Word count 11,463
I stared at the two fishes in the tank before me.
At my side, Death beamed happily as the two glowing fishes enjoyed their rather wide new environment, as she had turned an entire wall of her room, added some spells to give a lot of depths for a water tank, effectively making the place bigger than physically possible, and then used that to create a perfect environment for her fishes.
"Aren't they beautiful?" she said cheerfully.
"Well they are certainly colorful." I admitted.
She glanced at me.
"You don't sound convinced." she pointed out.
I stared at the two fishes, who took the opportunity, when she had her head turned, to teleport in flashes of color, before reappearing a moment before Death glanced back.
With, I couldn't help but note, food in their closed mouths. The kind found in the oceans they came from.
Which was impressive, considering none of it existed in the Hunter's Dream.
"I just can't help but think they might be a bit more trouble than you think." I answered with dry amusement, while feeling the psychic fishes give me the metaphorical stink eye for my comment.
I mentally sent back feelings of amusement and mischievousness, and in a second the fishes and I had made bets on how long it would take Death to find out exactly how unique her new fishes were.
"You think?" she replied with a curious frown, looking at the fishes with confusion.
The fishes glowed in various colors, all but preening under her gaze, and Death was soon too busy cooing over her beautiful new fishes to worry about anything else.
I gave them another amused look, but said no more, it would be cheating against the bet, after all.
"That aside, how did you find R'lyeh? You stayed there for a month, so you had some time to get to know the place."
"Oh, it was great!" she said cheerfully. "A lot of different species, some truly amazing sights, very friendly people, and Cthulhu himself was very nice company!"
She gave me a smile. "I heard about the tragedy of what happened to R'lyeh. Good on you to help them out like you did."
I nodded. "Of course. Though I will admit it wasn't just out of the goodness of my heart, bringing R'lyeh back, as quickly and easily as I did, certainly helped strengthen my right to rule as King of the Eldritch. Still, It's always a good day when the right thing to do is also the needed one."
"Indeed." She looked back at her fishes, then back at me with an eager grin. "So, any idea where you want to take me next? R'lyeh was nice, but I figure that you know many other places where I could enjoy myself!"
I hummed. "Well, I suppose that I could take you to the Eldritch Court as a visitor, if you want. We don't exactly have many of those, but if you are with me you'll be fine. And it'll allow you to meet more of the Eldritch gods, as well as see some of how we rule reality."
I grinned. "Though if you want something truly impressive, I'll probably bring you to the next session of the Versal Council. The sheer number of powerful beings in that place alone would probably leave you stunned!"
She tilted her head in thought. "That's the place where the representatives of the Greatest Powers in the Omniverse gather, right?"
"Exactly. The Eldritch Court rules the Eldritch Empire and also matters of the stability of the very concepts making up Reality, but the Versal Council is where we discuss the second with every being with at least multiverse influence." I explained. "Nations like The Grand Empire, or The Oblivion Compact, some of the greatest nations in existence, but also gods and pantheons like the Biblical God attend it, or at least their representatives do if they can't do so themselves for whatever reasons. It happens often, we all have a great deal of work on our shoulders at all times."
She nodded. "Well, that sounds interesting. I usually didn't involve myself in that kind of thing in the past, but I figure I might as well learn about it, you never know if it might come in handy."
I smiled. "Well, you're in luck, there is a meeting of the Eldritch Court in a few hours, and one of the Versal Council in a few days. Do you want me to bring you to them?"
"Sure!" she said cheerfully.
"Alright!" I turned, focused, and extended my right hand towards her.
She took it, and a moment later I stepped forward.
I heard Death's breath catch in her throat as we suddenly stood in the outer part of the Eldritch Court, where Curse-flutes and more continuously kept making music for the greatness of the Eldritch Pantheon.
Which would be a bit cruel… if they had any other desire in themselves than to make music for the rest of eternity.
As it was, as always I could feel the mix of delight and pride from them all at being able to make their song be heard straight in the Eldritch Court.
Most of their kind just went from civilization to civilization offering their services to make music, but few were honored with a job as prestigious as doing music for the gods themselves.
Of course, it wasn't solely the literal Eldritch Divine music which caught her attention. There was the sight of the cosmos spreading out around the Court, the light of close and distant galaxies alike surrounding us, there was the presence of dozens, if not hundreds of Eldritch Gods already present, their countless servants walking rapidly under the wills of their lords and ladies to do their biddings, and I noted, but ignored with the ease of aeons of experience, the way all of them glanced at me, bowed of the head, and then subtly (or not so subtly) glanced at Death's presence at my side, whispers breaking out as a result of me obviously bringing someone new to the Court, someone they could feel was not an Eldritch being.
No doubt countless teams of analysts and more were already hard at work trying to find out who she was and what our relationship was. Considering my well-known history of gaining new lovers, they mostly suspected her of being one such woman.
Well, maybe one day, but not yet. If the fact that she was still single spread out, I fully expected a lot of people to eagerly try to change that for their own benefits.
Though admittedly, once it became known that she was an anthropomorphic representation of the concept of Death I expected quite a few would hesitate for a time.
Others, on the other limb, would pursue her all the harder. With goddesses like Anga the Ruiness so utterly loyal to me, many would see Death as a potential countermeasure against her, while at the same gaining a great deal of weight in any kind of negotiation with someone like Death (previously of the Endless) as their trump cards.
It was far less likely here in the Eldritch Court, where those who weren't loyal to me in some ways were very few and far between, but in the Versal Council?
Well, that was an entirely different kettle of fish.
A fact that I made sure to notify Death of psychically, just in case, pointing out various servants softly speaking in small communications devices while keeping close eyes on us as serving beings who would, for their own reasons, try to seduce her if they had the opportunity.
Death seemed mostly amused at the thought, though there was a small underlying feeling of ancient bitterness in her as well.
No doubt it wasn't the first time someone tried to use her in some ways, whether for her powers or something else.
Either way, I outwardly used the opportunity to provide her a crash course lesson of the movers and shakers of the Eldritch Court, who to watch out for and who to retreat towards if she needed to make a quick exit away from overbearing people of power seeking to make use of her for their own purposes.
And speaking of the second group…
I smiled.
