Touko Aozaki POV
"Touko, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!"
A scream blared out of the retro phone and the one holding it was me of course.
Rosalyn's reaction was expected.
After all, I kind of let her son out of the house and it's been about 16 hours without any notice from him.
Yeah…I feel kind of guilty.
I was supposed to look after him, but I was about to make my best puppet so far, and because of my research for it I completely forgot about the kid.
"Rosalyn, I just wanna say that in the public look of the situation, you were the one who made a rogue magus who in the first can't leave because of the Mage Association being a bunch of assholes take care of a child, while she can barely remember her own self in research."
Seriously it's not her fault the boy went out without telling anyone anything…
Wait a minute? FUCK!
"Kid, can you for Root's sake keep it quiet? Some people have actual work."
I actually told the boy not to annoy me about anything…did he misunderstand what I meant, get sad, and run away?
No, No, NO!
Crap, Rosalyn is going to murder me if she finds out.
Don't they stab people to death in her country?
"Touko, I fucking let you take care of him because you are my friend, and I trusted you enough to not leave a child alone he's only four years old!"
"Lady Rosalyn, please stop screaming, you're affecting other patients' treat AH!"
A man's voice came through the phone, followed by the sound of a bone cracking.
"MY HAND, FAHHHHHHHH-"
A cold chill ran down my spine.
Poor bastard, no one with a sane mind should stand in front of an angry mother.
"…I inscribed the Tiwaz rune on him, but for some reason I feel like the rune has been deactivated."
Oh, that's really not a good thing.
"Okay, okay, look don't worry. I marked him with the Berkanan rune, so I can check his status and location. There's no need to wo-"
The rune…it was glowing.
The boy had a red tattoo on his hand. He was being held by a tall, dark-skinned man with white hair, wearing a red coat draped over his shoulder, and a black chest plate underneath.
That red tattoo…oh my Root, why is my luck so bad.
"Uh…Rosalyn I think your son just became a Master in the Fourth Holy Grail War."
While still on the call, the television sounded in the background.
["The mysterious case of the Fuyuki serial killer was finally solved, with the body of said killer found stabbed through the neck with a knife, and certain evidence recovered next to his corpse."]
What…?
["The identity of the perpetrator is unknown ,either someone unrelated to the killer, or perhaps one of the children fighting for their freedom. The police do not yet know the full details, but bright golden hair was found at the crime scene."]
…WHAT?!
["Unfortunately, the case is now on hold, as the house exploded following a gas leak. The victims' bodies, as well as the killer and other possible evidence, were destroyed in the fire."]
"…Rosalyn? Are you still there?"
"AHHHHHHHH!!!!" the line went dead, along with the sound of a nearby doctor screaming.
I swear when I looked after Shiki, she never pulled this much bullshit in a single day.
. . .
POV Change
Have you ever felt like your mind was conscious yet unconscious at the same time?
The kind where you start hallucinating existing in two different levels of reality simultaneously?
Like watching your own body die in the most gruesome way possible, and then realizing you were watching from inside another body entirely.
No? Well, I fucking tell you ,this shit is horrendously horrific.
My ribcage is literally sticking out of my body...no. More like my old body. The bones of my ribcage are jutting out while my whole body decays.
Even worse, my eyes started to melt.
The pain is… it's..plump and now I'm holding one of my own eyes in my rotting hand, watching it stare back into my soul.
However at the same time, I'm watching this… me?… rot and melt into oblivion. While unidentifiable parts of "that" start growing eyes, mouths, and whatever this even is. It's beautiful, warm even. Yes, the warmth of a mother I want it I…
"It's boring to let you die. Abigail doesn't want to be bored."
The mysterious little blonde snapped her right hand's fingers, which jolted me out of that weird state of carelessness.
Now I was back in a body.
My body? I don't know but what I did know was that the other "thing" had started reconstructing itself, slowly taking a humanoid form, losing its eyes and mouths and all of it until it shaped itself into this mysterious blonde girl.
Her eyes looked at me with a kind of innocence and something I can only describe as carelessness.
As if nothing in the world could threaten her.
…But were her eyes always purple?
"Wow, that's really nice and stuff, but… why did I ,ehm ,why did he die, anyway?"
Abigail smiled and stepped closer followed by ominous whispers of unimaginable truths, dangers, and a power that could drive even Buddha to gouge his own eyes out.
I stepped back clutching my ears.
"That's because I forgot to seal my powers in front of you."
"You know, Abigail thought you would be stronger ,not just a mortal. I thought you were like me?"
"But you were weak. I even had to create a new body for you."
Abby pouted.
She can just create a body out of thin air. What the hell?!
