My eyes took a moment to refocus as I looked up at the light. It had been a silly thing to do, but I knew Momma and Daddy would be turning it off in a moment, and upon thinking about it, I looked involuntarily. The darkness wasn’t a problem for me. I was special, and I could see in the dark. But the turning off of the light always meant the day was over, and my parents had told their last story.
This one had been an old tale, about a clever man who saves a bunch of princesses who were forced to dance every night by a curse. It was one of my favorites. I loved dancing, and princesses seemed so glamorous. I had no idea how it could be a curse. I’d have loved to dance every night, going to a ball in a fancy gown and such pretty shoes.
But now it was bedtime, and I didn’t want to go to sleep. “Momma?” I asked.
“Yes, baby?”
“Do you think I’ll grow up to be a queen?” I asked. I knew you had to be born a princess, but you could still become a queen, if you married a prince. That just sounded so romantic, but asking if I would meet a prince who would whisk me off to be his queen seemed a bit embarrassing for some reason.
My mother’s expression was one of bemusement. She didn’t answer, she just stroked my hair. But Daddy spoke. “I’m certain of it,” he said. “For you see, the future is your kingdom. And you and those your age will build the kingdom that is the future with every single choice you make. I cannot wait to see the kingdom you build.” And then he began to sing.
Suddenly, I was back in the hut, sitting with Emily. We were playing some old fighting game. “You know, Miss Lyriana, a princess should be allowed to win.”
“Not when she’s facing another princess,” I countered, using her own logic against her.
“Oh, right. Well…what’s that over there!” she asked suddenly, pointing. It didn’t work and her adorable tiny monster got hit by another combo from my hot girl in the blue spandex. She stuck out her tongue at me and I grinned.
Then the scene shifted, and we were in that strange dream-cabin. Emily looked at me and I saw her shudder as she recognized me. She stepped towards me. “Thank you, Miss Lyriana. You were the big sister I wanted, but I’m not worth it. I’m not a princess. I’m just me. Go, save the world and don’t worry about me anymore.”
And then we were inside the hut’s innermost sanctum and I could see Emily’s eyes growing wide in terror as Baba Yaga ordered the golem to grab her. Her eyes pleaded for help as Terry took aim and Burin sprung into action.
It all played out again, just as it had before. And then I woke up.
God, I didn’t know I could hurt this much. I’ve never felt this kind of pain. I was such a fool for trusting. Why did I believe I could be happy? Was it so much to ask to find something like my parents have, even for a single lifetime?
I hadn’t even considered the possibility that anything bad could happen, not until I turned around to ask for her help and felt that knife pierce just under my ribcage. People talk about betrayal by their lovers feeling like a knife to the gut, but I’m guessing they didn’t mean it in the literal sense. And why? She’d sworn that she loved me, that we’d be together! But as soon as Baba Yaga was there before us, that evaporated?
I want to believe that Baba Yaga used magic to control her, but I know that wasn’t the case. Baba Yaga never cast a spell. Not on her. So she must have done it by her own choice. But why would she do it?
It hurts so much that I haven’t even written her name. Greta, why did you betray me? Why did you kill me? That had been my last word. “Why?” I remember asking, as she lowered me to the ground and everything faded to black. Looking back, it’s obvious. There’s one thing that she has made no secret of since we met. She cares about her people more than anything. More than me, apparently.
I wasn’t sure where I would end up. Would I go to the pearly gates? Would I wake up on the shore of the lake of fire? Or would I end up in that Dia De Los Muertos afterlife Daddy mentioned was Pharasma’s realm?
Of course, the result would have to be stranger than any of those.
When I awoke, I was floating in a black void. There was nothing around me, and as much as I hurt, I didn’t care. But after some time – perhaps a day or two – I became curious as to what was around me. I knew, somehow, that I could leave the void if I wanted. I just had to will it.
I felt the change of inertia as I began to move. It was slow at first, but I could feel myself going faster and faster. When I finally emerged from the void, I was going so fast that I could see stars light years distant flying by. I was definitely going over the speed of light, though I’m not sure how. But it was exactly like how Daddy described flying on a shantak.
Seeing something like that was so spectacular that I forgot how much my heart hurt for a short time. It also took me quite a while to realize that I wasn’t wearing any clothes. I was flying through space completely naked.
I mean, it makes sense. It’s not like my clothes or gear died with me. So why would they have traveled to wherever I was? Not that I can really explain why I’d appeared where I was, so it’s entirely possible they could have appeared with me and whatever sent me here was just messing with me.