"Lucy!" I shouted at the blonde woman coming our way, a Black Supercomputer in the form of a tablet in her right hand resting by her side.
"Aeon. You're throwing her in the deep end by bringing her here, you know that?" she said with amusement, glowing multicolored eyes glancing towards Death to give her a nod.
I chuckled. "I made the offer and she accepted, I do believe that she is a big enough girl to take care of herself without me having to hold her hand at all times, beyond a general briefing of what's what and who's who of the Eldritch Court."
"Agreed. He did ask, and I did agree, even knowing that it would thrust me into the politics of this place. But while I have no real interest in those, that doesn't mean I'm not curious to see you all at work. I have learned much since Aeon brought me here, but I still have much to learn, and some things need to be experienced by oneself." Death said firmly, if not unkindly.
Lucy raised an eyebrow, but shrugged. "Your choice, and I suppose it's a bit too late for regret now anyway, you've been seen at his side here, there's no coming back now. Just be careful, yeah? Most people here are good people, but that doesn't change that it is still one of the most influential places in existence, with all that implies."
Then she looked at me and brought out her tablet.
"In any case, I need your opinion on a recent project that Sector 496,567,826,743 has in mind, and we need to talk about the development of the Adi Supercluster of galaxies, there's a risk of a slow down of their Dyson Spheres building program, which would slow down their Matrioshka worlds building by a rather impressive amount of time, and-"
I nodded, walking onwards towards the "proper" Eldritch Court rather than the buildings around it created for the sake of convenience for all the support staff of every god present.
Death obviously listened with fascination as the talks between Lucy and me devolved into the minutiae of building up entire regions of space to the level expected of the center of the Eldritch Empire, where things like Dyson Spheres and Matrioshka worlds were everywhere.
True, a single Dyson Sphere could allow for the colonization of a galaxy, but when the distance involved where, at the lowest, around the galactic supercluster, things usually required some serious work of logistics.
To say nothing of the entire universes that we were working on upfitting (and yes, I did mean entire universes) and all the work required in there.
Admittedly, the Matrioshka worlds helped a lot, and so did the fact that the likes of Lucy and I were effectively omniscient, but still.
Some of the worlds of the outer territories of the Empire weren't anywhere near even the tech level of 21st century Earth, which wasn't acceptable if I had anything to say about it.
And I did.
We pointedly didn't talk about the truly secret projects at work when we were out in the open, but even so we certainly didn't lack issues to talk about on the way to the Court's throne room.
There were always issues with gods, or different species, or even just valuable worlds who for one reason or another decided to let their rivalries get out of hand, requiring intervention to calm things down.
Still, I did make sure to keep Death engaged in the conversation, and often put it on hold to point out various things of interest.
That included pointing out various species present that I had personal history with, such as the Drider-like species that originally lived in the depths of Earth, before I Ascended to the Eldritch Throne and opened a portal to a garden world for them to colonize.
"They wanted to be free to live on the surface, but that would have led to war with Humanity. They were originally sealed below ground by Cthulhu (long story), but Kass- that is to say, Kassogtha, sister and former wife to Cthulhu, Eldritch Goddess of Diseases- got the seal from him when I first became Azathoth's lover. Since I didn't want to see a Drider-human war, nor did I feel it right that they remained stuck underground, I simply proposed to them the idea of colonizing their own world."
I chuckled. "Needless to say, that went a long way in gaining me their loyalty."
"I can imagine." said Death, looking at the drider woman with curiosity.
"They aren't the only ones I helped out, of course. There are the Shoggoths, but also the Vampires… Well, the Eldritch version of them, at least. Though I technically didn't actually take care of this one, Oedon did. Goddess of Blood, you see- it felt more appropriate for her to help them recover from the madness they had been afflicted by because of a mad Eldritch God."
Death blinked. "There are mad Eldritch Gods?"
I grimaced. "When I first took the Throne, yes there were. Few, but they did exist. As you can imagine, insane Eldritch Gods weren't something that was good for anything in their general surroundings. And since Eldritch Gods don't usually die, killing them wasn't exactly an option… At least before I showed up."
Death glanced at me.
"You did mention that Eldritch Gods didn't die… but I'm sensing a but, here."
I nodded. "It's not easy, but it is technically possible to give True Death to an Eldritch God. It depends on a lot of factors, mind you, and the number of beings able to do it at all are very, very small, but it can be done. I am such a being, and my old mentor Gerhman is one too… Though that's because he has the Burial Blade."
I shook my head.
"Even then, I'm the only one who can actually kill Outer God level Eldritch God, and I probably can't do so to, say, anyone at the level of The Crawling Chaos or above. They are simply too powerful for that to be possible, too much of a part of reality by now. Them being linked to Azathoth doesn't help. Thankfully, I've yet to meet a situation where a solution couldn't be found. I'm not as good a healer as Oedon, but I've spent a lot of time, even by Eldritch standards, in learning how to cure madness. It comes in handy sometimes- remind me to tell you about the former dark goddess known as Nihil, for example."
Death hummed. "Could I do so, myself?"
I shrugged. "To Elder Gods? Sure. To Great Old Ones? That depends on the god in question. To Outer God? Probably not. You can kill them, but they'll return eventually. At most, they'll be reborn weaker and maybe without memories for a while. The most powerful Outer Gods? You'll be the one to worry if you can come back or not if you cross one of those to that point."
She nodded. "That does align with what I felt from the people I've met in the Hunter's Dream."
She shook her head. "It still feels strange to think about, the fact that so many beings are truly without ends."
I laughed. "Just imagine how much worse it'll be when you see the Versal Council! There's a lot of Eternals sitting on it."
"Of course, even with that said, having someone as powerful as you are linked with the concept of Death is going to cause some unease." pointed out Lucy towards Death.
I shrugged. "Some of them might freak out, but not that many. After Angra and Nihil and the likes, they are getting used to me bringing terrifyingly powerful women for a meet and greet. Hell, the most powerful being of them all is Azathoth, and they are long used to her by now."
"You mean that they are used to having the previously neutral Azathoth actually getting involved in a number of things she didn't in the past because of you. I swear, the news that Azathoth had a beloved shook the Eldritch Pantheon, but it was nothing compared to the Versal Council! The fact that you are as powerful as you are, and a complete unknown at the time… Well a lot of very powerful beings freaked out quite badly at the news."