But why am I not in my child's body? I'm eighteen years old again.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry that I'm weak! But why am I not in my original body? Can you turn me back?"
Abigail stared at me in confusion, even tilting her head slightly sideways.
"You have the blood of Uncle Fog. You can turn into any form you want just by imagining it."
She said that like it was the most common knowledge in the world.
If Caster saw me right now, he definitely wouldn't recognise me.
'A mirror would be really convenient right about now-'
As if reading my thoughts.
Whispers from deep inside rang out in scratching and screaming tones.
The mist outside the school began to move. Grey and white colors streamed through the closed window and straight into my head. I shut my eyes bracing for whatever the hell I'd just triggered.
Yet when I opened them again there was nothing but a small ball of compressed mist hovering around me.
Until it began to reform.
Slowly reshaping itself into a grey, ancient mirror, and the thing hovered around me before drifting closer.
"It is an honor for this lowborn to lay its eyes upon you Great Master, Prince of the Mist."
…Did the mirror just talk? And what's with the edgy title? Prince of Mist? What does that even mean?
The mirror kept spinning around me in excitement.
Nevermind that it's probably connected to whoever's memories I'm carrying.
"Mirror-thing ,stop spinning for a moment so I can see how I look."
The mirror stopped dead in front of me. It even grew larger, drawing in more fog, so I could get a proper look.
Is this fog infinite? Can I use as much of it as I want? Can I bring it with me?
I focused on the mirror and smiled.
That was a good-looking face or rather my face now.
Curly black hair with strands of white and grey.
A charismatic, noble face that looked like it belonged to old aristocracy.
I wore a strange white scarf with grey lines around my neck, dressed in a pitch-black Victorian suit.
My hand still bore the Command Seals but they'd changed color. From red to a mixture of white, black, and grey.
The shape of the seal had changed into something resembling an ant-like insect, with sharp legs, monstrous tendrils, and an overall deeply unsettling circular pattern running inside and outside of it.
But the strangest thing…
[Name: Akivili-#_#__-Abraham]
[Class: Foreigner]
Parameters:
[Strength: E-]
[Agility: E]
[Endurance: B]
[Mana: A+]
[NP: EX]
Class Skills:
[Item Construction: D]
[Territory Creation: E]
[Divinity: C] (Sealed)
Personal Skills:
[Charisma: E]
[Intuition: D]
[Trailblazer: C]
[Protection of Faith: C]
[Beyonder to the Gate of Divinity: D]
[Aura of Madness: B+] (Sealed)
Noble Phantasms:
[Gate to Mist's Demise: Sefirah Castle ,EX]
[Type: Anti-Knowledge, Anti-Person]
[Description:]
Along the shore the cloud waves break.
The twin suns sink behind the lake and the shadows lengthen in Carcosa.
Strange is the night where black stars rise,and strange moons circle through the skies, but stranger still is Lost Carcosa.
Songs that the Hyades shall sing, where flap the tatters of the King, and
Must die unheard in Dim Carcosa.
Song of my soul, my voice is dead, Die thou, and unsung as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in, Lost Carcosa…
[Lord of Desires: C]
[Type: Knowledge]
[Description:]
The user has the ability to see any wish, worry, emotion, or secret of a person, be it what they cherish most, or what they fear most. Combined with another NP, it becomes fatal and rises to EX rank. It will have no effect against Servants or persons with higher mental defense.
[The Mist: ?] (Somewhat Sealed)
[Type: ?]
[Description:]
A Noble Phantasm connected to [???]. It has 3 modes which can be used alone or together.
(1) A mist forms, covering as much land as Mana is fed into it. This mist functions as a portal to another dimension, letting creatures from the other side into our world. Depending on the strength and needs of the user, the creatures' strength will range from Rank ? to Rank ? (Sealed)
(2) A mist forms, covering as much land as Mana is fed into it. This mist functions as a portal into the mind of anything inside it. It makes your strongest desires whatever they may be, even death become real as long as you believe they are real. The stronger the user, the harder it becomes to see through them. The creatures inside this mist will range from Rank ? to Rank ? (Sealed)
(3) Whoever holds this Noble Phantasm can freely control, manipulate, and create anything out of any kind of mist be it normal earthly fog, otherworldly fog, or even dimensional nothingness. The stronger the user, the more can be manipulated and the higher the limit of what can be created. (Unlocked)
'Okay, who in the fuck is this Abraham Lincoln wannabe?'
"Sigh."
'Guess I'm a Servant now. I even got my own NPs and everything.'
'Wow, why am I so emotionless right now? Looking at my stats I can't help but wince a bit, they were terrible, and these NPs I can't even fully see…what the hell.'
