Unwilling Eldritch Horror of Fortune

“Good morning, my Host,” Noe greeted, “I hope that you had a good rest.”

And I woke up again… or maybe it’s more correct to say that I fell asleep again? Actually, I don’t know what to call it, because it wasn’t like I was missing a chunk of my memories, I remembered everything that happened so far, yet how I did a lot of it was oddly missing.

“Do not worry about the nature of your existence; even with your full abilities at your disposal, you were unable to completely grasp the difference between your two states. Just know that you are not two separate entities, it is just that your ability to perceive your full existence is limited at the current moment.”

I frowned. Damned was that confusing. Well, at least awake-Walter, or, er, me? left enough information so I wasn’t completely in the dark like last time, and oddly enough, I could still remember everything that happened since my awakening as if I lived through it.

“It is because you did live through it, my Host,” Noe added, “You are not two separate entities, please remember that.”

Right… that’ll be hard to digest, especially since I was missing a lot of crucial information that I used to know. Too bad I don’t know what information I was missing, or at least not completely. Worse still, I couldn’t even be mad at myself for it. I didn’t want to end up like those poor Oracles from earlier who tried to spy on the four of us. It was safer if I wouldn’t be allowed to access those fragments of my memory, thanks to my stupid human mind.

Wait a second, if I’m still the same person, Noe, how come you’re calling me the Host again and not your Creator? Doesn’t that imply that we’re separate?

“You are still my Creator,” she replied, “But I thought it better to call you with a term that your mortal mind is more familiar with. Would you like me to change the way I address you?”

No, never mind. Just call me what you want.

“As you wish, my Host.”

I sighed and reviewed the new stuff in mind again. The best way to describe what I was feeling at that moment was that I knew the general idea of everything that had transpired, but I knew none of the details. For example, I knew that I made Noe so that she could help me, but I had no idea how I’d managed that, nor even what it was she was supposed to be helping me with. Likewise, I knew I had the ability to summon a patch of Darkness, but there were no memories about what happened to anything that was sucked into it. It was annoying knowing so much more yet so little at the same time.

Everything about Noe and what she was supposed to do was blank, and so were the inner workings of Central and whatever war they were waging right now. But at least I knew the nature of my own existence now. It was disconcerting knowing that I was so much more but having no way to access those abilities anymore. At least the Absolute Luck Skill was back online.

Well, no use fussing over things I couldn’t directly control anymore. Let’s just be thankful that I wasn’t completely ignorant going forward like I was before. Half blind was better than all bind, after all.

“Walter…” Xalla said with concern, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I answered with a forced smile, “Just… waking up’s not pleasant, or was what I was doing going back to sleep? Ugh, never mind, just give me a minute to get my thoughts straightened out.”

“But you still recall everything that happened?” Molly added, looking far more animated than before.

“Yeah,” I grumbled in response, “Just the details are foggy.”

“Interesting,” Molly adds before furrowing her brows and studying me further, “The method that you use to insulate your mind is very unique, there doesn’t seem to be the normal discrepancies associated with sectioning off parts of the mind. I’ll have to ask you again when you’re awake fully; the hospital could benefit from this information.”

I wasn’t sure what Molly was talking about, but I just nodded in any case. I’m sure that fully awake Walter could deal with that later.

“Need I remind you again that you are not two people, my Host?” I could almost see Noe shake her head here. I chose to ignore her for now.

The others left me to stew in my own thoughts for a few more minutes before I finally got things sorted out - or at least I didn’t have a blazing headache anymore - and told them that I was good to go. We flagged down a cultist to get the Conduit back in the room to finish up with the meeting.

“Thank you for waiting,” Q said as the Conduit took his seat again.

The man nodded politely. “It is not a problem. I took the time to inform the religious leaders to start getting the ritual set up in advance. They will require a lot of work, and certain materials will require time to acquire.”

“Would that be an issue?” Q asked, “We can assist if you need, all of us understand the need to expedite this meeting.”

The Conduit shook his head. “I will personally oversee this operation. I thank you for your willingness to assist, and I mean no offense with this, but I think it best if you rest for now and allow us mortals to handle the rest. Our world is already stressed to the point of breaking, and…”

“And it’s not good to have people like us messing with it further,” I finished, “That’s a fair point.”

The Conduit nodded. “Like I said, I mean to offense. If you do wish to help, then please ensure that this city and, more importantly, this building remains intact. My servants tell me of ominous tidings already spreading in the zones enveloped by the darkness. The creatures trapped between have started to rise, and they pose a real threat to the inhabitants here. Please only assist if you think that it is absolutely necessary.”