After some time – not sure how long – I became curious as to whether I was a ghost, but I can report gladly that I can still touch myself. I won’t say more than that. But the answer is yes, if you really must know.
After a while, I began trying to figure out what else I could do, focusing on changing my direction. And, well, I COULD, but changing was difficult and slow. And it’s not like I knew where the heck I was going. It’s not like there were signs that read “250 light years to Golarion, take next left” or whatever. So, instead I picked a point of light and flew in that direction.
For some reason, I felt like I should go that way. I can’t explain why. It was like I was being drawn there. Maybe I should have questioned it, but it wasn’t like I had another plan. So that way I went.
Even with a destination in mind, though, it was still going to be a long trip. So I began looking around. From where I was, I could see a nebula – which made me miss Nebbie, who I seemed to be unable to reach at the moment. But I couldn’t see it very well. That annoyed me. I wanted to see it better, but I didn’t want to change course to get a better look.
At one moment, I was straining to see it, the next moment, it seemed like it was right before me!
At first, I thought that I had teleported closer or something, but that didn’t seem right. I’ve teleported before. This didn’t feel like that. No, it was something else. So I turned my head to investigate, and gave myself vertigo.
I hadn’t teleported. I’d somehow zoomed in my vision like a space telescope. My eyes were like the Hubble or something. That was weird. I’d never been able to do anything like that before.
Well, I wasn’t going to complain. I had been a bit bored, and now I could get a good look at everything. A really good look, in fact. I could even zoom in on stars and somehow it didn’t hurt to look directly at them like that. I don’t think I was seeing via light. I got the feeling that what I was seeing was in real time, not the time delay that comes with looking at things at cosmic distances. Maybe it was like a form of scrying?
I also discovered that, by looking at a star, I could get an intuitive sense as to how many planets it had, and a rough idea where to look to find them. So it was that I began surveying worlds, one at a time, looking for interesting sights.
It took a fairly long time doing this – perhaps days – before I spotted my first signs of intelligent life. It was some kind of city, and if I had to guess, the inhabitants were at an iron age level of technology. It was night where they were, though I could see everything by the light reflecting from their moon as if it were brightest day.
I scanned the city, looking for inhabitants, until I finally found some. They looked something like a cross between man-sized walking teddy bears mixed with bipedal cows. And the two I spotted were on a roof top. They appeared to be wrestling at first. So curious, I zoomed in a bit more.
“Oh,” I said to myself. “Not wrestling.” I was a bit embarrassed, but I couldn’t look away until they finished. It was like watching a nature documentary or something. For their part, they didn’t seem to notice that they were being watched. Which made me wonder if I would notice if anyone was watching me. Not that I could do anything about it.
I decided to zoom in on my destination, and was surprised to find that the star didn’t have a single planet. Not exactly. Instead, there was a giant ball of water. And I mean giant. It had to be at least twice the size of Earth, if I was to guess. And while it seemed to have rocky parts within, they weren’t centralized. It was like an asteroid field contained in a spinning oblate spheroid ocean.
And something was living in there, though I couldn’t get a good look at what they were. But I somehow knew that’s why I was going there. I hadn’t chosen at random after all. I was being drawn there. I could almost feel a rumbling in my chest, like the beat of a drum at a distance, when I looked in on them.
My curiosity piqued and not sure what else to do, I forced myself to increase my speed. In one moment, the stars were slowly flying by. In the next, they were zipping past.
I was at my destination – perhaps a hundred light years away – in the span of a few hours. I had somehow come to a complete stop relative to the ocean within a matter of seconds without compressing myself into a thin paste and was now floating a mere few dozen miles above the surface of the water.
As I looked down at the waters below me, I contemplated whether going down there was a good idea. Nothing was stopping me from picking another destination. Maybe I could go meet the bear cows or something. They were adorable, after all.
But there was something nagging at me. Something calling to me. And I needed to discover what was there. No matter the danger, I needed to know what was there. It was important, though I wasn’t sure why.
So I plunged into the water and began to swim towards whatever was calling to me. The water was bracingly cold, but it didn’t bother me. After all, I’d been flying through the void of space, it’s not like liquid water could be any worse, right?
I swam forward, making my way through the dark water until I finally began to see one of those planetoids located within. So I swam towards that.
At some point, I crossed some kind of threshold into a pocket of less dense water. How much less dense, you ask? Well, at one moment I was swimming, and the next I was falling through the water towards the rock below. I had to tap into my inner power to cast a spell so I could slow my fall enough to not get hurt.
