The drawback I took was more literal that I intended. Indeed, the moment I stepped outside of the House of Mysteries and walked the sands of the Miskatonic region I never do get a moment of peace. In this case it is my intrusion into the world that catches attention. This…universe. It is all a dream. The dream of Azathoth. I know it because I encountered such worlds before in the DC universe. Sufficiently powerful entities imposed their will onto the world and shaped it. The only question is what is the true reality beyond Azathoth's dreams? It is a question that I don't bother to ponder.
What I do handle though are the various creatures that are sensitive to interdimensional travel. I…underestimated how strange my nature because cultists are sent to dog me apparently having been sent revelations by their various 'gods' about me. Considering the usual make up for cultists they all met a rather swift end. Really my claiming of their souls was a mercy. I did not bear to think about what the usual afterlife was in these worlds and the gods they promised themselves to don't really seem to be the good sort.
It is also surprisingly easy to find a rather well to do man in the area that was rather isolated and was involved enough in the mythos for me to safely target them. Assuming their identity was the height of simplicity. After all the man was considered 'eccentric,' by those around him though they used much…harsher words than I.
Of course the interesting events never ceased coming to me. The cultist dried up after the second month. The various observers apparently getting the hint. That said that is around the time that various monsters began making their way to me. They made excellent familiars. Surprisingly enough the majority of the creatures I devoured weren't exactly evil. Indeed many were simply wild animals that tried to devour anything that looked like prey and humans were, in the end, prey in this universe. The Dark Binding could not protect me from any of their corrupting influence. That said my own unbreakable will and the protections Son of Old Man Henderson provides is enough to handle them.
That said an issue die pop up that dearly required my attention. On February 28, 1925 an incident occurred that immediately gave rise to enough cases of madness in the world so as to be notable. Among the myriad insane asylums and cultists that I was dealing with muttered the same message, even if the wording was often incredibly variable. "In his house at R'lyeh. Dead Cthulhu waits dreaming." I knew what I was going to do.
---
"Is this a wise idea master?" my butler says as he stands to see me off from the House. It was a surprisingly bumpy ride. R'lyeh had some defenses against trans-dimensional travel. I understood why, after all the Necronomicon did take not of many wars amongst the Old Ones. Notable among them was Cthulhu's own against his brother. It wouldn't do for the capital of the High Priest of the Outer Gods to be invaded easily. Of course the House of Mysteries proved more than enough to circumvent them.
I smirk. "Probably not," I state. "But I should at least try," I continue as I walk past the door and gaze at the ruined mountain peak of R'lyeh piercing the ocean to give image that it is an island. From its oozing sides I felt something tug at my mind, something powerful. "Oz'gell," I state slightly shaken. "The moment I step on the island take the house and leave," I order upon which the goat headed butler nods in understanding. Walking down the steps and onto the sandy shore I give one last glance at my house before walking forward.
---
The stars are not yet right. I know this. Reading the Necronomicon has given me enough understanding of this universe to actual calculate when the stars would be right. It will be millions more years before the stars are right once more, but one must account for the fact that this entire world is a dream. A dream by a god that is one of the few things that I can compare to my benefactor, but a dream nonetheless. It doesn't have to make sense. It just is. So it is that this time marks a period where the stars are sort off right. Enough to fool Cthulhu at least and now I have to ensure that it returns to sleep.
Floating above the edifice I can't help but admire how it is constructed. The ooze and mud and stone that make it all up seems primitive but is utterly infused with a power that screamed at my own magical senses, declaring what they were. The city is forged by magic, not technology. The senses originating from my teleportation magic alert me to the weak dimensional barriers. The world does not support its power completely so the state of disrepair in what is probably a truly grand sight. I stop when I finally reach what I was looking for.
A great stone door 45 meters wide and 90 tall or at least just about. It is utterly covered in the familiar runes of the Old Ones. The door did not need my prodding to open. After all why would the ruler of R'lyeh make the door to its sanctum openable by those outside. A simple knock, enhanced by my magic is all I need before the door leans inward, darkness rushing outward reeking of incredibly aged and rotted magic.
