Drawlloween 25

Today's prompt is Phantom.....

This is a Vide, also known as a faceless gentleman, a Noman, or Phantom Aristocrat.

The  Vide are a strange group, first described in several journals from 1682  belonging to French aristocrats that took part in a party in Versailles  at the court of Louis XIV, in which several attendants described a very  strange guest. He was described as....

"A  gentlemanly figure, stood in fine tails and shoes that glistened with  the light, as shiny as steel and wielding a cane propped before him. He  held about him the air of a proper gentleman, and he spoke as if of the  highest echelons of society, understood among those in attendance yes,  however he was given a wide berth and other attendants kept their  distance from him for one foreseeable reason that I still cannot  explain. He had no face. Not so much that there was nothing there, as  the strange gentleman still had eyes and teeth, however the eyes seemed  to shine from a black void beneath his powdered wig, and just beneath,  as if held suspended in the dark itself was what appeared to be a set of  teeth and gums that sat nestled in the shadow. Surely you will believe  that I jest, however I am not the only one writing of this scenario and I  know already of three others whom have submitted quereys as to what  this strange daemonic influence could have been..."

Other  journals describe the strange entity in more detail, stating that he  would laugh loudly in a strange accent, and proclaim stories of various  victories in lands no one had ever heard of, and when mentioning a place  that they had heard of before, he would list conflicts or leadership  that did not exist. Many were taken back by this strange creature's lack  of a face, some intrigued, and others morbidly curious. They say he  would turn slowly, his floating eyes shifting and peering at a creature  while the teeth would better emerge from the darkness in what everyone  believed would be a bite, and looming over everyone as he stood nearly 7  feet tall. A wheezing, raspy breathing would come from him as he sat  silent, with the sounds growing ever so louder the longer it went on,  until he would inevitably and abruptly interrupt anyone else telling  anecdotes or stories with a hearty and warped laugh before telling his  own outlandish tales again. If another was speaking or telling a story,  the strange man would keep his eyes on him for the rest of the story  with a look of malice and ill content, causing said person to hear that  wheezing again, even when the gentleman is speaking.

Several  officials in attendance that had called him a phantom or a creature  were met with the man's blank gaze. When met with his gaze for long  enough they would laugh and act as if they were joking, and continue  laughing about it afterward for hours, bringing it up that it was just a  joke. For some this continued on for the rest of their life, with them  muttering "It was only a joke" to themselves and laughing at least a few  times per day until the day they died. A few attempted to initiate a  fight or attack him. One who struck the Phantom Aristocrat with their  cane, found that despite his head seeming to be an empty void, the cane  found purchase on a object that felt harder than steel. He excused  himself, turned around and leaped upon the man, silently as he proceeded  to beat him until his head was a pancaked pulp, and then returned to  his conversation, making a joke about the scenario to which everyone  laughed. It wasn't until the end of the night once he had gone that  everyone realized what had happened to the man, and when they would  think about it, the heavy wheezing would return in their minds, making  them feel as if being observed. The other man who challenged him to a  duel was met with a similar stare and like the others. The mysterious  gentleman agreed, and they stood back to back, taking several paces  before the phantom reached into his coat and removing a pistol before  shooting him in the chest, The man, once shot, laughed and said it was  only a joke, and continued through the party as if he hadn't been shot.  He too was found dead after the party, with his eyes and teeth missing,  along with the gums.

Some  recounted the tales that the mysterious man told, one involving flying  ships across the Aldeberan, of great expeditions to the plateau of Leng,  and of clashing with pirates en route to the moon. He spoke of the  decadent halls of Carcosa, and of meeting sweet lovers in Buyan. Of  collecting riches greater than one could imagine in the land of milk and  honey, or clashing with the Khaa'styr- Vosh and stealing their Vandrex  crystals away as spoils of war.

At  least one report stated that when a drunken attendant insisted that he  had done none of these things, the gentleman stood and placed a strange  door knocker on the nearest doorway and knocked three times and allowed  the man to step through, and upon doing so, the door led to a strange  world where worshipping crab like things dragged the man away while  ripping him apart. When the night ended the gentleman did the same,  stepping through a doorway into another opulent home and bowing as he  bid adieu.

A  few minor political images and drawings of the event came up  aftwerward, however it went mostly unnoticed and those who pushed the  issue were treated as being insane.

Over  the years, other sightings of creatures like this have popped up, and  through voice, body shape, height, and attitude, it has been determined  that it seems to be a race of creatures rather than a singular entity.  Faceless women and children have also been seen at various aristocratic  parties, and all of them acted in a similar manner and caused people to  hear deep, difficult breathing each time, and they continued to get that  feeling at random ever since, especially if they said something  offensive to the entity.

Stories  from those who traverse the dreamlands have spoke of sailing ships and  expeditions filled with these Nomen, or Vide as they seem to be referred  to, and some have seen them arrive to do business. It is believed that  they may hail from Carcosa, and be followers of the King in Yellow as  they are known for often asking if one has "Seen the sign" and tend to  be a fan of the performing arts and oratory as well as music.

Why these creatures appear to us, what they want, and what they are truly capable of is unknown, and may never be known....