Another Rebirth?
Vi'Cothol? The name sounded good to me, I smiled but it flipped as soon as I started to look around. Persithi was not there, and her absence irritated me. I opened my mouth to speak but was cut off by a mocking voice bringing me about to look at the one who had given me this new life. He had a hand clutched to his chest and the other pressed against his forehead. A pose of mock tragedy significantly marred by the now familiar too wide smile and the overlarge tongue rolling out the side in gleeful maddness.
"Children grow so fast. Mere moments from the proverbial womb and already abandoning their parents in search of greener pastures. We give them everything and they take it for granted. Bleeding us dry before running to the embrace of another. Hehehe." He straightened up and ditched the smile, taking a more serious air and tone. He waved a hand and I was startled to find myself in a suit very similar to his own, just in a deep navy hue instead of his green, there was even a gold watch now on my wrist. "There, now that you are 'Decent' its time to get down to some business. Your pretty little priestess is recovering in a separate space and its gonna take her awhile after the ringer you just put her through."
"Goddess" I interupted before he flapped a hand at me to bring silence.
"I said exactly what I meant to say but that is neither here nor there. She is your priestess and that is all you need to know right now. You'll get to know more when you grow up a bit." His eyes narrowed in a glare that stopped the words I was about to say before he continued. "I talk. You listen. You can ask questions when I am done and if you interrupt me again I shall remove your mouth. I assure you you dont want that, it is a very unpleasant experience, and I would know." He shuddered and I wondered who he had pissed off enough that they took away his mouth. "Anyways. CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR GRADUATION!?!?! Come give your dad a hug." He lunged foward and crushed me in a bear hug for a second before the reverbing abyssal chuckle emanated and he stepped back. My face bewildered and mouth working like a goldfish, a continuous string of Uh issuing forth "Hehe, What? You look surprised. Think about it, from a more human standpoint if it'll help. Chaos made souls aka the egg, I added a bit of eldritch goop aka the sperm and voila, my new Eldritch son is born. There are several other things about the subject but none that you could even begin to comprehend at this time so just accept big daddy Cthulhu and move on. You are a fresh Eldritch. The first in eons. There hasnt been a new one of us since shortly after the younger gods came into being. So you my boy are going to shake things up, in fact you already have, but that isnt really a good thing for you. We Old Gods made a deal with the young ones. They follow certain rules we have set and we stay out of things. This works for the most part as we were getting a bit bored and they serve to spice things up a bit. Occasionally one will step out of bounds and we put them back in their place, but those cases are few and far between." He paused to make sure I was following along
"Now the part that concerns you. All Eldritch beings, except for you, agreed to stay out of the current ongoing in the multiverse unless a soul truly and sincerely called for us. Many mortal souls bray our names but few truly understand or even want what they are asking for, even when they do they generally cannot stand our visage and drop dead at our sight, so we rarely respond to them. The younger gods fear us instinctively and generally give us a wide berth. But on occasion one of them will be desperate enough to give us a call and ask for a Favour. Now pay very close attention. An Eldritch Favour is priceless and it is binding. Our words carry unimaginable weight as well as power behind them. Once we make a promise we are bound to it until it is fulfilled. You have already made a promise that has bound you for eternity, I advise that you refrain from making anymore absolute statements that concern another party. Should they affirm your words it will count as a promise and you will be bound by it. When your identity is known to the younger gods they will come to you for favours. You are younger and currently weaker then them so they will not have the same fear and respect for you as they do for the rest of us. They will not be able to resist your lure so they will try and bribe or threaten or trick you into a promise. Mind your words and speak deliberately and clearly so that you cannot be caught in a misunderstanding. Understood?" He stared straight into my eyes until I nodded several times, engraving his cautions deep within my mind.
"Good, next point. Eternity. You are now, for all intents and purposes, Immortal. Your soul will no longer be washed clean through reincarnation. Your memories of everything from here on out will stay with you till... actually past, the end of time. Again, you wouldnt understand yet so just move on." He shook his head at the frantic look that I had when he mentioned "past the end of time" and continued "You are not yet strong enough to support a truly immortal body so you will be reborn and grow into it. Whether that takes a lifetime, half a lifetime, several lifetimes? Thats on you. Until then your body can die and you will have to wait until another opportunity to inhabit one comes around. In fact you are incredibly lucky this time. A chance at a body is already waiting for you and you'll be on your way once we are done this talk. Otherwise you could have been waiting for a long time. So take care and value this chance. Once you succeed on attaining an Immortal body you wont have to worry about this anymore." He flourished his hand and held up 3 fingers
"Third point.... favours, eternity... YES, Third point. I shouldnt really have to say this but you arent a human anymore. Im not talking about your body, but your soul, your mind. The way you think will slowly start to change over time as you become more in tune with your Eldritch essence and you awaken more. This is, in your case, both good and bad. Good being that you can think at a much broader scale than mortals and as such you will have an edge over them in certain areas. Bad however is that you will be living in a mortal world. You will have to interact with them for one or maybe many lives. If you forget how they think or act then it will make your lives even more unbearable than the one you just had. They will condemn and hunt you out of fear. I dont wish to see you experience that. So while holding onto all your mortal conditioning is not advisable I would encourage you to hold onto some for the time being." Cthulhu smiled and then grabbed the space infront of him before ripping the fabric of space apart to reveal a stunning view of a planet that looked much like earth except the land masses were distinctly different.