That is when enormous green claws rushes outward and grabs me.do not react as the great slimy hand grasps me in a grip that would have shattered normel men. Indeed, the strength is enough to buckle steel. But I am indestructible. Being dragged into the deep gloom of the throne tomb I idly look at the area around me, my eyes glowing crimson to provide me better vision. A part of me wants to run away, teleport to safety to the other side of the world, but I squash that. I had a plan. A hasty and ill thought out one, but a plan nonetheless.
Ever so slowly the hand gripping me brings me to face the lord of R'lyeh. A humanoid creatures with the head of a cuttlefish and the body of a dragon. Such was the description of Cthulhu and it is fairly accurate. The aura of surreal terror and power that blared from the being though reveals the truth. It is a form that it prefers but can easily change. If I did not have an unbreakable will and an impregnable mind I am sure I would have become a gibbering wreck by now, such was the full psychic insight that the creature's presence exuded. But thankfully it was weak. The stars are only partly right and Cthulhu still lies half dead.
"Ymg' ahmgr'luh ya n'gha'agl ng nafl'fhtagn ya. Ahh" the creature speaks, resonant tones echoing from its bulbous heads as if a dozen voices were speaking all stating a subtly different word. Still I recognize it. The language of R'lyeh. The language of the Great Old Ones. Its contents are simple, made easier by the sheer psychic presence that tries to drive their meaning into my mind. 'You Seek My Tomb and Awaken Me. Why?'
I clear my throat and pull a dozen souls from my binding to serve as extra mouths. My body grows more indistinct as I accommodate new form through my flesh. "Y' l' nog ymg' ai ot yogfm'll. F' ah mgephai legethog" I speak out carefully. My accent must be atrocious given the way the creature seems to huff in amusement.
"Ymg' ai mgleth" it murmurs in a voice that still tries to shatter my mind and then it lets me go, actually bending down and setting me down on the ground of the tomb. It was covered in slime and darkness. The echoing remnants of a thousand spells of stasis interwoven throughout it. Was the darkness part of the stasis spell as well?
I shake my head and instead look at the large creature. It towered over me. The chamber is actually larger than it is outside which makes sense but there are echoes that remind me uncomfortably of the House of Mysteries. Yes, this is a land that is utterly linked to Cthulhu's will. No sooner have I got that thought that the room seems to…shift. One moment I stand in a cyclopean chamber cover with salty mud and slime and filled with arcane frescos than the next I am in a great stone court right out of ancient times though, I note idly as I look at the carvings in the wall, the eldritch nature is still present though greatly subdued.
"You are human yet not. So this form will do," a man speak. He is androgynous and wears an immaculate white robe, though I can see patterns appear on it and then fade with time and the barest hint of his movements. His face is framed by long bright green hair that reaches all the way to his feet. He is standing before the throne of the court and he is Cthulhu.
Spoiler: The High Priest of the Outer Gods
I quirked a brow. "I did not think that humans existed while your kin was awake," I state questioningly.
The man only smiles before sitting on the throne. "It is a form that the Great Soul of the Outer Gods gave to us long ago. Indeed it has been useful when speaking to those our lesser though only now do I encounter your race directly and know that the form I use as my mask comes from your race. I do not know whether to feel pity or jealousy for your kind that the Great Messenger finds interest in your kind," it states imperiously.
Well I've heard of those titles before and there is only one type of being that the Great Old Ones would venerate so. Nyarlahotep is the one that gave the image to the Eldritch beings of this world. I do not how to feel about that. Belatedly I realize that Nyarlahotep, as the messenger of the Outer Gods, was the main means of communication between them and their Old One worshippers. Nyarlahotep, the crawling chaos, the only Outer God that is indubitably evil.
"I see, thank you for illuminating me then your majesty," I state, falling back on politeness. "Now that my message has been received I believe that I will depart. It will not do to…"
"What is the rush?" the human Cthulhu says, suddenly appearing in front with an expression of curiosity on his smiling face as it tilts to the side. I can't tell if it was malicious or genuine. "I have been sleeping for time uncountable. This is a good distraction from one of my dreams and I have always been curious about this false world."
I can only acquiesce.
AN: I've decided to just do short chapters in order to get things along faster.Tell me," Cthulhu of R'lyeh says across a stone table that he conjured into being for our conversation. "What has the world come to? I do not sense the Gothg present. What has come to them now that my people no longer rule the land?" he asks curiously.