I grinned. "I know! Yog saved copies of their reactions for posterity… and to have a good laugh whenever she needed one. I swear, when I first came to the Versal Council, half of them looked like they were ready to run like hell, the other half were all but kissing my ass out of existential terror. Finding anyone keeping calm was like trying to find a single star system in a galactic supercluster without a single star chart. Technically possible, but good fucking luck trying to pull it off."
"Well, at least they've calmed down by now." Lucy pointed out.
I snorted. "You mean I charmed my way through the whole thing by essentially acting like a friendly, powerful being eager to help, giving them all kinds of valuable knowledge and solutions to problems they were having that only someone like me could give them… Only to then make use of that very fact by browbeating them into following what I wanted. Carrot and stick, as it were. Sure I could solve all of their problems, but if they didn't go my way they would not benefit from my help as much as everybody who did would. There is a reason the so-called Grand Empire isn't anywhere as big as it used to be. Turns out, having a rigid caste system mixed with an incredibly big empire means the outer territories are more than happy to give the inner worlds the finger if someone powerful enough promises them something better. Like, say, the Eldritch Empire."
I laughed. "It took ten millions years for the rulers of the Grand Empire to actually notice their empire was shrinking and ours was expanding from theirs, solely due to how utterly apathetic they were at the fates of those "lesser" than them! Even when they finally decided to do something about it, they fucked it up so badly it was almost like they were trying to send more systems into our arms!"
I shook my head. "I almost feel bad for the poor, prideful bastards. So focused on the highest peaks of the Heaven above them that they couldn't see the crumbling ground underneath their feet."
"Well, they still exist." Lucy pointed out.
I glanced at her with amusement. "Yeah, and their grand Empire isn't anywhere as grand as it used to be. How shocking, actually giving a crap about people makes them feel valued, and as a result they prefer waving the flag of those who care rather than those who don't."
I shook my head again, before glancing at Death, who was looking at us with curiosity.
"A good lesson to remember," I told her "is that Pride makes fools of even the greatest of people. Don't ever make the same mistake as so many others, or you too will pay the price."
"And what about you? Do you not have your own pride?" she questioned.
I shrugged. "Sure, but as a man who once, and still do sometimes, walks through blood-soaked, gore-filled battlefields across countless worlds, I have the constant reminder of the danger of pride shoved into my face."
Lucy snorted. "Also, Saitama will beat your face in if you start getting arrogant in your next spar, and I know your pride wouldn't let that happen."
"Hell no!" I shouted. "I'll have him next time! Just you see!"
"You said that the last ten billion times, as well." she replied with obvious amusement.
I huffed. "Well, he never won either, so there!"
Lucy shook her head with a grin.
"Saitama?" asked Death, visibly curious at my sudden loud shouting at his name.
"A human-" began Lucy, before pausing and then snorting. "Well, a somewhat still human being who somehow has gained enough power to still keep up with this guy-" she waved at me "-no matter how often they beat each other up. Or, well, spar with each other, but really they just wail on each other with their fists until those two idiots are satisfied and then go eat somewhere, while shouting how about the next time, surely, one of them will win."
She rolled her multicolored eyes.
"It's all very manly, truly." she finished, voice thick with sarcasm.
I huffed, then pouted. "We are sparring. It's not everyday I find someone, much less if they aren't a god, who can keep up with me at full power!" I exclaimed.
Then I paused.
"Or, well, as much power as I dare to use, at least. We had a few close calls."
Lucy gave me a dry look.
"Like that time you almost blew up several billions of multiverses from a blow which went wide? Because if Oedon hadn't stopped that from hitting the Omniverse, I dare say even the other side of it's point of contact would have felt the shockwaves."
I slumped. "So we got a bit too excited without the proper precautions in place. It hasn't happened since!"
"Yes, because Azathoth herself has to show up and keep your spar contained nowadays!" she replied, before glancing at a rather bewildered Death, waving at her with a "See what I have to deal with?" look on her face.
"... Several billions of multiverses?" repeated Death slowly.
"It wasn't that much… It wouldn't have been too hard to fix… I think." I grumbled to myself.
Lucy raised her gaze upwards, as if beseeching some greater deity for support, but obviously no one answered considering the only one who could was Azathoth herself.
This time, I was the one to roll my eyes at her.
"Okay seriously, my True Self had everything under control! A few Billions multiverses wouldn't have been that hard to fix, just time consuming! Besides, some of those multiverses would have hardly been missed!"
Lucy raised a dubious eyebrow at me.
Our eyes met, and I sent her the appropriate Data on said multiverses.
Lucy paled.
"Oh Azathoth almighty, I did not need this in my mind… Fuck it, mental quarantine here we go, give me some ancient evil over this. The foulest of Cognito-hazards has nothing on this shit…" she grumbled to herself, before blinking rapidly and then glaring at me.
"That, whatever it was, was just evil. I've got screaming messages set up in my mind now if I so much as mentally glance in the general direction of whatever you gave me!"
I nodded sympathetically, mentally quarantining the knowledge once more until it would be needed. "I'm aware, but I believe it made my point."
Lucy grunted.
Death blinked.
"Did you just mentally scar her, before you both mind-wiped yourselves?"
"Something like that. Sometimes, ignorance truly is bliss." I wryly replied.
Death, visibly, wasn't too sure what to make of it.
"Oh? What's this I hear about mentally scarring people? And without me involved too! I'm so proud of you, dear husband." a voice that was pure, concentrated sex suddenly whispered in my ear, while two slender arms went around my shoulders and two incredible massive breasts pressed against my back.
Death blinked rapidly and took a step back in surprise, while Lucy gave the new arrival a deadpan look.
I merely grinned.
"Well hello there. I was wondering when exactly you'd show up… Nyarlathotep."
Death blinked rapidly at the sight of the tall woman who wasn't there a second ago, but now was all but glued to Aeon's back, her arms wrapping around his shoulders possessively while her eyes were fixed on Death's own in such a way that it sent shivers down her spine.
If "deadly, gorgeous woman" had a picture in the dictionary, she would be the one chosen for it without a shadow of a doubt.
