17: Eldritch

Anger.

Confusion.

Fear.

Awe.

Disbelief.

Then comes the pain.

Something loudly breaks, echoing like a glass shattering.

Like a flash, memories that didn’t exist a moment ago come flooding back in; completing the missing sloths.

The last thing that is seen are a pair of black wings.

Leilyn jolts awake with a deep gasp, eyes snapping open and body snapping up from the bed. She’s covered in sweat, her breathe coming out in harsh pants. Her heart beats rapidly in her chest, threating to jump out of her rib cage due to its fast rate. A hand shakenly goes to her chest, where she felt the phantom pain. It lays on her chest for a second before fingers starts to curl, lightly squeezing her cloth and breast.

What the fuck was that?

It felt like a fucking nightmare, but at the same time, felt so real. When she searches her brain for the event, she finds that the dream, or whatever the fuck that was, is vivid in her head. In fact, it fits just perfectly. When she goes back to that night, the… memory fits perfectly.

Leilyn’s so deep in her thoughts that she doesn’t hear Zoranne’s voice. At the moment, she’s trying to calm herself, inhaling and exhaling in the way Sensei thought her. Two minutes later, when she’s now come, she finally hears Zoranne’s worried voice.

“MS. LEILYN!”

Leilyn is on the alert, eyes narrowed as she stares at the ceiling, the bright light above her making her eyes to narrow into slits.

Did… did Zoranne just yell?

“There’s someone- something in the room! By your left!”

Leilyn head snaps to the left and behold, there’s a silhouette there; being shrouded by darkness.

Why in the ever loving hell has Zoranne not switched on all the lights in the fucking room?! Only the light above her bed is on and it does nothing to relive the darkness a little. And this darkness… it’s unnatural. She couldn’t fucking see. It’s pitch black; like that of a fucking endless abyss.

Immediately Zoranne alerts her of a presence, she takes Shadow from under her pillow and throws the dagger at the silhouette. She expects to hear the sound of steel impacting into flesh, but it never comes.

Leilyn lets out a noise of shocked irritation and gets up from her bed. Well, she tries to, but she falls to her knees on her bed with a pained grunt, her hands gripping her head.

Fuck. What the hell?

Her head is pounding. As if her skull is being pried open with a rusty knife, and her brain is being scooped up with a rusty spoon.

What the fuck?

“The barrier is broken at last. Your memories have now been slotted back into their right place.” A childlike voice says, making Leilyn to slowly raise her head regard them with one eye, while the other is shut in pain.

The silhouette claps their hands and the lights in the bedroom comes up. Leilyn shuts her eyes for a second at the sudden lights and when her eyes suddenly adjusts, she could finally see who the fuck trespassed into her home.

It’s… a child?

Leilyn blinks in surprise and confusion.

With the height they stood at, she thought they were an adult or something. Her confused eyes slowly roamed down the kid and she inhales sharply.

The kid is fucking floating in the air. With her dagger floating besides them.

What. The. Fuck.

Leilyn slowly stands up, looking at the kid with wide eyes.

What on earth…

“Hey Lyn.” The kid speaks up, a smile on their face.

Leilyn frowns lightly, staring at the kid in confusion. “Who, and what, are you? How do you know my name?”

“Awn, come on Lyn.” The kid starts hovering over to her and jumps from the bed, landing on the other side of the bed. “It’s me!”

“Who?” She asks, looking at the kid with narrowed eyes, body in a fighting stance.

“Lyn! It’s me! Chibi!”

Leilyn makes a grunt like noise of surprise. She narrows her eyes into slits and scrutinizes the androgynous child in front of her.

They have on a purple kimono, decorated with cherry blossoms and black rose petals. From the little bit of skin she sees, their skin tone is a warm ivory; smooth and even. They have a slim frame and are lean-built, even with the kimono on. They have straight shoulder length pitch black hair that parts above their forehead and is tipped a Nordic white at the bottom; thin eyebrows; and narrowed violet eyes that sparkled, as if there were stars in them, and cat slits as pupils. Their unnatural violet eyes are contrasted by the thick veil of black tipped white lashes. Their features are elegant yet sharp and beautiful.

