Unwilling Eldritch Horror of Fortune

It had taken the better time of an entire day to get everything sorted out and for Xalla to contact all the right people, but we were all set up to go on the following morning. Molly informed us that Big Bob had to leave earlier to meet up with some of the other Sponsors and that he sends his best regards and is looking forward to hearing good news from us soon. How the woman got this news before the rest of us, I didn’t want to know.

Xalla joined us by the reception area next, and Q - who now looked a lot better after freshening himself up a bit - joined us shortly after. He was even kind enough to bring the four of us some coffee, or whatever coffee equivalent Xollons and other deities drank these cycles. Xalla’s and mine even had a little straw that fits right into a Xollon’s natural proboscis, how handy.

“So where’s our destination?” Q asked with a tired smile; it was good to know that he was feeling a lot better now that he had the night to compose himself properly. He still needed some time, but he was recovering some of his old spunk.

Xalla took out a ruffled piece of paper from her pocket and showed us. “I have the coordinates for the dimension that Master Stanton last departed for, and roughly which galaxy he should be situated in, but that’s as much as I could manage.”

I nodded, “Anything else of note there?”

She glanced at the map again and answered, “It’s a minor dimension, and the last reports state that he’s gone there to rope in the local pantheon.”

“By force?” Molly added with a quiet fury, “Like this Central Collective has done to mine?”

Xalla looked apologetic for a second before shaking her head, “No, that’s not Stanton’s way of doing things. He’s one of the only people who still adhere to the old method; the people going around subjugating indiscriminately are all wholly under the Overseer’s influence now.”

“And yet that old man’s still able to keep his job,” I added with a grin. “Yeah, I don’t expect anything less from that stubborn old mule.”

“I see…” Molly frowned as another thought occurred to her, “But how would we find him? Looking for one individual in such a large area can’t be easy, especially if we have to take Walter’s time constraints into consideration.”

“I mean," I added, "If this place is as backward as Xalla claims, then it shouldn't be too hard to find the guy, even if we have to search a wide area. People of Stanton's caliber tend to stand out."

“Um, I think you have a misunderstanding,” Xalla added, “We won’t have to find him by searching the whole galaxy.”

“What do you mean?” Molly asked.

“It’s a very minor and undeveloped dimension we’re going to, like, very, very undeveloped.” Xalla clarified, “There’s only a handful of local planets with intelligent life on there, although they are rather large planets, and a few pocket realms for the local pantheon. Finding where the Head Recruiter is shouldn’t be difficult once we set foot in that plane. Like Walter said, unless Stanton is purposefully hiding, his presence will be felt.”

“That’s one issue solved, but I think that adds a few more problems if it’s that undeveloped...” Q added, “Our presence stepping unannounced in a lower dimension might raise alarms in that case.”

I looked around us and saw the point. We had two Xollons, an Omni, and whatever the hell Molly was, all of whom could theoretically end entire galactic civilizations with a thought. Entering a barely developed plane was bound to lead to trouble, and that’s not counting the fact that it’s right after Stanton’s arrival. If that doesn’t trigger every single alarm they have, then nothing would.

“Huh…” I said, “Our lineup does look kind of bad.”

Molly rolled her eyes, “Yes, Walter. A very astute observation. So what is our strategy given the time constraints?”

“Do you think we can sneak in?” Q asked, “Walter can go back to his human form, and I can minimize the amount of disruption I cause on my side. Xalla and Lady Malice might be a problem, however.”

“I can try to minimize my presence as well, our secondary forms can be subtle,” Xalla answered, “But from what I’ve read about this place, even doing that will cause a relatively big disturbance.”

Molly sighed, “I can’t do much on my side. There’s a reason why I’m normally constrained, but I’ll do my best as well. I can work something out once I get used to that plane, however.”

I frowned, “Then there’s no avoiding letting the local gods know of our intrusion.”

“But,” Q added, “We can still hide once we’re through. They’ll know that something came through, but they shouldn’t be able to track us down in mere weeks even with Xalla and Malice there. Plus, I doubt a small crack in the dimensions would alert that many individuals; it's hardly a rare event even in a lower dimension.”

I nodded. Q was right, random fluctuations were bound to happen, and maybe the gods there would just chalk our entrance up to one of those.

“That’s the best hope we can have,” I said, “And let’s try to minimize how much trouble we cause these people. We’re trying to oppose Central, not be just like them, especially if this place has yet to develop and advance fully. If Stanton’s there, then there’s potential for the locals.”

“I second that,” Molly agreed, “and although I hold no special love for the mortals, it would be best if we avoid unnecessary trouble. We should lie low and gather intelligence before trying to find this Stanton individual. I’ve seen firsthand what can happen if an overwhelmingly powerful force shows up unannounced. It leads to unnecessary panic.”

“Fair point,” I said, “I think we can all agree that we should approach the local gods as gently as possible after. Just let them know that we’re just passing through. We come in peace and all that.”

Q nodded, “Let’s go with that plan for now, at least until we know more about the situation on the other side. Lord Babylon’s got the best skin suits available, so we’ll all change into one of those before we leave. Do you know what the local mortals there look like, Xalla?”