'On the bright side, if everything can kill me then I have no weakness I guess.'
'Moving on.'
'Man, even if I'm incredibly handsome now I really need to change back right now. Unless I want Caster to accidentally fire off a Caladbolg at my Rho-ass.'
'Hmm… Abigail said I can freely shift into whatever I want and I somehow already made a mirror appear, so let's try changing back. What could go wrong, anyway.'
I closed my eyes and slowly tried to imagine my original body.
The mana in my body started to circulate, the fog beginning to move slowly drifting right into my chest.
After a few seconds the body of whoever I had been started shrinking again.
Though it was different from what I expected. Like no breaking bones or some kind of indescribable pain but thankfully nothing happened.
Out of curiosity, I opened my eyes to see what a shifting body actually looked like.
'Aaaaannnnd I'm never doing that again. They say curiosity killed the cat and now I know why.'
Hundreds of small blue weird worms emerged from my body. Some fell to the ground and some did whatever worms did.
As disgusting as it looked, it didn't feel as bad as it should have. The only sensation I got from them was when my head shrank along with something moving around in my mouth for a moment.
Outside of that I barely felt them.
'Hold it in. Hold it in. I am not throwing up right now,' I mentally chanted.
Three seconds later, I had successfully reclaimed my status as a short king.
'It's all part of my great and powerful plan. No one would understand.'
{Insert Kenjaku taking backshots}
"So that is the Master's original form."
The genderless voice of the mirror rang out again.
"Cough-"
"Anyway, I want to ask something."
"Where am I, and who are you?"
Abigail, who had snatched a few worms off the ground, closed her fist then opened it releasing orange and purple butterflies fluttering out. She answered in her usual playful tone, not even looking at me.
"I am Abigail, and this is Abigail's castle."
…That doesn't really tell me anything.
"Okay, but where exactly is the castle if it's alright for you to answer?"
I asked carefully, trying to extract as much information as possible without annoying her.
She didn't answer though not because she couldn't but because she didn't hear it. Her absolute priority now was catching that one butterfly spinning around in circles above her head.
Seeing that Abigail had other matters to attend to, the mirror stepped in to introduce itself.
"Your most loyal servant's name is Arrodes.The castle where Lady Williams resides is named Sefirah ,the Sefirah Castle. As for myself, I am a creature born from the Lord's wishes made to be an exact part of the fog-structure of the Sefirah Castle. It stands in what is called the 'Spirit World' ,to be precise, in 'Carcosa.' Unfortunately, my Lord… while we would love to serve you more fully, you can only control a small part of us at the moment."
The mirror's voice went quiet and low as it was forced to call its lord weak.
"…I beg your finest fucking pardon," and unfortunately I recognized that name.
A city.
A place.
It's a playground.
Not as dangerous as R'lyeh nor is its ruler as horrifying as whatever dwells in unknown Kadath.
Carcosa, the city where the King in Yellow resides.
Of course it had to be this shithole, of course it had to involve a fucking eldritch being, AND OF COURSE IT HAD TO BE AN OUTER GOD!
"The son of the gate huh. Well I'm completely screwed in fact."
'You might be asking ,why are you panicking?'
'Well, it connects to a lot of things. Let's break down this fuckery.'
'First of all, this blonde girl has to be Abigail Williams. She calls herself Abigail, she's tied to Madness, and the mirror called her Lady Williams.'
That means I'm somehow connected to one of the biggest "hell nah's" in the Nasuverse.
Allow me to explain.
Abigail Williams was originally a normal girl ,just another mortal in the stream of panhuman history. One day though, Chaldea an organization that protects humanity from extinction-level events, picked up a signal inside Salem.
'Raum, one of the few surviving Demon Pillars under Goetia decided it would be a great idea to invite a certain "guest" to Earth to cleanse and save humanity.'
'He used Abigail Williams, a small, and historically irrelevant girl as the vessel for this guest. The Outer God Sut-Typhon, which can be described as a branch of Yog-Sothoth. One of the strongest things in existence.'
'However Raum was defeated by Chaldea but the connection had already formed. His plan of Abigail becoming the vessel couldn't be stopped, and so this overpowered little girl was born. The same one is currently chasing butterflies in front of me.'
'Thankfully, another high-level existence one that rarely ever shows itself stepped in. Randolph Carter, likely unknown to even Alaya and Gaia most of the time, took her away on a journey so that she would never lose control of her power.'
'Because if she did nothing could even conceive of stopping her.'
'In the end, she became what can best be described as a "guardian against Outer things." More or less protecting the Nasuverse from anything that has no business being there.'