What threw Leilyn off is the pair of small antlers on their head, which curled and circled their head like a crown, and the black cat like ears, tipped white at the end, that their hair couldn’t cover.

They look like a fucking porcelain doll. A demonic porcelain doll with antlers.

And those eyes and antlers… Leilyn will always recognize those.

It can’t be… it’s-

“Chibi?” Leilyn whispers, eyes going wide.

The child grins toothily, exposing sharp canines. “Yo.”

“Wha- how- who-” Leilyn sputters. She hastily makes her way to them, climbing on her bed. “How?!”

“This is my humanoid form.” They said. The dagger floating besides them slowly floats over to Leilyn, who slowly takes it.

“‘Humanoid form’?” Leilyn echoes, a frown on her face. “So… you’re an alien then?” She tilts her head questioningly.

“Kinda.” Chibi shrugs with a look. “My kind are known as Eldritch.”

“Eldritch?” Leilyn frown deepens. “Where have I heard that name?”

Then it hit her. Mentally. Mr. Rogers mentioned that name.

Leilyn hisses in pain, hand gripping her head.

“Take it easy.” Chibi’s suddenly in front of her, hands taking her face. They slowly place a finger on her forehead and suddenly, the pain is gone. Leilyn sighs in relief. “Your memories have yet to settle yet. Give it an hour to do so.” They let go of her face, moving backwards. Still in the air, they fold their legs – like one does when they want to meditate – before folding their arms.

“What do you mean my memories haven’t settled yet?” Leilyn asks with a frown. “Was my head tampered with?”

“Yes. By one possessing a strong energy no less. You’re lucky that your brain didn’t liquefy with how hard you were unconsciously bringing down the barrier in your head.”

“Okay.” Leilyn raises her hand arms, giving them a sharp wave. “Can we please start from the beginning, because I’m sure as hell is lost. Are you saying that someone suppressed my memories?”

Chibi nods.

“Why?!”

Chibi cocks an eyebrow. “From what I saw, you killed some supernatural folks, they used you as a sacrifice, you died, but at the same time, here you are. You must be one lucky mortal for you to still be alive after getting stabbed in the heart and drained up of all her blood. What those idiots were summoning wasn’t a child’s play.”

Leilyn stared in shock. She really, really wanted to call bluff, but hey! There’s a literal alien floating in front of her, so…

Leilyn heaves a tired sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Can’t I catch a break?” She mutters. “I came here to live in peace, not entering a Hocus Pocus bullshit.” She sighs.

“The one who came to your aid had a high cosmic energy. I won’t be surprised if he’s the Eldritch living here.”

Leilyn raises her head, looking at them with a confused expression. “You keep mentioning Eldritch. What’s that?”

Chibi makes a noise akin to a strangling animal, looking at Leilyn in shock. “You don’t know?!”

Leilyn arches a brow. “Um, no. That’s why I asked.” She ends in a deadpan.

Chibi splutters. They look at her incredulously, while she stares back with a deadpan look. Realization soon hits them and they blink, releasing a knowing “Ahh”.

“I see. So, they haven’t yet told you yet?”

“What? Who hasn’t told me what yet?”

Chibi gives her a knowing smile, shaking their head.

“I can’t really tell you much, just the basics. Anyways, Eldritchs are entities that existed way before gods. The older they are, the stronger they are. We have two classes; the Elder Eldritchs, which consist of Eldritch older than Creators themselves.”

“Creators?”

“Like the Christian god.”

“Wait… they’re real?” Leilyn gapes, her eyes going wide and blinking in disbelief. “And they’re a he?!”

“He’s real, alright. He’s the 10th or so out of twenty-eight First Creators; and a major asshole too.” Chibi says with a dry look. “Now hush. Let me finish speaking. You can ask questions later.”

Leilyn gives a hesitant nod, mind reeling at the news.