Gothg? My mind tries to search for what he talks about until I remember a phrase in the Necronomicon's histories. Gothg, the Elder Things. "They no longer walk the world," I state immediately. "The shoggoth overthrew them a million years ago," I continue. "Only a few in hibernation yet live in the planet. The few living shoggoth will kill them if they awaken."
"Hah," the king of R'lyeh says. "Serves them right. They based their civilization on their precious pets and did not focus on anything else though I would have loved to witness their demise. Perhaps something to observe later one," he continues, amusement and contemplation lacing his voice. The relationship between Great Old Ones and time was tenuous so it is very likely that Cthulhu could have done so.
"If I may, can I ask a question?" I inquire, maintaining my polite and formal mask, my hands flat on the table, idly tracing the runic script that decorates its surface. At the amused nod of the green haired man I continued. "What are your intentions to the natives that inhabit this world. They are rather…fragile compared to me or even the Gothg."
"Is that all?" the man says, the ever present amusement in his voice. "Nothing really. They interest me, and probably the others due to the common form we all share," he says gesturing to himself. "Perhaps pick up some worshippers and produce a few spawn," he says as he leans forward. "It depends," he finally states. "In truth it will probably depend on what emerges from them when we finally awaken. Hopefully you will be the ones to kill me."
"Kill you," I ask. "Wouldn't you want to destroy anyone who does so?"
The green haired man gives a wide, toothy smile. "Child. My end was prophesized by the Gate and the Key. It is inevitable. I have already made plans for it. Meeting my end will let me finally get unburdened by the prophecy," he continues.
I can only nod at that. There was more to it I, that much I can tell, but despite the human form and the rather…mundane conversation we are currently having an Old One was not human and their thought process is even more alien than the eldritch forces I have seen in other worlds. "Very well then. I can only hope that we do not disappoint.
The conversation became rather mundane after that. Cthulhu was curious about the world. I told him of the technology mankind can and will develop though I could tell that he was rightfully dismissive of them. He told of me of the various tales of the Old Ones, their culture and the various empires they ruled. It was nothing not covered by the Necronomicon, but a first-hand account is always better.
My own understanding of the Old Ones also increased. They truly did view mortals like humans as beneath them. Thankfully it was the in the same way one viewed a particular intelligence and trainable animal like a dog so the humans of this world at least had some hope if they did not advance enough. That said, what truly surprises me is there relationship with their progenitors, the Great Old Ones.
"The Beyond One has a what?" he asks in alarm, jumping up. His form seems to convulse and I could see the shadows of tentacles and wings and so much more slithering out from his shadow, the vivid sign that the man was not a human.
"A child," I repeat slowly. "It intends to have the being summon it to this world in the near future," I state.
"Then kill him," the old king says, a grim visage overtaking his once smiling and carefree voice. "Ensure he does not succeed in his mission."
"I would have thought you would be happy that one of the greatest of your gods are appearing in this world," I state, surprised at his demand for it was a demand. I could actually feel the pulses of power that are trying to force my mind to obey.
The man only seems to chuckle hollowly before he sits back down. "The gods are to us what we are to you. You have made no secret what human would view us at this moment. Even if we do not fear madness would you want the same to be done to the world where you and your kin slumber in?" he asks.
"I…no. No I would not. I guess I shall do so."
"Good. That is good," Cthulhu says before suddenly a very human yawns stretches across body, his body flickering and giving slight views into his more monstrous visage. "Aaaah, it seems that I have tarried long enough. I must return to my rest. Be sure to do as I have asked. I do not wish to wake up in a world ruled by my gods," he says. "Though," he adds, "before you go…"
---
I stand outside and look at the floating tip of the acropolis of R'lyeh as it sinks beneath the waves. Dimensions shudder and shake as the reality of the current age seems to reimpose itself, the ancient defenses of the dread city once more restoring itself as it enters once more long term hibernation.
"Are you sure that you wish to follow me," I ask the person that floats beside on great green wings that seem to twist out from her wide clothing.
"It is the progenitor's order to serve you and observe. I will return when you leave this world and when we awaken I shall tell him of what I have witnessed," the green haired woman says in monotone. "My will has no matter in this."
"I guess so," I state as the last of R'lyeh finally fades away, back to its resting place betwixt dimensions.
Spoiler: Starspawn