Intermission: Audience of Crowns - SCP Foundation

Crown of the Sky

Crown of the Noose

Crown of Death

Twinkle, twinkle shining star

Tumbling 'bove the Earth so far

Will and will in constant dance

Ever in your nightly prance

Quarseta couldn't decide which was more beautiful; the stars shining above her, or the planet shining below her.

tsa-Fanu's swirling colors wrapped around her, shielding her from the vacuum. The burning light of the sun was visible in the corner of her eye, and the marbled sky glowed from below her. Tiny pinpricks of light were visible in all directions.

It all served to contrast nicely with the constant bickering she heard in the back of her head.

"…Please, yen-Suisei, I'm begging you to reconsider. Just think of the prestige you will receive when we return home; you will be one of the few beings to ever enter a world as alien as this and return."

"Heh, prestige for you and the rest of your damnable misfits, perhaps, Paneu. I am a man of profit and power. Your proposition would grant me neither."

"And if you stay? What does this world have to offer you?"

"Have you not been listening? Profit and power. This old husk only has so much resistance in it, and once it gives out, I will finally be able to pilot it to the planet below."

"And you truly think that this rock is more valuable than home?" Atanti's patience was clearly growing thin.

"Allow me to put it this way; back home, I was a powerful man with many enemies. Are so powerless that I could crush them like insects. We are as gods compared to them."

Atanti seemed to be trying very hard not to tear into yen-Suisei. Quarseta wondered for a moment if she meant that thought figuratively or literally.

"What's the matter, Paneu? Out of bargaining material? Not surprising. All you have is a half-child and a performer without an audience."

The moment hung suspended in orbit.

"Hmp." Atanti snorted. "Well, I guess there's nothing I can do to help you, then. Come on then, let's leave the 'god' to his conquest. We'll see how well he fares."

As tsa-Fanu pulled them back towards the Earth, Quarseta felt a radioactive tingling in the back of her head while another voice whispered to her. The words were foreign and laden with static, but the meaning was still there.

"You're like me, little one. Remember that you're not one of them. Don't give in to your Presence."

Twinkle, twinkle shining spear

Tumbling 'bove the Earth so near

A single heart to stay your hand

'Fore you strike the Jailers' land

Black for noblest hearts of men

White for all the revelers' skin

Yellow for ripened sky above

Red for the bound god's sin

Quarseta gazed into the towering doorway before her, light seeping out of it and spilling across the room. They were familiar colors, to be sure. Red and yellow and white and black. But something seemed… odd about them, something that made her somewhat lightheaded and tired. Looking back, she thought that perhaps it was the shades and tints of the colors. Or perhaps it was the way the darkness seemed to be cast just as easily as light was on the other side. At any rate, the swimming colors made her feel differently that she ever had before. Almost, sickly, but in a strange, pleasant sort of way.

"Now remember, everyone stay close. This place can… change you. You must stay wide awake while we are inside."

She nodded mutely, still staring into the swimming and swirling gate ahead.

Atanti nodded in response. "Stay close, eat nothing, and allow Edrisek and myself to do the talking if we are able to get an audience with the King."

And they walked into the forbidden wonderland beyond. They walked into Alagadda.

Quarseta stumbled out of the doorway, supported on either side by Atanti and tsa-Fanu. Still swirling in her head were the blacks and the whites and the yellows and the reds and the light and the sound and the air and the sea and the stars and the food and the drink and the parties and the ambassador. Her head was flying and spinning around all at once.

"Hrrrr. Shouldn't have brought her. Too young."

tsa-Fanu flashed back in confirmation.

Unfortunately, the travelers had little better luck in this place than the last. The very fabric of the place had been thick and dreamlike, making it hard to think. A sickly sweet scent hung all about it. Though they had all managed to keep their wits about them on the way to the castle, they were blocked by their final obstacle. The Ambassador. The one who held the true power of the empty King. She had stopped them, humiliated them, turned them back laughing. Even Atanti and tsa-Fanu felt her intoxication, and it was more than enough to overwhelm Quarseta.

"♫/Where aphotic sea does deny, reflections of a xanthous sky…/♫"

"…She will be alright with some rest, though I fear we will have to find aid elsewhere."

Black of sky betwixt the worlds

White of child's soul

Yellow of aged threads and thoughts

Red of godless hole

Beware the Koitern, o' my child

In cities tall and forests wild

Beware the stench of death he makes

Lest it be your neck he breaks

Incident 682/053/1129/173:

[00:00]: Visual distortion appears in the corner of SCP-173's cell. SCP-173 ceases movement between individual frames .

[00:57]: Visual distortion resolves into spatial distortion and suspended biological matter consistent with SCP-1129.

[01:22]: SCP-053 emerges from the spatial distortion, riding on the back of SCP-682. Both entities appear to be in a joyous mood.

[01:27]: Both entities cease movement and fixate their eyes on SCP-173.

[01:49]: SCP-682 begins to grow transparently-armored eyes covering various points of its body.

[02:36]: SCP-682 charges through SCP-173's cell wall.

"Don't take your eyes off of him!" Atanti charged through wall after wall, the rubble occasionally granting the Koitern enough cover to catch up to them.

"I'm not!" Guards opened fire at random, trying to hit both the travelers and each other.

"Edrisek! Look before you take us to someone next time!" And with a swirl and a flash, our travelers disappeared.

Beware the Koitern, o' my child

In cities tall and forests wild

Beware the stench of death he makes

Lest it be your neck he-

*Crunch*

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