Death wasn't used to feeling unease, but merely being in the presence of this woman made her heart beat faster, her instincts screaming that she was in the presence of someone incredibly dangerous and who would love nothing more than to use her as a toy, gaining every last drop of enjoyment she could get from her before discarding her without a second thought, only a wide, delighted grin at her broken form.
Her blood-red eyes glinted with mischievous sadism, and even Death, used as she was to the evils of her own multiverses, couldn't help but be intimidated by the sheer hunger in the goddess's eyes.
A single look in them made her see visions of universes falling into bloody madness by the trillions, countless species screaming for salvation only to be met with the delighted laughter of cold, cruel gods, of war ravaging worlds by the quintillions and enumerable lives lost in the madness of bloodshed and wrath, as cackling madmen set civilizations on fire until all, even themselves, were but ash in the wind of dead planets even as their souls were sent howling in laughter into the deepest pits of hell.
She saw angels fall, saints delight in sin, saviors turn conquerors and gods scream in horror as all they held sacred were corrupted and despoiled until they themselves were sent screaming into oblivion.
And she saw herself join in, her features twisted in ecstasy as she enslaved men and women alike from countless different species to pleasure her for eternity, her eyes glinting with greed as she sat in thrones of purest gold like a queen as trillions of souls sang her praise, as she delight in the death of universes and laughed at the suffering of trillions.
And always, at her back, this woman would whisper in her ears with a wide smile and glowing blood red eyes, her arms around her shoulders like she currently embraced Aeon, holding her like a beloved lover as she pushed her to see the omniverse burns for her selfish whims and told her of delights each more wicked than the last which she would come to crave beyond all else.
"So, she's your latest stray, hmm?" purred the goddess, her voice so sultry even Death swallowed instinctively at the countless implicit promises hidden behind every word, and she froze when she heard Aeon speak her name.
"Nyarlathotep…" whispered Death, and the grin of the Crawling Chaos widened.
"Oh, she speaks! And what a soft voice too, full of warmth and love for all things mortal…"
The Crawling Chaos stepped around Aeon, almost sauntering her way towards Death, hips swaying and massive breasts almost bouncing out of her open top at every step, their gaze locked while Death began blushing without really knowing why.
"You… are adorable." purred the goddess, bringing a perfectly manicured finger under her chin, the action making Death instinctively gulp. "It makes me want to eat. you. all. up!" she declared, her red eyes boring straight into Death's eyes and into her soul until they were all that she could see, and her voice so inhumanly hungry that Death truly felt like a small, frozen animal in the face of a very hungry predator, and she soon began screaming in her own mind as she felt herself fall into endless darkness, so deep, so vast and so all-consuming her entire existence would dissolve into that darkness with utter ease, as not even her former sibling Desire could ever hope to make her feel like this, and Death began rubbing her thighs together as her body began being flushed with ever-rising heat that made it so hard to think-
And then Aeon bonked the goddess on the head, a comical "ow!" escaping the woman's perfect lips as the previously incredibly charged up atmosphere utterly broke, and Death caught sight of the bat in Aeon's hand- did she misread or did "Horny bat" was written on its side?- disappearing like it was never there even as Death staggered backwards, panting hard, her heart beating faster in her chest than in her entire life and a beat of sweat falling down the right side of her face.
"No. Bad Nyarlathotep. No overwhelming the poor cutie by releasing too much of your true self at her." deadpanned Aeon.
The pouting goddess looked up at him with trembling, teary red eyes.
"But-"
"No." he repeated.
The Crawling Chaos pouted harder, lips wobbling, but Aeon didn't even blink, and a moment later she sighed deeply, the picture perfect of dejection.
"Okay." she whispered miserably.
Aeon rolled his eyes at her, and in that second the Crawling Chaos glanced back at Death, all appearances of sadness vanishing instantly as they flashed with all-consuming hunger once more, and the goddess winked salaciously at her while mentally sending an incredibly explicit "Later~!" in her mind.
By the time Aeon finished rolling his eyes, the Crawling Chaos was once again the picture perfect of dejection, and Death couldn't help but be impressed at how perfect her acting was.
Not that it fooled Aeon for even a second, since the flat look he then sent her made it clear he caught the whole thing anyway, but after a moment he shook his head and turned away.
"Well come on, then. We're getting close to where we're headed."
Death didn't have time to blink before Nyarlathotep was suddenly by her side, holding her right arm in her arms and pressing it firmly between her massive breasts while giving her an incredibly bright smile.
"So, you're the anthropomorphic incarnation of the concept of Death of a dead multiverse, heh? Would you mind me asking some questions about it? It's always fascinating to explore new realities, and I've got so many questions!"
Death sent a bewildered look at Aeon and Lucy, but the later merely sighed loudly while the former, after a moment of hesitation, merely shrugged at her and give her a look that said it clearly:
He'll act if she asks for it, but otherwise she was here to meet new people and see new things, and even the Crawling Chaos counted for the first part.
So after a moment Death mentally shrugged and began answering questions, while trying not to focus too much on the sinfully soft body pressed against her.
Aeon and Lucy went back to talk about various issues in the Eldritch Empire, though she could see that they were both keeping a close eye on them, but to Death's surprise Nyarlathotep truly only asked questions about her home multiverse and seemed genuinely fascinated by everything she talked about.
How much of it was truth and how much wasn't was hard to say. The woman was incredibly good at hiding her true thoughts and feelings, but Death was still an incredibly old and powerful being in her own right, and somehow she had the feeling that she was actually interested.
It didn't help that the goddess had an incredibly sharp sense of humor and a razor sharp wit that left Death laughing hard, tears of laughter at the corners of her eyes.
She wasn't so easily manipulated, she knew enough about the goddess that she no doubt had countless schemes in mind long before she spoke a word to Death, but it was hard to be on her guard when the woman was as charismatic as she was.
It reminded her a bit of Lucifer, but there was a confidence, a genuine inner strength to Nyarlathotep that Lucifer could only ever envy.
Lucifer's greatest sin has always been pride, and his greatest sore point was his issues with his father and Creator.
Nyarlathotep had her pride, but also seemed oddly content with herself being the messenger of the Eldritch Court. It was hard to say for sure so soon, but Death suspected that the goddess was genuinely loyal to Aeon, on a level that was much deeper than one might think.