“I’ll upload the information to the makers. They’re pretty standard humanoid constructs, so getting a well-made disguise should be easy.”

At least there was some good news there. Oddly enough, most intelligent creatures tended to be human-like in shape. At least they are if the race in question isn’t massive like the Xollon’s in their Prime form. Sure they might have extra limbs, maybe a tail or a tentacle or three, but bipedal locomotion with dexterous appendages seemed to be the multiversal default. Now, there might be a few strange shapes every now and then, but I’d say that a good 70% of races fit into that category. I guess you just can’t beat a form that works for most situations.

Like Xalla said, it didn’t take long at all for the four of us to get proper suits made and put on. Custom made as well, all courtesy of Big Bob; sometimes it’s good to know someone rich and powerful.

According to Xalla, the place we were heading to, which Central didn’t even have a name for, was divided into a few different races. However, without knowing any of the mortal dynamics, we chose to all go as the most populous race. That being a creature that looked remarkably like a standard human that glowed a bright red. I think there were other small differences like the number of toes and fingers or the fact that we had gills as well as lungs and three sets of eyes, but those were minor at most.

“I hate wearing these things,” Xalla grumbled, she looked like a female version of whatever creature we were, although it was difficult to tell which gender was what since this race didn’t exhibit any kind of sexual dimorphism. It’ll take me a while to understand how to tell these things apart from one another.

“You get used to it,” Molly answered with a shrug, “Although I can understand the constraining feeling.”

Molly looked almost identical to Xalla, and if it wasn’t for her speaking or the clothing she wore, I would probably never be able to tell the two apart. I guess I’ll just rely on Noe to help me out when we meet the locals.

“Let’s just go before I get too uncomfortable and break something,” Xalla continued before composing herself, “Sorry, I’m almost never wearing one of these things, I don’t know how all of you can do it so often.”

Q answered with a casual smile, “As Lady Malice said, it does get easier when you learn how to move and act in the suit, and thankfully Babylon’s products are top-notch. Just give it a few hours and the uncomfortable feeling should subside.”

Xalla nodded but didn’t look convinced. “Shall we get going then? We’ll need to take a pretty long train ride to the closest dimension before breaking through the old-fashioned way.”

Q frowned. “The old-fashioned way? So no connections at all to the larger Multiverse? Not even one that the exploratory guilds managed to make contact there?”

“It’s that primitive, I’m afraid, and it also means we’re going in practically blind,” Xalla answered, shaking a frill, “I’m honestly not sure why Master Stanton chose such a random location to visit, but I’m sure he has his reasons.”

I shrugged. “We’ll find out soon enough,”

Soon probably wasn’t the word for it, because it took us almost a full day’s journey just to get to a dimension close enough to break through. Given how long we’ve taken just to get to where we needed to, I was afraid that I’d have to go back to sleep before I could finish everything here. It was looking increasingly less likely that I’d make it through everything I needed to do, and I could only hope that my unawakened self could handle the rest.

I told my friends as much, filling in Q about most of the situation at hand, and although they were worried that I was already spread too thin, they did promise to do their best to look after my weakened form should I need to go back into dormancy early. The only good thing about this situation was that we were heading to a place with minimal risk to my safety if what Xalla said was correct. If some minor gods were the only real threat, then I’d be safe even without my entourage with me.

The main thing I prioritized during that long train ride over was to compartmentalize the memories I needed my sleeping self desperately needed in order to survive what was to come while discarding the others. The human brain was so limited in what it could perceive and store, and it was more fragile than I initially thought, even with the Xollon parts integrated thanks to my lucky new soul title. It didn’t help that a lot of what I knew tended to make mortals go crazy.

“Do not worry, my Creator,” Noe added, “But I will ensure that you have the necessary information and knowledge when needed. Please prioritize the most pertinent information first, and I will slowly disseminate everything else to your sleeping form as needed. Your mind shall not be harmed or damaged as long as I remain functional.”

Thanks, Noe, I think I’ll have to rely on you in the near future. I’ll try to make it to Staton at least, but I’m not sure what’ll happen after that.

“Rest at ease that you will be safe under my care.”

A few more hours passed and we finally made it to the last stop in our train journey. The place we were at was practically empty, and it took a lot of bribing and negotiations just to get us to this backwater place. I could see why no one wanted to go there. There was no scheduled ride to where we needed to go anytime soon so we had to improvise.

All of that effort led to us being dropped off on a dusty rock in the middle of nowhere; the local sun was way too close to the planet and the heat and solar radiation was already starting to damage our suits. Whatever great civilization that used to be here had long since disappeared, and the sheer fact that transportation service still existed here was a miracle in of itself. We found some shelter from the sweltering heat in an abandoned cave and prepared to make our entrance.

“Are we all ready?” Q said, “Remember we’re laying low first before setting off, finding Master Stanton should be easy enough once we’ve established amicable relations with the local pantheon.”

All of us made our final checks on the disguises before giving our affirmations.

“Alright,” Q continued and quickly opened a portal, “Let’s not waste any more time.”

We stepped through and set foot on the primitive new world. I only hope our entrance didn’t raise too many alarms.

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