When Death Walked the World

Chapter 9

It's been 3 days. Three days since the creature rose from the sea, and started its rampage across the continent. Hundreds of millions have perished, as some tried to fight, others tried to flee the Ogdru Hem. However, maybe the most shocking fact was that the humongous aberration didn't actually kill most of the victims.

Most of the intelligent beings died due to going insane after gazing at the form of The Slumbering One. There were also those who fell victim to the Great Old One's power and became it's servants who spent no effort in harvesting the lives of the locals.

As madness consumed the world, no place proved to be safe, no place could remain hidden from the prying eyes of Cthulhu. The 6 Great Gods seeing the destruction it brought had hidden themselves with their powerful magic. Many believed they were driven out the realm, defeated by the horror that Cthulhu wrought, and yet... they prayed.

The people prayed that they would be saved, their prayer however fell on deaf ears, or did it? Something else heard it, something dark. Their painful wishes were heard by Cthulhu and she came, she came to punish, and to make them believers. Worshippers of the Ogdru Hem.

Ainz had retreated to his cave, carefully hidden in the mountain range, though he also had other hide-outs, he figured until he wasn't found this place would suffice. More so that he had all his research material stored here.

He reached into the depths of his inventory, searching for books on monster lore form Yggdrasil. He figured there might be something on the creature. Though he did not find what he was looking for in the monster encyclopedia, he discovered it at his collection of fantasy books. He read into them, and the more he did, the more his rib cage tensed, compressed. He felt at his heart, only to find nothing but air...

The first revealed her purpose:

"At the proper time, the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from his tomb to revive His subjects and resume his rule of earth... Then mankind would have become as the Ogdru Hem; free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and reveling in joy. Then the liberated Ancient Ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and the world would flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom."

The second taught him about the nature of the Great Old Ones:

"They were not composed altogether of flesh and blood. They had shape... but that shape was not made of matter. When the stars were right, They could plunge from world to world through the sky; but when the stars were wrong, They could not live. But although They no longer lived, They would never really die. They all lay in stone houses in Their great city of R'lyeh, preserved by the spells of mighty Cthulhu for a glorious resurrection when the stars and the earth might once more be ready for Them."

The third book taught about their limitations, and frankly there wasn't much:

"When the stars have come right for the Ogdru Hem, some force from outside must serve to liberate their bodies. The spells that preserved Them intact likewise prevented them from making an initial move."

The fourth illuminated a general and undeniable truth:

"That is not dead which can eternal lie.

And with strange eons even death may die."

Ainz's brain was working overdrive, desperately trying to find a way to beat this thing. This world was beautiful, he didn't want it to end. "How do I even think without a brain?" He asked himself, marveling that only now did he question this. "Back to work, still there must be a way."