Death has always been somewhat alone in her life, but she still had interacted with the greatest beings of her multiverse, both good and evil, and The Crawling Chaos put the vast majority of them to shame when it came to charisma.
And power, for that matter.
Eventually, she couldn't help but ask.
"So really, what do you do for the Eldritch Court? I can't imagine that someone like you just acts as a glorified messenger." she pointed out.
Nyarlathotep laughed brightly at her words, before smiling at her.
"Oh, far from it! As a matter of fact, I am one of the greatest diplomats of the Eldritch empire. I am also incredibly knowledgeable in matters of theology about each and every god that are known to the Eldritch Court, eldritch or not, and I sometimes help mediate religious matters amongst the countless cults of the empire. I also have studied magic to a point than few beyond him-" she pointed at Aeon- "has ever achieved, have perfect knowledge of every single technology of the Eldritch Empire and beyond, and I have also become a master in countless other field of study, such as economy, war, laws (of mortals and gods alike), and much more besides. I often act as a representative on the Versal Council, keep an eye on every demonic faction known to the Council and either report or act outright if I believe that matters require intervention because of some rising evil, and countless other things. I'm a very hard worker, but I'm sure you know all about that!" she joked.
Death whistled slightly, genuinely impressed. That did sound like a great deal of work, and she indeed knew what she was talking about on the matter.
"Indeed, I had very little time to relax while the multiverse was still going. I… I even outright stopped working at one point, when it simply became too much. The work itself was one thing, but the reaction people had towards me at the time was…"
She trailed off, ancient pain rising up slightly at the old memories, before she shook it off.
"Well. Few indeed are those who look upon death as a good thing, no matter how necessary it may be."
"Oh, I know that feeling all too well!" commiserated Nyarlathotep with a deep sigh. "Do you have any idea how feared gods of Chaos are? How mistrusted? Somehow, someway, mortals keep thinking that Gods of Order are better for some infuriating reason! Show what they know, truly- If I had a medal every time I prevented the rise of a tyrant, or helped some plucky rebels take down a preexisting tyrannical empire… Well I dare say even with my chest-" she made her massive breasts bounce with a grin, shamelessly making sure that her arm remained trapped between them so that Death could enjoy the full softness of the barely covered mountains of flesh "-would not have the place to hold them all!" she joked.
Death's eyes glanced down at said chest, before quickly looking back up, though the pleased glint in Nyarlathotep's red eyes made her face redden.
Stars, how the hell was she making her act like that? She was a multiverse old, not a sheltered maiden! Virgin or no! She shouted to herself, trying to stop the butterflies in her belly to calm down.
A part of her couldn't help but look at the woman's breasts with envy, because even with her DD-cup breasts Death was far smaller than Nyarlathotep, but she tried her best to shake that feeling off. It wasn't easy however, especially when a dark part of her mind made her want to grab those massive breasts and squeeze them and bite them and-
Deep breaths girl, deep breaths, she thought to herself.
"Well, to be fair I've heard a great deal about you, Nyarlathotep. And I dare say that you certainly earned your reputation." she fired back, trying to act more antagonistic to see how she would react to that.
The goddess only shrugged, however, and gave her a wry grin. "Well, we all make mistakes when we are young, don't we?" she replied, and Death had to hold back a flinch at the memories of a time where Death was not granted to anyone flashed through her mind.
The piercing red eyes of the goddess bore into her own dark ones. "And as I mentioned, we both know a thing or two about being feared for the actions we take while fulfilling our purposes given to us at birth. You are Death…" she leaned forward, whispering hotly in Death's right ear.
"... And I am Chaos." she purred softly, taking Death's earlobe into her teeth and biting just hard enough to make Death gasp before retreating backward with a mischievous grin and twinkling red eyes.
Death swallowed thickly, her eyes darting away from Nyarlathotep's red ones, and instead she tried to meet Aeon's own for...
She wasn't sure. Help? She was hardly in any actual danger, and yet she certainly felt like it.
Aeon met her gaze, though she finally noticed that a spell had been cast around her and Nyarlathotep, no doubt by the latter, ensuring their conversation would remain private.
Death had no idea when it was cast, she certainly didn't feel it, but the Crawling Chaos' words about Aeon's superiority in magic compared to her own skill proved true as he visibly heard everything anyway if the look on his face was anything to go by.
Again, his eyes were questioning, but otherwise didn't push her to either ask for help or choose to continue on her own, both options as equally open to choose from depending on her mood.
Death took a quick, deep breath, then shook her head slightly. She could handle a flirty goddess on her own, damn it!
She crushed her doubts. She was Death of the Endless, she could do this!
Aeon's eyes held her own for a moment, before a mental wave of encouragement/Amusement filled her mind, followed by the equivalent of a mental hug which lingered for a few seconds.
Then Aeon's eyes glanced back to Lucy, who seemed to have not noticed anything, and Death released a breath as she mentally tried to prepare herself for more talks with the Crawling Chaos.
She glanced back towards the goddess in question, who tilted her head at her for a few seconds before smiling apologetically.
"If you want me to stop, just say so." she whispered gently to her, and Death almost stumbled at the unexpected words.
She sent the chaotic goddess a surprised look, but she simply nodded firmly, if questioningly.
Death hesitated.
"Really?" she couldn't help but say. She didn't think it'd be that easy, considering who she was.
Yet again, Nyarlathotep surprised her by giving her another apologetic smile. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable… not unless it's in a way you couldn't help but enjoy." she purred the last part, but there was a clear questioning look in her eyes.
Should Death ask it, she'd stop. She could feel that Nyarlathotep was truthful, she really didn't intend to make her uncomfortable with her flirting… well, not unless Death was fine with that.
Death hesitated, but ultimately shook her head. She dealt with far worse people than a flirty goddess in the past, and the genuine concern in those red eyes made her relax.
"It's fine." she declared, before huffing in amusement when the Crawling Chaos sent her a dubious look. "Really." she said firmly, smiling at the woman.
Nyarlathotep beamed at her words, before they continued their conversation, sharing anecdotes about people fearing them simply because of the divine concepts they had authority over from birth, though Death noted that the chaotic goddess was far less flirty than before, sometime stopping mid-word, hesitating and visibly swallowing the occasional flirting comment, much to Death's exasperation.