“So, back to Eldritchs. Like I said, the Elder Eldritchs are older than the First Creators themselves. They are the First Entities created by The Beginning uncountable eons ago; and they’re only ten in number. They are made out of pure, pitch black matter from the very Dark Essence of The Beginning. Unlike us, they have no drop of White Essence. Their very foundation is black. Their power level is off the roof, and if they want to, they could oblivate an entire Universe clean from existence, along with its Creator with a flick of their wrist. They can also kill a First Creator – although, that will be a challenge for them, seeing as they’re almost on the same power level. They’re unbelievable powerful – but not as powerful as The Beginning – and thankfully, they’re only seven in existence. If one were to encounter an Elder, it’s advisable to run. Run as far away as you can. But honestly, I don’t think one could escape an Elder. From the horror stories I’ve heard so far, they are blood tasty. You can only get as far as one possible can if they want to play with you before killing you in a most painful and horrible way.” Chibi shrugs.

Leilyn blinks owlishly before she cocks a brow.

So, they’re basically Sensei with a permanent Shinji Default Mode, huh?

“You- you haven’t encountered one of them before?” She asks.

“No. And I’ll like to keep it that way. I very much value my sad immortal life, thank you very much.” Chibi deadpans with a flat look. “Anyways, after the Elders comes the normal Eldritchs; which is where I come in. In the eyes of the Elders and First Creators, we’re seen as fledgings. We haven’t seen the whole Reality like the Elders. As you can see, we have a little bit of White Essence in us.” Chibi flicks an ear. “We are not as strong as the Elders or First Creators, but we’re strong in our own might.”

Leilyn looks at them with pleading eyes, said eyes conveying her message loud and clear. Chibi sighs, waving a hand.

“Ask away.”

“Who’s The Beginning? Is the Cosmos so vast that there’re so many entities? And how many entities are there?” Leilyn asks in rapid speed that has Chibi motioning for her to calm down. She chuckles nervously, scratching the back of her head. “Sorry.”

Chibi chuckles in amusement. “The Beginning is not a ‘who’; They are a ‘what’. According to the legend, They are the beginning of everything, hence the name. They created the fabric of Reality – the manifestation of Their boredom – and created life. Well, They created Creators who create life and all that, but you get the gest.” They wave their hand and Leilyn nods. “Their very presence create Universes – yes, there’re countless Universes – and a drop of their Essence create Creators who do with their Universe as they see fit.” Chibi shrugs. “As for your second questions, yes; yes it is. As for your third question, I have no answer to that.”

Leilyn pouts at that. A thought comes to her mind and she doesn’t hesitate to air them out.

“If you’re that powerful, how come I was able to hit and injure you?”

Chibi lets out a dejected sigh. “You see this?” They point at their collar. “This cuts me off from my entire power. Right now, I’m nothing more than a fucking Angel. Weak, with only a dime of Essence to spare.”

“Who- who placed that on you?”

“Motherfucking Michael.” Chibi snarls out, fangs dropping.

“Michael?” Leilyn reels back with a surprised frown. “As in Michael; the Michael?”

“That fucking Seraphim placed this on me fifteen millennium into my stay in this Beginning be damned Universe.” Leilyn eyes widens at that. “Yeah, I know that I was a hellion, and I know I caused them so much work, but the bastard could just have told me to leave! But no!” Chibi starts pacing in the air and Leilyn could do nothing but watch them with wide eyes. “He had to bind my powers and give dominion over me to some weak ass wannabe Archangel, who then fucking gave me as a fucking gift to some alien civilization just so they could hide her ass! I have been a slave to disgusting and inferior mortals and by the Beginning, it’s mortifying.”

They abruptly turn and face her. Their face is contorted in rage and Leilyn tenses at that. At the tensing of Leilyn’s body, the Eldritch calms down, taking a deep breath. The take their previous position.

“I managed to escape when a seal on the collar suddenly disappears. In that spur of the moment, when my powers suddenly felt free for millenniums, I managed to escape. I crashed in this galaxy a thousand year ago, weak and drained. But after six hundred years of living in peace, they suddenly found me. And I won’t be surprised if that cursed Angel helped them. For four hundred years now, I’ve been jumping from planet to planet, evading them. But I have to find a way to get this blasted thing off. I won’t be surprised if this blasted thing is a homing beacon and it calls out to those alien mortals and the Angel Michael assigned to me.”

“Wait… Michael assigned an Angel to you?”

“Yep. Her name’s Faerai. He even gave the black hearted bitch the seal to control me. With a command, she can make me lick shit off the ground and my body will listen to her command.”

“That’s fucking horrible.” Leilyn frowns in anger. “But what about your kind? Won’t they help?”