'That's all I can remember from a Reddit post I read years ago.'
And right now, she's here a few feet in front of me, playing with butterflies while I stand inside some castle located in the territory of another Outer God. Weaker than Yog by several magnitudes sure, but still his name is Hastur.
The King in Yellow.
The fog, Abigail's existence, and the Pathway being called the "Door Pathway" something about traveling the unknown.
I'm just jumping from one apocalypse to the next.
So, to conclude I am somehow connected to Abigail, who is connected to Yog. I'm in a castle connected to Hastur alongside a mirror that's connected to me.
What's next? Me having the blood of another Outer God? Ha.
'Sigh…'
I know a bit about Lovecraft mostly through the Silver Key. It was the only one I ever read.
There was a quote in there that feels very relevant right now.
"Yog-Sothoth knows the gate."
"Yog-Sothoth is the gate."
"Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate."
A gate is just another kind of door.
I stared at the gate then back at Abigail doing whatever she was doing.
'Just why exactly am I here?'
Could the Door Pathway actually be tied to Yog-Sothoth somehow?
This was weird.
I should be dead from this knowledge alone by now. I shouldn't be able to remember any of it.
Yet there wasn't a single flicker of madness.
Even after saying their names.
You know what, let's just leave that alone. Let the knowledge belong to those who seek it.
I'm supposed to start gaining some immunity once I reach Sequence 4. Because apparently, at Sequence 4 you're no longer entirely human. You become a half-mythical creature or rather what the Beyonder society calls a Demigod.
Your ascension gives you a Memetic Form.
What's that? Think of it like a book. Whoever lays eyes on it gains knowledge. Said knowledge carries madness with it lethal to ordinary people and dangerous to Beyonders of lower Sequence status.
If you somehow survive it you can absorb Formals from the pathway's Mythical Form.
The problem is that the knowledge is Eldritch by nature and you essentially get mind-fucked and turn into…what I turned into minutes ago.
Sound familiar?
Which I literally just died from but that's apparently not my problem anymore, since one eldritch creature helped me out inside another eldritch creature's territory. Rahhhh.
Nevermind that though, the important thing is getting out of here.
"How much time has passed here, exactly?"
The mirror glowed, and instead of answering aloud, text appeared on its surface.
"There is no concept of time in Carcosa."
…Could this be any less mysterious? I turned toward Abigail with eyes begging for help.
She seemed to have abandoned the butterflies, instantly teleporting a few meters in front of me.
"Abigail… ehm… can you… let me leave?"
I smiled or tried hoping to get out of here in one piece.
She giggled, snapped her fingers on her right hand, and the butterflies from before flew toward me, multiplying, melting into a paste, and reshaping into a stone gate structure.
The gate opened.
Inside was a portal that was purple and bright blue.
I looked back at Abigail one last time.
Her eyes shone brightly before shifting back to a clear blue.
"Goodbye brother"
After that, something like a tentacle shoved me through the portal.
Finally I would be back home.
Meanwhile behind the mirror, with a yellowish glowing key attached to it. I caught a brief glimpse of the text "Gift from Carcosa" written across its glass before I was shoved through.
I guess the new companion just unlocked. A good one, with a lot of knowledge..
Luck was on my side for once.
Stepping out with Arrodes at my side, I was surprised.
Terribly surprised
Because standing in front of me now was a tremendously handsome man dual wielding a golden spear along with a crimson spear.
Another person who could only be described as the perfect girl. So beautiful that it felt as if the word beautiful had been coined specifically for her. Not calling her beautiful would feel like an insult. She wasn't just beautiful, she practically radiated a bright light. Bright enough that any words he tried thinking of broke trying to reach her.
Behind them stood a giant muscular man with red beard and hair, riding a chariot that looked like it had been forged by the gods themselves.
The man was so well built that it made me feel like dropping down and start doing push ups.
Right now though all three were staring at me looking ready to jump me at any moment.
I raised both of my arms up in the air mustering every bit of my charisma into a smile.
"ladies and gentlemen,there seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding here-"
'CASTER, GET YOUR SATANIC ASS HERE RIGHT NOW!!'
I mentally roared while sweating in panic.
...
Okay you have the Legal rights to call me a bum.
But I really had Family problems like one of my family members going to prison----blablablabla.
Thankfully the Ao3 curse didn't reach me don't worry I was just working on things irl.
Special thanks for Hero and Alter ego Gilgamesh for helping, editing and bet- they did the chapter I don't know what the fuck I did I just wrote 2000 words and they continued helping me out on it.
Fucking hell I feel like an asshole right now
Also Join my discord since you saw my updated schedule is more Random than A women's emotional swings.
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