Something Strange

This topic I  was one I couldn't help but take as an order, rather than an actual subject

The door of the tavern swung open, letting in a gust of freezing air. A figure stood at the entrance, silhouetted against the bright neon lights from outside, and the warm firelight inside.
The tavern was the exact image of one of those cliched inns that you read about in every fantasy or historical novel. The wooden crudely painted sign hanging from the bar out the front creaked ominously, the stone walls were grimy and stained, and the thatched roof looked as if it would fall in at any moment. Inside, the firelight cast eerie shadows across the faces of shady looking men.
And these shady men were all watching the newcomer with hostility in their gaze. It was rare that anyone new came in, and even rarer that they came from the city. 
The stranger stepped into the room, and shut the door to the modern sounds of the city outside. He glanced over to the bartender, a portly man in an apron, and spoke in a voice that carried throughout the room.
"They say that if a man looks hard enough, and long enough, he shall find whatsoever he searches for."
The bartender nodded to himself, and gestured for the man to come closer. The other men returned to their drinks and their pipes, some smirking slightly.
The stranger strode over to the bar, and the bartender leaned closer.
"They also say to be careful what you wish for," he said, "It might just come true. The same applies to looking for things that have nothing to do with you, Searcher."
The man addressed as Searcher shook his head. 
"What I am searching for has everything to do with me, as it also has everything to do with everything. You cannot deny me, I know you cannot."

The barkeeper looked steadily into the determined eyes of the Searcher.
"How long have you been looking?" He asked.

"10 years, thirty days, and 12 hours." Came the prompt answer.

"How long have you known?"

"The same."

"They say that curiosity killed the cat, you know." The bartender warned.

The Searcher laughed.
"But I am not a cat."

"No-one has ever returned, what makes you think you are any different?"

"I don't."

The portly man bowed his head, whether in mourning or in acknowledgment that the other man had won it was unsure.

"Very well. Continue." 
He swung open a gate in the side of the bar, allowing the searcher to step through and revealing a set of stairs that continued downwards into darkness.

The inhabitants of the tavern watched as one as the Searcher descended. When he had disappeared from view, the barkeeper returned to polishing a dirty glass with an equally dirty rag, and it was as if nothing had happened.

Meanwhile underneath the inn- though underneath was not perhaps the right word, as it was under the inn, and yet so far above the earth that it was incomprehensible- The Searcher strode steadily downward, or upward, if you prefer.
It was dark, pitch black, but this hardly impeded him, as he was traveling in an exact straight line. Eventually, perhaps a couple of seconds, a century, or forever, later, the darkness became light, and he knew.
He didn't know anything in particular, he just knew. He could see Them. The ones that say. The ones that Are.

They say You found us.

They say- for he can no longer tell where he begins and They end- Yes.

They say Why?

They say Because we had to.

They say We understand.

And then They are silent.


They are God, They are Allah, They are women, they are men.
They are demons, They are angels, they are us, and they are Them.