I landed in the middle of some kind of village, much to the surprise of the people within. They scattered at first, and I didn’t even get a good look at them until several approached me apprehensively, wielding some kind of spears and staring at me like one might a poisonous snake. For their part, they looked like one might expect if a squid were to evolve and become tripedal. Yeah, they had three larger legs as well as seven tentacle-like arms coming from their torsos.
“It’s okay,” I said in my most soothing voice. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
They didn’t seem to understand my words, but my tone seemed to get through to them and they relaxed visibly. Cautiously, one approached me, holding out a sheet of cloth that appeared to be made from woven seaweed fibers. It appeared similar to the clothing they were wearing and I got the feeling that the creature wanted me to put it on. Maybe my nudity offended them?
Not sure what else to do with it, I wrapped myself in the cloth, tying it like a toga, and the creatures seemed to relax further. They led me to a large communal hut, where the entire village seemed to be gathered for a meal, and had me sit and join those at the largest table, who I assumed to be their leaders.
They offered me some kind of food, eating some themselves to show me that it was safe, and I suddenly realized just how hungry I was. So, not wanting to offend, I took a bite of what seemed to be a kind of meat. And let me tell you, it was delicious! Possibly the most delicious thing I’d ever eaten, and I’ve had cheesecake ice cream.
I ate enough to sate my hunger, not wanting to be a burden on my hosts, and then joined them in what appeared to be some ritualistic dancing, perhaps a religious observance to their gods. Once that was finished, I conjured up a hula hoop with magic and showed them some dancing of my own, which the smaller ones seemed keen to imitate.
After that, I was led outside and shown around the village by a group of females – at least, I think they were female. The people seemed sexually dimorphic, or well, maybe that’s the wrong term. There seemed to be three distinct types of individuals, the larger males, the smaller females and a third type that not only seemed somewhere in the middle, but had an extra pair of tentacles whose purpose I didn’t understand. So maybe “tri-morphic”?
Eventually, we came to the center of the village. There was a crude statue there, depicting a humanoid form. No, not just humanoid. It looked human, though it lacked eyes or a mouth, which I just chalked up to the crudeness of the statue. But what was certain was that the figure was a man, and he seemed to be wearing a toga.
Had this been why they had been so nice to me? Did they think I was some kind of god?
They looked at me expectantly. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t know what you want me to do.”
One of the women, dressed more elaborately than the others – perhaps a priestess? – spoke to me. I didn’t understand her, but it startled me, since it was the first time they’d tried to speak to me. And that meant they could speak, which meant I had a way to understand them.
I drew on the power within and cast a spell, granting myself the ability to understand and speak all languages temporarily. “I’m sorry,” I repeated, this time in their language. “I didn’t understand you. Could you say that again?”
The women gasped in shock and the priestess took several moments to respond. “I’m sorry, Great One,” she said. “I asked if our work pleased you.” She seemed extremely nervous.
I smiled at her. “It’s rather nice,” I answered. “Though, it’s missing something. Would it be okay if I made some additions?”
She averted her eyes in what my magic told me was a show of obedience. “I would not presume to prevent one of the Great Ones from doing something. Please, do whatever pleases you.”
I drew on the power within once more, casting a new spell. The rock nearby roiled and became liquid, then moved next to the statue and began to take shape. Moments later, it assumed the form I sought to make and solidified. When it was done, there was a second statue, one of a woman. She had her head leaning against the chest of the man, giving the impression that she was the man’s mate.
All in all, I was pretty happy with it. After all, I was no sculptor, so it was a pretty crude depiction, but it matched the art level of the statue that had been there before. All in all, I thought it was pretty romantic looking, though thinking about that made me remember Greta and feel a tinge of pain again.
“I… understand, Great One,” the priestess said, her voice filled with awe. “Thank you for your gift. Will you follow the other Great One who came to visit three light cycles ago?”
There was another human here before? Maybe that was why I was here? “Where did he go?” I asked.
“He went to the place where the light does not shine. To the darkest waters, where the heart of the world beats. He said he came to see the Awakening, though he did not specify what was awakening, nor why he needed to see it.”
Or maybe that was what drew me here. I knew I was certainly curious as to what was awakening. “I guess that’s where I must go as well. Can you point me in the right direction?”
“Of course, Great One,” she answered. “K’thilxz, lead the Great One to the mountains that pierce into the thick waters, so she may continue her journey. But do not tarry, for when you return, the time will come for the great coming together ceremony.”
A terrified young female stepped forward. “Y-Yes, priestess,” she said. “Please, Great One, allow me to show you the way. The mountains are not far.”