Honestly, it was like the woman was afraid of saying or doing anything that might hurt her feelings! Like she was made of glass all of a sudden!
What Death didn't notice was the way that Nyarlathotep's possessive grip on her right arm had never, not even once slackened or loosen any. Only Aeon did, though he said nothing… for now.
Eventually, after yet another moment where Nyarlathotep began grinning, and then visibly swallowed her words, Death had had enough.
"Nyarlathotep." she said firmly, making the goddess blink at her sudden firm tone of voice. "I told you I could handle your flirting, so please stop acting like I'm made of glass. I can handle it, no need to look spooked every ten seconds!" she declared, exasperated.
Nyarlathotep opened her mouth, obviously about to question her, and Death glared at her.
The chaotic goddess grinned sheepishly… and then mischievously, and Death blinked and blushed when she suddenly kissed her on the cheek, took a quick, gentle bite of her ear again, and then leaned back with a cheerful "As you wish~!"
And then the goddess red eyes turned teasing, and she leaned in again to whisper.
"I love it when you blush anyway, your pale skin makes the contrast all the cuter! It's adorable."
Death gave her a look, and Nyarlathotep grinned. "What? Can't I love cute things? I'm a girl too, you know~! And you're very cute." she declared with a firm nod, as if speaking some grand wisdom of the omniverse.
Death sighed, though her lips twitched upwards.
"So, that's why you are so interested in me? Because I'm "cute"? Or is there some other reason for it?" she finally asked, deciding to be blunt about the question that had filled her mind since Nyarlathotep appeared.
The Crawling Chaos tilted her head, twinkling red eyes staring into dark ones intently.
"Well, that's part of it." she replied with a firm nod, as if that was answer enough in and of itself. "Aaaaand I'm curious. You are from an entirely new multiverse, how could I not be? And you're one of the most powerful beings connected to the concept of Death I've yet met, and you aren't evil either, so obviously I figured you'd be an interesting person to talk with! And you are!" she declared with a grin.
Death hummed, giving her a look which clearly expressed her doubts that this was all there was to it.
"And that's all?" she asked dubiously.
Nyarlathotep grinned at her. "Well, of course not, but a girl has to keep some secrets to keep others interested in her, yes?" she said playfully.
"Huh-huh." deadpanned Death. "And the fact that apparently you want to get into my pants?" she couldn't help but question.
Sure, Death had toyed with the idea of potentially taking lovers one day since she followed Aeon out of her empty multiverse, she was hardly married to her job any longer since she no longer had her job, but still!
This was something she had thought to be a long, looong term idea, not something she would go into quickly!
And yet, this woman was making it hard to remember that simply by being close to her. It was like her every inhibitions were lowered around her.
Which is most likely correct, she mused. It would hardly be the first time that she met a god who's powers had consequences on those around them.
Hell, as an Endless she knew that better than most, since those who spent too much time with any endless always paid the price in some ways, which was yet another reason that Death had never thought about taking any lovers.
She just had to look at what happened to her brother Dream's lovers to see the brutal consequences of their presence with mortals… and he was Dream, not Death!
Of course, a part of her mind pointed out, as an Outer God Nyarlathotep doesn't need to worry about that…
She put a pin on that thought before putting it away for now, focusing on the chaotic goddess' answer instead.
Nyarlathotep's smile turned wicked and hungry again, if only for a blink of an eye before she beamed at Death.
"Of course I want to! You're beautiful, and cute, and I want to see you smothered in my breasts and-"
Death blinked and blushed as Nyarlathotep shamelessly and cheerfully pointed out everything that she would love to do to and with Death.
It was… extensive. And quite a bit of it was only possible because it involved an eldritch god.
She finally cleared her throat when they began to see the doors of Azathoth's court room, a mix of relief and heavy disappointment flooding her mind when Nyarlathotep grudgingly stopped explaining all that could be done to a human woman with "only" a dozen tentacles at once and a shapeshifting body.
It was, Death couldn't help but note with rather wide eyes and a very dry mouth, shockingly extensive.
Then the whole group came to a stop when Aeon paused and raised an arm blocking the way, a sigh escaping his lips.
"Right, Nyarlathotep if you would?"
The chaotic goddess pouted, but at long last released Death's arm from where it has rested between her breasts for quite a while now.
Death couldn't quite hide the feelings of disappointment she felt when she no longer felt Nyarlathotep's soft breasts-
And then Aeon flick her in the forehead, and Death staggered backwards with a surprised "ow!"
She blinked rapidly. "What-"
She froze.
Aeon's half amused, half-concerned eyes met hers.
"Better now?"
Death's black eyes glanced towards Nyarlathotep, the goddess grinning apologetically, though with obvious amusement.
Slowly, Death flushed a bright red, before putting her face in her hands.
"I'm so sorry." she mumbled in her hands.
The Crawling Chaos laughed and grinned at her. "Don't be. It was rather cute really, like a girl figuring out puberty for the first time. So awkward, so easy to tease, such adorable blushes! And the way you kept glancing at my chest… hmm~!" she purred the last words.
Death blushed harder, though she was relieved to feel that it was much more from embarrassment than lust this time.
Lucy glanced from Death to Nyarlathotep, before sighing. "Let me guess. Her aura?"
"Indeed." said Aeon. "If it wasn't for me reducing things in the beginning, I dare say that Death would have all but sexually assaulted Nyarlathotep half-way through coming here… Though it's hardly like said goddess would have minded that." he said dryly, throwing a look at the goddess in question who shamelessly grinned widely at the thought of Death trying to jump her bones. "Even as it was, Nyarlathotep's aura was really starting to get to her. Death is strong, but Nyarlathotep is… well, Nyarlathotep. You can recognize its effects now, can't you?" he asked her.
Death nodded, her blush fading, though she still felt embarrassed.
"Sins… Well, Sins and chaos. Her aura makes people more open to sinful thoughts and chaotic impulses. It made me…" she trailed off, but really it hardly needed to be said.
Lust was the most obvious, but there was pride that she could handle Nyarlathotep on her own, envy at the goddess' breasts, wrath when her pride was hurt when she had thought that Nyarlathotep was handling her like a fragile object, and more.
