Chapter 299: Paint Me – Smearing Yourself into a Painting
“In fact, it’s not just the paintings we mentioned earlier. We believe that every Posthumous Work Shelly exhibited in his posthumous exhibition depicted something he witnessed during his visions—events that either have already happened or are yet to happen. SAI has already formed preliminary hypotheses about the real-world events corresponding to several of those paintings, and they are currently awaiting further verification.”
As for why Shelly painted these scenes, SAI believes there were two reasons. On one hand, he was an artist by nature, driven by a powerful urge to record and share what he had seen. On the other, he intended to use these paintings—each touching upon forbidden, hidden truths—to subtly contaminate the minds of those who viewed them.
Once the viewers’ mental worlds had been corroded into something like a honeycomb, riddled with countless tiny holes, it would be time for his Self-Portrait to make its appearance and reap the final harvest.
“We held multiple rounds of internal discussions regarding the ‘revelation’ Shelly mentioned in his diary. Our final conclusion was that, during one of his visions, he most likely caught an accidental glimpse of an Old One—perhaps merely one of Its projections, or perhaps a single strand of Its psychic tendril. During that brief contact, Shelly’s mind was contaminated and assimilated, transforming him into a fanatical worshipper.”
This Old One was the “Great Master” spoken of in the doctrines of the Dagon Secret Order—the entity said to slumber on the ocean floor. The cult’s ultimate objective is to free this Great Master, allowing chaos, disorder, and madness to once again engulf the world.
Remia and Gregory were extremely reluctant to discuss this deity. As a result, Everly still did not know Its true name. From the scattered hints she had gathered, she only knew that this Old One had been sealed away, for reasons unknown, within an underwater city somewhere deep beneath the Pacific Ocean. Only when the stars return to their proper alignment—when the constellations once again coincide with their ancient celestial paths—would It awaken.
Prompted by those words, Everly recalled the ravings Shelly had uttered on the White Plains.
“Shelly once told me, ‘The stars will soon return to their proper places. The prison walls will inevitably crumble. The time of the Old Ones’ awakening is at hand.’ …Could it be that their god is about to awaken?”
The two investigators exchanged a glance. Remia shrugged.