Chibi snorts. “We Eldritchs have a clear rule; never bother anyone with your bullshit. Heck, if I even show up like this, they’ll fucking put me out of my misery.” They sigh. “But honestly, that doesn’t sound so bad.”

“Chibi…”

They give Leilyn a sad smile. “Oblivion doesn’t sound so bad after all. I’ve lived for eons, Lyn. It gets boring. Everything is repetitive. At first, I while away my boredom by travelling from Universe to Universe, soaring through galaxies but now, I really just want to sleep. Eternally.” They close their eyes and sigh.

“Chibi san…”

Chibi open their eyes and look down at her with sad eyes.

Leilyn gives them a soft smile. “And here I thought I was the only one who’s not afraid of Death.”

“What?” Chibi gives her a confused look.

“Honestly, it got to a stage when life got boring for me. I’ve achieved all that I wanted. I have no more goals to accomplish. I honestly didn’t mind death.”

“But now?”

“Now, I feel like Death can wait. And it can wait for you too, because there’s no way in hell you’re gonna die before showing me the wonders you have seen.” She grins at them. Chibi shakenly grins back. “And besides,” she looks down at her stomach, her smile widening, “This little brat came out of nowhere and they’ll need my attention. At least that will be fun.”

Chibi chuckles. “Oh, you have no idea what you just signed up for.”

Leilyn grimaces. “That bad, huh?”

Chibi floats down, dropping on the bed. They slowly laid a hand on her stomach, giving a wide grin. “My children were hellions, even in my womb. My previous partners and I couldn’t keep up with them.”

“Were?” Leilyn asks with a frown.

Chibi’s expression takes a painful turn, and Leilyn hisses internally.

“They’re gone.” They say with a bland tone. “They either chose to remain mortal, or asked to be destroyed when immortality got too much for them to handle.”

“I… I’ve always thought that immortality is a wonderful thing, with how humans glorify it.”

“It isn’t.” Chibi sighs. “At first it feels wonderful to live forever. The thrill of immortality intoxicating. But after a while, it gets boring. Doing the same thing over and over and over again, it gets depressing.” Chibi’s lips tilts in a sad smile. “Most of my children got tired of it after one hundred millennium or so. Some went mad, so I had to put them out of their miseries.”

“Chi…”

“I won’t lie, I’m quite exhausted. I really just want to close my eyes and head into the Oblivion. But that won’t happen until I get this Beginning be damned thing off.”

The two sit in silence. After a minute or two, Leilyn moved. She places her hand on Chibi’s head, moving her fingers through their pitch black locks gently. Chibi looks up and he’s met with the warmest smile he has seen on Leilyn’s lips.

“I know this won’t help to ease your pain at all, but… I’m glad to have met you.”

“Lyn…” Chibi’s eyes tear up.

Leilyn drops down her hand, placing it with the other on her laps. Currently, she’s sitting in a traditional Japanese style.

“So,” she starts, faces alit with excitement and a warm smile stretched on her lips. “You said something about galaxies. If I may, how many are in the Universe?”

“Countless, honestly. In this Universe, approximately 897 trillion.”

Leilyn promptly chokes, eyes going wide.

“Wha- what?” She struggles out. “897 trillion?”

“Approximately.” They chuckle, highly amused at her reaction. “But to be frank, I think it’s more than that.”

Leilyn manages to compose herself, tongue nervously licking her lips. “Wha- what about the planets? How many planets are there in a galaxy?”

“Hmm… that’s a tricky question.” The Eldritch holds their chin in a thinking posture. “In each galaxy, the planets vary. The galaxy I escaped from has about 785 billion planets-”

Leilyn chokes again, a hand going to her chest.

“- occupied, unoccupied and destroyed ones added all together. For your galaxy, from what I think, has about one hundred and thirty-seven billion planets.”

“Blood of Jesus.” Leilyn wheezes out, her Nigerian accent and personality coming out thick.

“Well, that’s an estimated thought. It could be more though.” Chibi shrugs. “The stars you see in the night sky aren’t all stars. Some are the suns; in this galaxy to be specific, and each of them have their own planetary system.”

“Sev- seven hundred and eighty-five billion…” Leilyn wheezes out, using her hands to fan herself.