She had to admit, it was genuinely terrifying to see how subtle Nyarlathotep's aura and power was. She knew that the Outer Gods she had met were more powerful than her, but it was the first time that she saw the effects it could have on her.
She had truly not noticed a thing until Aeon purged her spirit from Nyarlathotep's power. She had noticed how easily flustered she was, how unusually lustful, and yet it had all felt like her thoughts, her feelings, her own desire and wants.
And that was the problem, wasn't it? It was her own thoughts, feelings and wants. Ones she simply had never given any thoughts to give into… Until she no longer had her job to worry about.
And that was enough. A wide-open crack in her usual walls around her heart, and Nyarlathotep's powers had exploited it ruthlessly, cunningly, bringing all these long-buried desires to the surface at long last.
And without her duty as Death of the Endless, her subconscious had no reasons to react to it. She could indulge… And Nyarlathotep's powers whispered as such.
"Did you know it would happen?" she asked Nyarlathotep.
The goddess shrugged, before smiling apologetically. "I suspected it. I'm not the most powerful Outer God, but I'm one of the most feared for a reason. I had no real way of knowing how bad it would be until I passed time with you, however. As it turns out, even after Aeon reduced my aura by quite a bit, it just worked slower, but no less successfully as far as I could tell."
Death contemplated that for a moment.
"Why come with so much of your aura out and about, then?"
"Because if you wanted to observe the proceedings of the Eldritch Court, I needed to know if you could handle my presence." The Crawling Chaos answered bluntly. "We have few visitors not because no one wants to see the Eldritch Court at work- far from it. But with the most powerful Outer Gods gathered in a single place… Well, even the mightiest of non-eldritch gods can feel overwhelmed. So if you could handle my power, then that was a good indication of things. As it is…" Nyarlathotep trailed off.
Death sighed. "I can't attend?" she finished a bit sadly.
Lacking power wasn't something she was used to, but perhaps she should have expected that considering how ridiculously powerful Outer Gods were.
It still burned at her, though. No one, not even her liked to be seen as weak-
She paused, and then grimaced as she burned more of Nyarlathotep's powers from her spirit. Damn, it really was insidious…
Aeon's eyes narrowed at her for a second, visibly noticing what she had just done, before humming in thought.
"I might have a solution, actually."
"Oh?" Death said, perking up.
Lucy and Nyarlathotep looked at him curiously, though it was the latter who understood first.
"Ah, one of them. Yes, it would certainly work, wouldn't it?" she mused.
Death blinked. "Them-?"
She paused when Aeon raised a hand… and then reality broke.
Pages of a truly ancient book suddenly appeared floating from holes in reality, more and more gathering in one place until-
Light.
Death blinked, the light somehow blinding even her for a second, and then she blinked again as she stared at the young woman standing before them.
The young woman stared at her with interest for a few seconds, before glancing towards Nyarlathotep.
The goddess smiled and waved with a grin, but Death saw cold disdain flash through the newly arrived girl's green eyes at the sight of the goddess.
The woman's eyes left the chaotic goddess without a word, Nyarlathotep pouting at the cold shoulder sent her way, and they settled upon Lucy, where her green eyes noticeably warned and a small smile even spread across her lips.
Finally her eyes settled on Aeon, at which point she bowed deeply.
"Lord Aeon. You have called?" she declared with a smile.
"Indeed I have, Al Azif." replied Aeon with a warm smile back. "I need you to help her-" he nodded at Death "-be capable of standing in the presence of Azathoth's Court."
The thusly named Al Azif blinked, then stood up and looked at Death, expression curious.
"I feel a great deal of power from her… connected to the domain of Death? But it does not feel evil…" she glanced back at Aeon with a curious look on her face.
Aeon spoke, though Death was left blinking, hearing only white noise.
Al Azif however froze, then nodded in understanding. "I see. Very well then, I shall see to it, my King."
Aeon smiled at her. "Thank you, Al."
A soft smile spread on Al Azif's face. "Nonsense, my King. You granted me and my sisters thought and form to help those who needed aid fight against evil and madness, and we have upheld that duty for many strange aeons. This is nothing compared to that."
Al Azif turned towards Death. "We will need to synchronize to help you handle the weight of the presence of the Eldritch Court, Lady Death."
Death tilted her head curiously, before her eyes widened.
"You're-"
"I am Al Azif, the spirit of the original book who would become known as the Necronomicon." she calmly answered. "The Arab known as Abdul Alhazred first created me, but it wasn't until Lord Aeon took his throne than me and my sisters were all granted true sapience and the ability to take mortal forms so that we may help mortals use the knowledge and powers we had access to protect their worlds against Evil. Ever since, we have served faithfully to ensure the protection of countless worlds."
Al Azif tilted her head. "You have read one of my copies, have you not? The one my King possesses. You should be familiar with who and what I am."
Death rallied, giving her a nod and a smile. "I have, yes. I was just surprised. Though it's a pleasure to meet you, Al Azif."
The girl that was a book smiled. "The pleasure is mine, Lady Death."
"Just Death will do." she replied, before pausing in thought. "Actually, I suppose that's not that much of a name, huh? How about-"
She hesitated, almost using "Didi", but refusing at the last second. That was the name she used for her mortal incarnations, not her true self. Maybe… Ah.
"- Teleute?" she finished with a grin.
Al Azif's lips quirked upwards. "Death in Greek? Very well, Teleute. Then you may call me Al."
"The same goes for you all." continued Teleute, glancing at Aeon, Lucy and Nyarlathotep.
"Then you may call me Nya." grinned the Chaotic goddess, giving her a sultry wink when Teleute glanced at her.
She smiled back, ruthlessly crushing the blush that tried to spread across her face at the sight of that wink, knowing better than to so easily give in to the goddess' passive powers by now.
Nyarlathotep- or rather, Nya- pouted at her lack of reaction, before grinning wildly.
Somehow, Teleute had the heavy suspicion that Nya had taken her newfound resistance to her powers as a challenge.
Instead of contemplating the implications of that, Teleute glanced back at Al.
"So, how-"
"Just give me your hand, I'll do the rest." Al said calmly.
Teleute extended her right hand, and Al took it in her own.
A moment later, Teleute inhaled sharply as something brushed against her soul, before a mental "click" echoed in her mind and a symbol appeared on the back of her right hand.