The Conduit couldn’t hide his nerves then. I could tell, even with my diminished abilities, that the situation he was stating was a lot worse than what he let on. However, what was more interesting was that although the outside situation was beyond awful, he still thought of the four of us as a bigger threat to the stability of his world, and it was abundantly clear that he wanted us to do absolutely nothing to help.

Then again, I couldn’t blame him after seeing what we’ve done just by simply entering this world and existing. I guess this is what Lovecraft must have imagined when he thought of those eldritch gods invading Earth, too bad we’re the eldritch gods doing the invading here. With that frame of reference, it wasn’t surprising that the Conduit would be skittish around us.

“We understand your concerns,” I said, “And rest assured that we will keep a low profile until your ritual is complete, or until the situation becomes so dire that we have no other choice but to intervene. But I think you of all people understand the potential consequences that could arise should we intervene.”

Now the Conduit was sweating as he did his best to keep his composure. “I’ll… I’ll send my regards to the gods and gather more mortal servants to bolster the defenses here. Please rest assured that you will not be inconvenienced in the slightest during the ritual. I will assign a contingent of servants for your private use, please do not hesitate to ask for anything.”

I nodded. Good, that means that the Conduit and the gods that he serves will make doubly sure that nothing goes wrong in the week or so that this supposed ritual will take. That should mean that we would be able to take it easy until then. My body was still recovering from hosting my full form, and I could feel an annoying ache emanating from my core. All I wanted to do at this moment was to rest my mind and body.

And I did get my wish for five or so days. Sure, the supernatural darkness started to encroach after the second day, which caused hurricane-forced winds to buffet the city, and the sun all but disappeared, but that was just a normal day in Hope’s Memorial; the weather honestly made me relax further. The cultists were doing an admirable job holding the city against the hoards of mutated creatures as well.

That all changed on the dawn (or dusk? I honestly couldn’t tell what with the sun gone again) of the fifth day. I was relaxing sampling some of the local food and playing more Multinopoly and a few rounds of Settlers of Cthulu - who was, I was told, a pretty swell dude, albeit a bit lazy with his naps - when a horrible rumbling reverberated through the building and scattered our game pieces all over the place.

I frowned as I went to pick up my Mad Prophet. The room we were in was well insulated, especially after Xalla and Q went over its defenses again, so something really big must have occurred for us to feel it here. I poked my head out of the door and saw that the normal contingent of staff assigned to us were down to only a single nervous-looking individual.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“J-just a minor disturbance, my lords,” the alien stuttered, “Nothing to worry-”

Another tremor hit us, this time rocking the ground so hard that it caused the man to stumble and fall. A fine layer of dust fell and coated everything in dusty white. Xalla, Q, and Molly came out to check what was going on.

“This is minor?” I asked, “What’d be considered major then?”

“Our entrance, perhaps?” Molly answered, “I suppose everything after that can be considered a minor inconvenience after that.”

I rolled my eyes. Molly can be oddly sarcastic when she needs to be, but then again, she’d been dealing with children and playing dress-up for probably longer than I’ve existed, so who could blame her?

I ignored her and helped the trembling man to his feet. “Unlike what my friend is saying, this is clearly not minor. What is going on, I don’t want to hear any lies or omissions. You know what will happen if you choose to lie, yes?”

The cultist flinched and started to nod rapidly. “I apologize! It’s…”

I stared at him hard as he started to hesitate. “Out with it!”

He shook himself and steadied his nerves. “We are being invaded, my lords.”

Q frowned. “Invaded? By what? Those feral creatures again?”

On an especially boring night, the four of us went to see what the cultists had been doing all this time and saw that the vast majority of the town’s inhabitants had been conscripted to fend off what these mortals called the Creatures that Lived Between. Now it’s not an especially descriptive name, which is why we wanted to see what they were for ourselves.

The critters that popped out of the fractures in space were strange things. They were fractal beings, almost glass-like in nature with the way that the stray lights would refract off their forms. Honestly, they honestly looked like horse-sized ants designed by an especially bad cubist artist high on DMT. They were odd-looking for sure, but their jagged edges and sharp talons proved to be dangerous even if their numbers were still low.

“Not those, sirs!” the man answered, “We’ve repelled the last of those last night.”

“Then who’s invading us?”

“It’s the paladins of the false gods. I’ve heard rumors that they had started a secret plan to counter our glorious return even before the first prophecies were publicized, but I never thought them to be true.”

I frowned again. “So what, the other gods gathered an army and they’re marching here now?”

The cultist’s eyes darted back and forth. “It’s worse than that… They have Champions with them, and the one they call the Chosen. I don’t know much else, I apologize.”

I sighed, “Alright, let’s take a look at what the hell’s going on. I want the Conduit to give us a thorough explanation. Tell him to meet us on the walls.”