The Starry-Eyed One Maddening Sight

Gustav Von Valentijn was a wealthy merchant and trader with a passion for collecting pieces of art. His favorite artist was Vincent van Gogh, and his most prized possession was The Starry Night - a painting he had acquired at great cost from the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

To showcase his prized possession, Gustav had created a sanctuary in his home that was designed to mimic the style of The Starry Night. Every evening, he would sit for hours, lost in the beauty of the painting. It was his escape from the stresses of work and the outside world.

But one day, something strange happened. As Gustav sat in front of the painting, he began to see eyes forming in the stars. At first, there were only a few - perhaps ten or twenty. But as the minutes ticked by, the number of eyes seemed to grow and grow. They glittered with a dark, jewel-like glint that seemed to come from an abyss.

Gustav was terrified. He ran out of his sanctuary and locked himself in his bedroom, shaking with fear. The next morning, he tried to convince himself that it had all been a hallucination brought on by stress. But as he approached his sanctuary, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching him.

When he finally summoned the courage to enter the room, he was met with a sight that nearly drove him mad. The room was filled with thousands of eyes, all staring at him with an intensity that felt like an all-devouring abyss. Gustav knew he needed help, but when he tried to tell his friends and doctors what he had seen, they all thought he was suffering from anxiety or the beginning stages of schizophrenia.

Desperate and alone, Gustav retreated to a hotel. But he eventually ran out of money and was forced to return home. As he approached his mansion, he was filled with a sense of dread. When he opened the door, his worst fears were realized. The entire interior of the house was filled with millions of glowing, abyssal eyes. They seemed to judge him, and Gustav didn't know why.

He spent the next few days locked in his bedroom, refusing to come out. He was terrified that the eyes would be waiting for him whenever he opened the door. His friends and family tried to reassure him, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.

As the weeks turned into months, Gustav began to lose all sense of time. He barely slept or ate, and his mental health deteriorated rapidly. He begged for forgiveness and tried to atone for whatever he had done, but nothing seemed to work. The eyes continued to watch him with an intensity that was almost unbearable.

Finally, Gustav couldn't take it any longer. He grabbed a knife and began to cut off his own ear, hoping that it would be enough to appease the eyes. But even as he bled out on the floor, the eyes continued to watch him with even greater intensity. In a fit of despair, Gustav began to mutilate his own body, hoping that it would bring an end to the torment.

He started with his ear, hacking it off with the blade and screaming in agony as the blood flowed. But the eyes continued to watch him with even greater intensity as if they were mocking his pain. Gustav was consumed by rage and despair, and he began to slash at his own flesh with abandon, carving deep gashes into his arms, legs, and torso.

As the blood poured out of his wounds, Gustav collapsed to the ground, his body writhing in agony. He was barely conscious, but he could still feel the eyes watching him, judging him, even as he lay dying. And with one final, anguished cry, Gustav Von Valentijn breathed his last.

When his friends found him, they were horrified by the scene that greeted them. Gustav's body was a twisted, bloody mess, with deep gashes covering every inch of his skin. The knife was still clutched in his hand, and his eyes were fixed on the ceiling as if he were staring at the starry night sky one last time. The painting was returned to the museum, where it was once again on display for all to see. But no one who looked at it could shake the feeling that they were being watched by those same jewel-like, abyssal eyes.

The news of Gustav's tragic end spread quickly, and soon people all over the world were talking about the strange circumstances surrounding his death. Some whispered that Gustav had been driven mad by an unknown being, a cosmic entity that had taken an interest in him and made sure that he was always under the gaze of others. This being, it was said, was a creature of pure chaos, with the power to bend reality itself to its will.

According to these stories, the strange being had been drawn to Gustav's obsession with The Starry Night and had used it as a way to infiltrate his mind and drive him to madness. It had whispered secrets to him in the darkness, revealing ancient knowledge that no human was meant to know. And as Gustav's grip on reality loosened, the being had taken full control of his thoughts and actions, using him as a pawn to spread chaos and destruction wherever he went.

Some even claimed that Gustav was trapped in the painting and waiting for a chance to escape. They said that anyone who looked at the painting for too long would be drawn into the being's realm, never to return. And so, the painting was locked away in a secure storage facility, where it would remain for the rest of time.

But even though the painting was gone, the legend of Gustav Von Valentijn lived on. His story became a cautionary tale, a warning to all who sought to uncover the secrets of the universe. And as the years passed, people continued to whisper about the unknown that had brought Gustav to his tragic end, wondering if it was still out there, waiting for its next victim.

For these eyes like to be viewed not by one, but by all other eyes in maddening bliss.