I bid farewell to the village. We traveled for half a day before reaching the mountains, and took several more hours traveling up the well-worn trail to the summit, where the peak jutted into the thicker waters above. “It is said that the heart of the world beats furthest from the light,” K’thilxz said to me. It was the first thing the terrified girl had said the entire trip, despite my attempts at making conversation.
“Thank you,” I told her. “Will you be able to make it safely back to your people?”
“There are still four sleeps until the light cycle ends and night falls. Traveling will be safe as long as there is light, and I will make it home before a second sleep.”
I nodded. “I see. Well, thank you again, K’thilxz.”
I reached up to the water and felt it. It was as thick as I recalled, and as soon as I climbed up into it, I would be able to swim once more. But before I could, I felt a tug on my clothing. “Wait, Great One!” K’thilxz pleaded.
That was starting to get annoying. “Please, call me Lyriana,” I said.
“Yes, Great One,” she answered. That was going to be a thing, I guess.
“So what is it?” I asked.
“W-Will you grant me your blessing? For the coming together ceremony, I mean?”
“What is this ceremony?” I asked.
“It’s the rite of adulthood, when all of the villages meet and the young females of our people must pursue both their male and xe’los mates. I worry that I won’t find good ones.”
I really wanted to ask just what the purpose of the third mate – the xe’los – was, but I was more curious about the awakening I’d heard of. “I’m not sure how to give a blessing,” I said.
“Oh,” K’thilxz said, visibly slumping.
I couldn’t leave the poor girl like that. “Perhaps there is something,” I said. She visibly perked at this. “Please, lower your head.” She did as she was told. I leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. “Be well, K’thilxz, and I wish good fortune on your selection of your mates.”
The girl forgot her nervousness and hugged me excitedly. “Thank you, Great One – I mean, thank you, Lyriana,” she said after letting me go.
“You’re welcome,” I said.
The girl suddenly blushed shyly. “May I name my firstborn after you?”
I couldn’t help but feel honored. “Only if your firstborn is a female,” I told her with a grin.
“I’m certain she will be,” the girl answered. “Thank you!”
I then climbed my way into the denser water and resumed my journey, heading away from the light and deeper into the vast sea. I swam for what felt like days, though I never needed to sleep, before I began to feel the great, deep pulsing that was the heart of this world.
Despite the lack of light, I could see just fine. This wasn’t the impermeable darkness of the void I’d awoken in, but simply a lack of light, and that wasn’t a problem for my eyes. So I swam on, until in the distance I spotted something strange. There was another void, like the one I’ve just mentioned, and it seemed to be at the heart of the ocean, for I could see traces of light beyond it.
Stranger still, I spotted a figure between me and the darkness. He appeared to be a man, but his body was pitch black, as if it was made of pure shadow. He was standing on a floating planetoid that seemed no larger than a few hundred yards in diameter, and he was peering at the deep darkness ahead.
I sensed something strange, but also familiar, about the man. But more than that, I sensed a curiosity emanating from him in my direction. So I swam the rest of the way and landed beside him.
“Hello,” I said, speaking the strange language I had learned from my dream.
“A human, here? And no trace of magic sustaining your existence in the depths? Most fascinating.” Strangely, he had answered in English. But best not to dwell on that, since it’s maybe the third strangest thing about this encounter at best.
“Actually, I’m an Aasimar,” I corrected him.
“That explains the hair,” he answered.
What was wrong with my hair? I pulled some forward and discovered that my hair was now somewhat amorphous, made of what seemed to be a purple and brown sand that floated as if gravity and currents didn’t exist, yet somehow remained tethered to my head. Actually, it reminded me of one of those dust clouds I’d seen in space. Also, it had motes of light floating through it. What the heck? Had my implants malfunctioned or something?
Rather than dwelling on my hair, I focused on the strange person before me. “Who are you?” I asked.
“I am simply a messenger,” he said mirthfully. “I have come to watch the Awakening. It will not be long until He rises. And when He Awakens, those upon the world where He sleeps will fall into madness and despair. It will be glorious.”
“That doesn’t sound very nice,” I said.
“They are a decadent people, whose destruction none will mourn, save perhaps a few. Though, I must admit, they are among my favorite playthings, and thus shall I miss them like a child misses its toy.”
“I find that very sad,” I said.
“You are a mere mortal. You would not understand. But do not be troubled, for it doesn’t matter. Even you do not matter.”
Well, wasn’t he full of himself? Better change the subject. “What’s in there?” I asked, pointing to void. “And what’s that sound?”
“Within lies the city where He sleeps. The sounds are those of His worshippers, joyously preparing for His awakening.”
What? But I thought… “Wasn’t he asleep on a distant world?”
