The Elder Thing

Lord Colm was surveying his domain like a hawk in a tree branch when Goleil entered the room. The Sun Guard's ragged cloak and plain white robes contrasted greatly with the affluent white and gold robes of the Lord of Redvale.

As he entered, he noticed that two similarly well-dressed guards were posted outside the door, and Lady Tyria was present as well. She smiled at him as he entered, and he responded with a curt nod.

William bowed toward Lord Colm. "My Lord, Goleil has awoken. He has agreed to assist us with procuring food. Would you please explain the situation?"

The middle-aged man turned around to face the trio inside the room.

"Excellent, Will. Now, I trust that you won't be going about destroying anything again, Sun Guard?"

Goleil placed his fist on his chest in a military salute.

"My apologies for destroying your property and people, Lord Commander. I don't remember much about the incident, but I assure you it won't happen again. I'd be happy to meet with Mage Murdoc if you need more reassurance. In fact, I may seek him out myself." Goleil said.

"You do that, and we can't afford you making any more waves with the citizens," Lord Colm said and readjusted his robes as he sat down at his desk. "Now, down to business. We need food, and desperately. You need to get stronger and more experience battling those abominations. Pseudo Eldritch and True Eldritch are entirely different beasts, but any experience is better than none."

Ty'Bral materialized where Lord Colm had been standing and surveyed the city as he scoffed.

"As much as I hate to admit it, I was only a half-step, Eldritch. True Eldritch and half-step are very different levels, and the rankings within Eldritch only get wider."

Goleil nodded. "Is there a ranking within True Eldritch beings that could approximate our enemy's powers? Surely there must be."

"Of course, but it has been useless to all but the pilgrims until now. Just a pseudo eldritch is enough to destroy a city on its own. We have the advantage of Locraf and sturdy walls that have protected us from even the Upheaval." Lord Colm replied, signaling to his son.

William unchained a small and weathered leather-bound book from the wall opposite the window. It was an ancient tome, barely being held together at its frayed seams. On the spine were strange red symbols that Goleil could not read.

William brought the book to his father, who laid it on the desk and opened it. The pages were full of symbols that none of them could understand, but someone had neatly folded a piece of paper with a translated version of the contents and left it in the seam of each page.

Lord Aldritch Colm sighed as he began to open the pieces of paper and close them again, turning the pages as he searched for what he was looking for.

While they waited, Tyria stood up and stood by Goleil's side.

"We have no idea what those symbols are, but we assume it's a language used by one of the Great Kingdoms that inhabited what is now the Outerlands. Fascinating, isn't it? We had Murdoc translate it using one of his spells. That man is very useful!"

"He is a brilliant man. I really must speak with him soon. I didn't know you were interested in the Outerlands, however." Goleil said.

"Oh, it's just professional curiosity. My brother is the heir, so I need to occupy myself with something!" She said.

Ty'Bral glanced over Lord Colm's shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."

Goleil looked up at Ty'Bral, but the man of tentacles said nothing.

When Lord Colm finally found the page he had been looking for, he handed the translated piece of paper over to Goleil.

Tyria leaned over his shoulder, and William sighed. Lord Colm looked at his two children and shook his head.

"Goleil, could you read it aloud for us? Neither of my children has read the passage." He said.

"Of course, Lord Commander."

Goleil cleared his throat and began reading the paper from the beginning.

"Outside our obsolete defenses, death roams rampant. Perhaps it preoccupies no particular part of your mind that the most trying tribulations hail from the most hellish havens, the darkest depths of Death's imagination, the Eldritch. Even as the elderly age far beyond their prime, they recall those reclusive residents of the deep and tell tall tales of their terrifying might."

William and Tyria sat down and leaned towards Goleil, whose voice seemed to vibrate the very air around them. Even Ty'Bral had taken a break from attempting to memorize the city's layout.

"Predators who prowl the prairies and prey upon peasants and patricians alike. The evidence suggests that no two Eldritch are exactly like each other, with no common characteristics that would make combating them any less nerve-wracking. More than one mad man, myself included, has devised theories or methods to measure them, and only one, my own, has proven measurable and memorable."

William scoffed as he listened. "Whoever wrote this is barely sane."

Tyria chuckled as she nodded. "Well, those who study the Eldritch are often completely crazy, and this one seems to have a penchant for terrible tongue twisters."

Ty'Bral laughed heartily.

Goleil continued, "Only land, large and lavish amounts of land, can satisfy these sadistic and savage swine. Terrible amounts of territory trump all in the Eldritch psyche. A man of many ages my elder imparted this imaginative experiment to me, and I will relate to you his wise words."

Lord Colm sighed upon seeing his children's skeptical faces.

William scoffed. "Father, first he says it's his theory, now he says it was someone else's. Is this the most reliable account?"

Lord Colm pinched his brow with his hand. "Murdoc explained to me that those that deal with the Eldritch for long often enough go mad. However, he says that all the information in the rest of the book is accurate. If everything else is accurate in the book, before and after, we should be able to trust this."

"Is that the only evidence that this is true? Father, we must have something better!"

Lord Colm chuckled. "What could we possibly have? It's not as if the Eldritch are so numerous and docile they allow themselves to be studied. We don't even know what one looks like! The pseudo-Eldritch could be nothing like them or merely less powerful facsimiles! We have no way of knowing other than this book written by a mad man."

William sighed. He looked to Goleil and gestured for him to continue.

The sun knight nodded and looked down at the passage once more. He decided not to read directly from the book this time and just get to the important stuff.

'I really should've done that earlier...' He thought.

"No," Ty'Bral said. "Now everyone knows that this information could be unreliable, and if it turns out to be untrue, they won't blame you."

"Why would they blame me?"

"Because they're human and stupid."

Goleil sighed. Ty'Bral was probably right about that.

He cleared his throat as he skimmed the mad man's rhymes and finally found what he was looking for.

"Just a step above the Pseudo-Eldritch are the True Eldritch. One can think of them as if in a military ranking. The amount of territory they control is what sets them apart. First is the Elderling. It can control a territory about as large as the capital of a Kingdom."

William shivered, and Tyria's eyes furrowed. Such a large amount of territory was far beyond Redvale.

Ty'Bral grunted. "How coincidental."

"Second is the Aberrant. It can control an entire city and much of its surroundings. If two cities are close enough together, both of those cities. This mad man is sort of vague about this, so I imagine it's just double the Elderling." Goleil said.

"Third is the Colossal. It can control half a kingdom with apparent ease."

Goleil heard Tyria gasp.

William raised an eyebrow. "Why such a massive leap in the amount of territory?"

"I can only imagine that the levels of power for Eldritch are just that far apart," Goleil said, just copying what Ty'Bral said.

"Fourth is an Eldritch Lord. They can control entire Kingdoms or even Empires. Flame forbid we ever have to fight one of those."

"Fifth is the Elder Thing." He said and closed the book.

"The Elder Thing? As in, only one of them?"

"There can only be one general of an army."