"Lastly, some information about your newest home. This is Aela. A world very very far from earth but it still has some similarities as I'm sure you can see. A majority of the planet is ocean, with large continents and many islands interspersed around it." He cocked his head at me and squinted his eyes "You played some fantasy RPG games in your last life right?" I nodded and he nodded back "I thought so, that makes this easier. So Aela is a land much like a fantasy rpg, there are many races like elves, dwarves, beastfolk, faeries, and many others as well as monsters. The world is in constant turmoil as you could expect with such a cluster of races and throw monsters into the mix. Unsteady peace between the races and constant threat of monster attacks guarantees that you'll have an exciting life." I grimace and he chuckles at me
"You wont progress down your path if you live your life in a peaceful monotonous place, you need some action to get things going. Aela is the perfect place, also its the only place you have a chance at a body so suck it up. Aside from having fantastical races and monsters it also has magic and, well, levels. The people of Aela gain experience in many ways and that experience translates in a couple different ways. Passively just living, combat, learning, and working. Almost everything you do there gives some sort of experience. This experience translates into levels that improve their overall fitness, aptitude with mana, proficiency in certain tasks, even they speed at which they think. This will help you keep better track of your awakening and even help propel it forward. It is a world rich in energy and chaos, a perfect place for a newborn Eldritch to grow. The slight danger to this place is the fact that you might be exposed." A concerned look crossed over Cthulhu's face and I felt touched
"In almost all cases if someone tries to identify you, you should show up as a human. Your status will be disguised and any traits that are related to your eldritch heritage will be either hidden entirely or show up as something else, a skill or magic that explains them away. But should a high ranking member of a large church that has been gifted an enhanced version of the appraisal ability identify you, they will see your status as an Eldritch Scion. Hopefully this wont be an issue as I doubt you'll go out joining any churches but it is still a possibility that you could be discovered. Should that happen you will either end up being chased and secured for their gods use, or hunted and eliminated. It all depends on the church and how smart their god is. As an Eldritch you'll have the ability to appraise yourself and others as if you had the enhanced version of the skill but I suggest you keep that to yourself and avoid attention for as long as possible at the start." He crossed his hands behind his back and puffed up a bit like a professor in front of his class "Any questions?"
I sorted things in my head, most of what he said was easy to accept, and easy to follow. A couple things rattled me but as he said I wasnt ready and I believed that, contemplating past the end of time. How does that work? My head started to hurt so I abandoned the line of thought. What favour bound me for eternity already? I couldnt think of any so I went through the rest. My body? Well I figure I am currently just a soul that has taken on a semi corporeal form so I could follow that. My thoughts, I have already noticed the slight changing in them so that made sense too. Aela, sounds fun honestly. Even if I do end up dying again it wont be permanent so it takes a bit of the edge off. The only thing that gives me pause is the threat of gods essentially abducting me and turning me into their wish machine. But that should be avoidable, or I could just die and avoid them for a time.
"I've pretty much got everything, only a couple questions." Cthulhu smiled and nodded encouragingly. "So first, What promise did I make for eternity? Is it something I owe you?" Cthulhu chuckled before responding
"So forgetful of such a momentous occasion. I guess you can be forgiven, you were in an immense amount of pain. No it is not me you are bound too. It is Persithi. You gave her no uncertain terms and beyond all expectations, she accepted wholeheartedly. You were quiet forceful too werent you. Sent shivers done my spine, such a proud moment as a father. My sons first conquest. Remember 'You. Are. Mine.'? You even left your mark on her, binding her to you for the rest of eternity. Which in turn binds you to her. Very unexpected and its going to complicate things but that can be dealt with later. It was incredibly rash of her to accept such an absolute term but in the end it will probably be the smartest decision she has ever and will ever make." He smiled appreciatively before waving me on.
I rubbed my head to ward away some growing concerns. She was rash in her acceptance but it brought to reality how serious the weight of my words were. Something I could barely control and remember spoken in the heat of the moment, would now bind me forever because the other party had accepted the terms. It may not have any conditions on me but I could tell that making a goddess mine was a whole can of worms I did not want to get into right now. I made a mental note to be doubly careful with my words. My words and intentions had to be clear or the interpretation may be subject to their perception. I told her she was mine in the moment and she accepted for eternity. The words remained the same but the connotations were worlds apart. I shook my head and moved to my only other question.
"So my new body. I'll grow and gain levels as an Eldritch, will that allow me to manifest tentacles-"
"Tendrils. We call them Tendrils. Tentacles are appendages of primarily sea creatures, with a few exceptions. It is a simpletons word that we try to avoid. It gives us a weird vibe, as I'm sure you know, on earth I supposedly reside in the sea with a face full of squid tentacles. In reality I live beyond the void and my form is what I desire it to be. Tendrils are a universal appendage that all of us Old Ones use as they are incredibly convenient. Tendrils. NOT Tentacles. Tendrils. Make sure you spread it around when you are down there, maybe we can start to clear that annoying mess up." He stared at me wild eyed waiting for me to acknowledge his statement.
"Tendrils. Not Tentacles. Got it. I'll be sure to spread it around." I nodded with some force to assure him. His eyes went back to "normal" and he nodded. Then waved his hand in a sweeping motion, several tendrils extending to sweep me towards the rift.
"Good. Now off you go and have a good life. I'll check up on you from time to time. Bye Bye."
"Wait- whaaaa." The surface of Aela shot towards me at an incredibly speed, I closed my eyes and curled up to brace for impact but it never came. I opened my eyes to see nothing but darkness. Where am I now. Then I heard a muffled crooning, a womans voice repeating my name over and over, and sensed a presence all around me. You have got to be kidding me. What kinda of sick twisted idea is this..... A new life. A BRAND NEW LIFE. Damn.