Chibi starts to get worried as she continues to wheeze out. A fan suddenly materializes in their hand and they start fanning her.

It takes a minute – or three – for Leilyn to calm down. She’s inhaling and exhaling loudly. She has a finger raised, clearly saying that Chibi should hold on for a second.

“So…” Leilyn says after another additional two minutes. “We were never alone.”

Chibi snorts. “You Terrans and your illusion of grand importance. No, you’re not alone. Heck, you all are surrounded. From what I’ve heard from that hellish galaxy, your galaxy is one of the backwater galaxy in all of this Universe, this planet more so.”

“Backwater?” Leilyn splutters. “How bad is it?”

“In all ten trillion galaxy, this galaxy is one of the ranking bottom when it comes to advancement. In the backwater rank, I’ll say very high. And in terms of planets in this galaxy, one of the very bottom. Heck, the Martians are more developed than you lot.”

“Martians? So, there’s really life on Mars?!”

“Yep.” Chibi pops the ‘p’. “They use a cloaking device to fool outsiders, especially you all, that the planet is barren.”

“But- but what about the probes?!”

“With their technology, your pathetic excuse of a drone can easily be fooled.”

“If they’re really out there, why don’t they make contact with us?” Leilyn asks with a frown.

Chibi lets out an amused chuckle. “You’re joking, right?” They cock a brow. “Leilyn, take a look at your planet! Look at what your kind has done to it! Your planet has been under scrutinizing eyes for centuries now. Others have seen how you lot are. Come on! You know what I’m talking about!”

Leilyn twists her lips, an agreeing frown on her face.

“Do you really think that highly advance planets will socialize with you? Your people are practically barbarians in the eyes of the higher races! They look down at you all with disgust. What’s even more disgraceful is that supernatural forces of this planet – who are just 10% of this world’s population – are more peaceful than the humans, who practically rule the world. Heck, without them, you all wouldn’t be in this technological advanced age. So, like they have done to so many others, they shut you all out. Until you humans have learned to stop killing one another like animals over every fucking thing, and finally, finally, use about 60% of your brain and gain high intelligence, maybe they might reconsider.”

“Ouch.” Leilyn grimaces.

Chibi shrugs. “Sorry, but it’s the truth.”

“And here I thought we’ve finally evolved. Only to hear this.” She sighs. “Men, this sucks.”

Chibi chuckles deeply. “Take heart.”

Leilyn blows out a breath, making her lower lip to wiggle and produce a sound. “So, can you show me some of the advance planet in this galaxy? Pretty please.” She clasps her hands together, pouts her lips and dons on metaphorical puppy eyes.

Chibi rolls their eyes, although their lips is tilted in a smile. “Fine.”

“Yes!” Leilyn cheers out. She adjusts herself, crossing her legs, looking expectantly at Chibi.

Chibi claps their hands together and a loud sound rings in the room. The Eldritch slowly separates their hands and Leilyn watches in awe as a blue ball of light appears in-between his hands. Chibi outstretches his arms and the light gets bigger. Without further ado, the lights turns blue and then, star light.

Leilyn watches in awe as planets float around them, filling her room. Her neck snaps from here to there, eyes trying to devour everything before her. It takes all her will power not to jump up and race around the room.

“Now then,” Chibi starts, waving a hand. The planets seemed to decrease. “Let’s begin shall we.”

Safe to say, Leilyn didn’t sleep a wink that night. She’s so engrossed in the wonders of the Universe that she didn’t realize that the time was gone. Around 3am, after they studied fifty planets, Chibi decided to call it quits. The form they kept tends to draw energy from them; energy that they don’t have. Right now, they’re trying to gain more, not waste it.

At the pout she gave to them, they created a holo-device – it’s circular in shape and it comprises of a purple crystal like glass surrounded by a band of black metal – and gives it to her. It contains all the information of the well technological advanced planets they have been to in this galaxy.

With a thankful smile, Leilyn gently picks up the sleeping Eldritch – once again in their cat hybrid form –, places them on their pillow and covers them. So as not to disturb them, she went downstairs. Both her and her trusted A.I then dive into the world of research.

Well, looks like she won’t be bored for the remaining miserable – slightly – years of her life.