“Yes, but He is also here.” That didn’t make any sense, and I could tell he understood my confusion. “Shall I show you?”
“Can you?” I asked.
“I can, though your fragile mind will not be able to handle it.”
I’d had just about enough of his condescension. “Show me,” I demanded.
He laughed. “As you wish.”
He waved his hand and the void dissipated, revealing a vast city carved of black stone. I was awed by the city’s panorama of vast angles and stone surfaces emphasized by gargantuan statues and immense bas-reliefs. Some of the shapes seemed impossible, perhaps even beyond the third dimension.
But it wasn’t the architecture that most struck me. The people, who seemed both absolutely rigid and yet somehow formless, milled through the city, a roiling mob caught up in terrible religious fervor. And even more than that, they played great drums throughout the city, choreographing their simultaneously random and entirely practiced movements.
“So, what do you think?” my companion asked.
I could feel the drum beats pounding through my soul, becoming part of my very essence. I had never felt anything like it before. “Magnificent,” I breathed as I reached up and pulled the knot on my toga free, allowing it to fall from me.
I don’t think that was the reaction the man had been expecting. “What.”
The drumbeat had stirred a desperate ardor within me that I had never felt before. I floated towards the man. As I reached him, I pulled his hand to my breast and pressed myself against him. He was surprisingly a good head taller than me. “You know,” I said. “I just got out of a relationship, so I’m back on the market.” I stretched my neck and pressed my lips against his fervently.
He pushed me away. “I am not as you see here.”
“Then show me the real you,” I said in my most sultry tone.
“You will not like it.”
“Show me,” I begged.
His form twisted and revealed a being covered in tentacles, glowing eyes and mouths where mouths had no business being, each filled with varying teeth. There was no way I should find such a thing attractive. And still… all I could think about was how amazing it would feel to have those many mouths upon me, and I could think of a few things to do with the tentacles.
I let out a moan as I thought about it. “Please, take me,” I begged again.
His entire body twitched, and all of his eyes blinked in surprise, as did several of his mouths. “What are you?” he asked.
“Something new,” a familiar voice said. I turned to see pearly white teeth floating in the air beside me, pulled back in a Cheshire grin. A moment later, the rest of the person materialized, and Godmother was floating beside me, surrounded by a faint nimbus of golden light. Why was she doing that? Or was it something she always had but I couldn’t see unless we were somewhere with no light like this?
And how was I supposed to get laid with someone here watching? I mean, other than the millions of beings milling through the city who didn’t matter.
“I should have known you had a hand in this,” the black being accused. He had returned to the form of the man made of shadow. “Just what have you done?”
“Let me show you,” Godmother answered. Several tentacles shot forth from her now outstretched hand and burrowed into the man’s skull. His head snapped back from the brutal impact, but he did not react beyond that.
A few moments later, the tentacles retracted. “If those extraplanar interlopers find out what you’re planning, they will come after you.” His voice was filled with awe.
“I don’t fear the gods,” Godmother answered. “Now come, Lyriana. It’s time for you to take your revenge on Baba Yaga and punish your wife for killing you.”
The pain of Greta’s betrayal struck me anew. “I don’t want to,” I said softly. I pressed myself against the man again, trying to seek shelter from the realities of my life. “Please let me stay with you?” I begged.
Godmother shrugged. “If staying will make you happy, I have nothing against it. Should I tell your friends that you’ve decided to let the witch devour Emily’s soul?”
My blood ran cold. “What?”
“By killing Elvanna as you did, you’ve deprived Baba Yaga of her much anticipated snack. So she’s fattening up Emily’s soul as we speak as a replacement.”
Rage flared in the very core of my being and everything around me became red for a moment. “No,” I declared through my teeth. As I spoke, the drums within the city stopped and the revelers froze in their tracks. Hundreds of thousands of them looked up at me and fell to their knees in veneration. “That is not going to happen.” All traces of the lust that had filled me before were gone and the only thing I wanted was the death of the old witch.
The strange man looked at the city and then back to me in unrestrained surprise. He then turned to Godmother. “I apologize for doubting you and feel that my decision not to aid your other fragments in trying to reclaim you was the correct one. I look forward to seeing what you will show us next. May Azathoth watch over you.”
“The Dreamer will do what he will,” Godmother answered. She snapped her fingers and a golden portal appeared. “Lyriana, your friends wait just beyond.” She held out her other hand. In it was the toga I had removed moments ago.
I nodded and took the garment. Once I was dressed again, I floated forward through the golden light and into the Dreamlands, where the others were waiting.