some cases the arms and legs of human beings. Adira and Abrams got back to back, ready to fight, and die.

“Pick your targets,” Abrams said, and then half turned. “You’ve been a pain in the ass, Captain Senesh…and a pleasure to work with.”

Adira snorted. “You too, Joshua…and I will save one last bullet for myself. I have no plans to end up like your Captain Tania Kovitz.”

Abrams nodded. “I heard that.” He then half turned to Matt. “Come on, buddy.”

Matt pointed to the red gates, and the huge symbols upon them. “The language of the Underworld, the Celestial Speech.” He looked at each of the towering glyphs. His altered mind now rearranged the huge symbols, making sense of them. He spoke the strange words:

“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!”

“Huh?” Abrams frowned.

The words would have sounded like gibberish to anyone else, but to Matt, and in this unholy place, their meaning had the weight of mountains – In his house at R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu lies dreaming.

He read the next. “Hunwgli odururn wnghui Xastur.” Matt’s mouth dropped open at the implication: And with him dreams his brother…Xastur, the Unspeakable One.

“Xastur – the Caduceus – the intertwined gods. We’ve seen this name before; I know it.” He looked up briefly. “There is another one.” Matt flipped pages and then stopped. The Enochian glyphs flared like neon lights before his eyes. He absorbed their meaning, symbol after symbol.

“Great, so there are two of them.” Abrams shot several of the Shoggoth creatures, and Adira sprayed one of the approaching flanks.

“Cthulhu is engaged in an eternal rivalry with another ancient creature, called Xastur, the Unspeakable One.” He looked up again, feeling a little crazed. “It’s his half brother.”

“This thing has a brother?” Adira asked, firing another few rounds.

Matt shook his head. “Yes, maybe, I don’t know if it’s a brother like we understand it, or if a single being separated in some sort of monstrous splitting and budding process. Only Cthulhu has sought to rule the universe by himself, without Xastur…that’s why he keeps trying to rise.”

Adira fired another few rounds into the approaching mass of Shoggoth. “One is more than enough.”

“No.” Matt shook his head. “Don’t you see? They held each other in an eternal embrace, an intertwining, waiting for the end of time. But somehow, the celestial convergence allows Cthulhu to slip way and…feed.” Matt looked up. “We need to release the brother.”