Mystic Gallery
“Let us have a little fun with this place, Yadira,”
Nyarlathotep suggested to his daughter, spinning in a rapid pirouette, and
trading his sharp royal blue ensemble for a zoot suit composed of wild patches
of colors and patterns seamlessly woven together. “The good Princess Ondina
wished for this gallery to be a place where visitors could leave their cares
behind. As you have observed, each of these paintings is the gateway to a
wonderful world, but none of these worlds is our world. Let us create a gateway
to our very own world. How do you think that it should look?”
Yadira sprang to her feet in a surprisingly spry manner for
an impossibly ancient crone. She giggled with glee as she waved her hands,
creating a vast canvas on the wall before her.
“I can’t decide on the frame, Father,” she reported. “What
are your thoughts? Should it have an elegant or a rustic appearance? Should it
appear old or new, green or blue, metal or wood, what would be good?”
“Since this is to be our combined world, I think that I
should choose one attribute and you the next until we are satisfied with our
efforts. I think the frame should be ornately carved wood if you agree.”
“Rustic and ornate at once, I concur. I believe that a muted
gold would be the correct shade.”
“Absolutely! We do not wish for the gold in the frame to
outshine the gold of the sun or suns in our world’s skies. I feel this should be
a green and pleasant world. The Zoogs like green and I intend to invite a few
of them to serve as guards.”
“An excellent choice, Father. There should be a lovely house
near the center of the painting, the sort of place where one could invite
guests for tea.”
“Splendid! Now, I believe there must be a fence with a gate surrounding
the house. Nothing terribly intimidating, mind, but one should not look at our
house and think that they could simply walk right in and help themselves to
whatever they desire. One must go through the gate to get to the door, and
before one can approach the door, they must check in with the Zoogs at the
gate. I think that a nice hellhound or two would be a fine addition to the
property, but I grant that they might frighten away guests.”
“The hellhounds should remain subtly in the background,”
Yadira agreed. “What season should it be, Father? I was thinking spring or
summer because I believe that our painting should have plenty of flowers.”
“A lovely spring scene, most definitely,” Nyarlathotep
concurred, and though he smiled broadly, his eyes sparkled with tears. “Spring
or early summer, yes. As you know, my love, I first met your mother at the time
between winter and spring in the gardens of Zaïs. A more beautiful scene I have
never seen—ah, but you have heard this story many times before.”
Acknowledgments
This is the first segment of a new chapter in my WIP A Night
in West Holpry, which is part of the Tales from the Dreamlands/Yadira
Chronicles series. The full chapter can be purchased on Odysee for 15 LBC (approximately
$0.45).
https://odysee.com/@naughtynetherworldpress:d/Mine-Be:7
If you don’t have an Odysee account, you can get one here.
This story was submitted to the weekly Reedsy Creative Writing
Prompts contest on 3 March 2021. If approved, it will be available
approximately a week from that date. So far, all my submissions have been
approved, but I make no guarantees. My work is free to read on Reedsy. Shares
are greatly appreciated. I aim to start a New Cthulhu Mythos addiction, Naughty
Netherworld Style!
Prompts Used
Putting My Feet in the Dirt
http://puttingmyfeetinthedirt.com
Reedsy Prompts
https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/
Write a story where flowers play a central role.
Submitted on 25 March 2021.
Want More?
It sounds as if their collaborative art is going to work well - which I suspect is rarely true.
ReplyDeleteThey are definitely in sync.
DeleteI'm not sure that I could do a collaborative with another author. It's not that I'm uncooperative. I tend to be fairly solicitous when working with others. But I have my own ideas about things.
I tended to be the one that people in group projects asked to "organize" things, which is code for "you do the work and we'll take part of the credit."
I always hated working on group projects.