"There. It is done, Teleute, Lord Aeon." Al declared with satisfaction.
Teleute looked at the symbol. She recognized it from the books she had read, and she had to admit that it made sense that this would be the one to appear.
"The Elder Sign…" she said softly, rubbing the back of her hand, even though there was not even a hint of pain from the sudden appearance of the sign of her newfound bond.
"Indeed. Now then, shall we go?" Aeon declared, and Teleute took a deep breath and nodded.
It was time.
Time to see the Court of Azathoth in full.
Teleute stared in awe at the sight before her.
The Eldritch Court was big. No, it was better described as utterly, absolutely mind-blowingly big.
The only reason that she could see as much as she could from where the visitor's box she was in was because she was Death of the Endless, and her eyes could see far further than any mortal.
And that was solely needed, as billions, potentially trillions of Eldritch Gods all sat before several thrones where Azathoth's greatest gods sat.
Lesser thrones or dais or various forms of comfortable and luxurious seats spread for countless miles in a half circle, each of them different, each of them representing the god and goddess which sat or floated or whatever they did while waiting for the true powers of this place to begin the meeting.
Each of the gods present were at least a match to the likes of Zeus and Odin in her home multiverse, and countless would easily look at even those and start laughing at any hope of comparison between them.
There were clear groups gathered together, and she smiled and waved towards the incredibly distant form of Cthulhu, who may as well be a star system's worth of distance considering how many gods stood between her and him, but even so she felt his mind reach out and feelings of Greetings/Joy/Interest/Curiosity fill hers.
After a little back and forth, Cthulhu's warm presence in her mind fell back, and she took a moment to look at the many gods who surrounded him.
She blinked in surprise when she felt the name and history of each god she stared at flood her mind, before sending feelings of gratitude towards the mental presence of Al Azif currently resting in the back of her mind.
She glanced at the tall form of Hastur, feeling the mental barriers around her mind bolstered by Al Azif twitch at the sight of her, a symbol almost flashing through it before being easily blocked and denied entry.
Her lips spread into a grin at the sight of the immortal man by the side of the Yellow Queen, seemingly utterly unconcerned by the sheer madness inducing sight of so many eldritch gods, though she blinked when she felt a wave of Annoyance/Exasperation from Al Azif at the sight of the blunt the man was casually smoking without a care in the world, a pleased smile on his lips.
She also saw the likes of Yig, eldritch god of serpents, a surprisingly human-looking goddess that Al Azif whispered as Rani (who apparently was an Eldritch Goddess in this reality), and many, many more around him.
After a while of looking at the gods surrounding Cthulhu, she looked away, knowing that there were so many gods gathered here that trying to see them all was something of an exercise in futility, unless she called on her own powers to try and reach for the knowledge through her own omniscience.
And here and now wasn't the time to experiment with that. She wasn't entirely sure it would even work considering the nature of those gathered here.
Instead, she looked towards where everyone was staring at.
A number of thrones were facing these nearly numberless gods, so very few in number in comparison… and yet all the greater for it.
Because each and everyone of those thrones, by themselves, radiated more power than most of the gods present combined.
The first to suddenly be filled was one which kept constantly shifting, a dark, chaotic mass of raw power that would have given Teleute a massive headache if it wasn't for the power of Al Azif protecting her mind and soul.
For a single instant, Nya appeared upon that throne and winked at Teleute… and then something else was in her place, a tall black form cloaked in moving, twisting shadows whose presence alone cut through any and all conversations that yet were going on in the cosmic-scale throne room.
Death's fingers clenched on her own seat, her throat turning dry as dread pooled in her gut and the mental shields protecting her screeched in protest of the chaotic weight pressing upon them-
And then she let out a sigh in relief when the pressure eased.
"Sorry about that." whispered Al Azif apologetically. "It took me a second to ensure that your existence could better handle The Crawling Chaos's full… chaotic nature. Still, I've got a good handle on your soul now, so the rest will be much easier."
Teleute had no time to reply, as the remaining gods yet to arrive suddenly appeared.
Alone or in small groups, all the remaining seats found themselves soon filled.
From the shifting forms of Mist and Darkness, to Shub-Niggurath and Oedon (who surprisingly looked exactly the same as ever, if with brilliant blood-red eyes) and of course-
Teleute inhaled sharply when the last two forms took their seats. Upon a throne of stars a tall humanoid sat, and the mental protections created by Al Azif almost slammed upon her mind, locking it for the sake of her own sanity as her soul struggled to comprehend all the information it kept trying to feed her.
Time balanced by Space balanced by Darkness balanced by Light balanced by Chaos balanced by Order balanced by War balanced by Peace balanced by Death balanced by Life -
She forcibly looked away, focusing on the other figure calmly sitting upon a black throne-
Chaos lead to Dream lead to Creation lead to Darkness lead to Space and Time lead to Life lead to Chaos lead to-
She held back a shudder of pain. If Aeon had been the very incarnation of All Things into Balance, Azathoth was the intrinsic Chaos of existence, feeding into itself infinitely ever onwards, refusing by its very nature any sort of ending and-
She took another deep breath, quelling the growing headache to mere ambers of pain.
If this was what things were like with Al to help, she could only imagine how things would have been without her.
She whispered her thanks, Al giving her the mental equivalent of a hug, and by the time she had recovered the meeting had begun.
God after God, Goddess after Goddess, and stranger things besides rose and talked about the situations in their own domains, though it was less "talk" and more "psychically sent an immense amount of information for all to review."
If Teleute had expected actual talking, there was barely much if any at all, instead the entire massive space filled with Eldritch Divinities became more of a mental open forum where all were free to communicate, but all fell silent whenever one of the gods sitting by the side of Azathoth "spoke" up.
It took a bit of time and some probing by Al to notice that there were in fact countless layers of mental communications going on, psychic groups forming and then separating whenever an issue had an answer found to satisfaction, though she quickly noticed that all of the groups had Azathoth and the gods by her sides listening in, if not actively participating from time to time.
With Al's help, Teleute was able to listen to the vast majority, and the topics varied from the almost banal (this or that god detailing a new temple or the like being built on a given world) to the amusing (as it turns out, Eldritch Gods weren't beyond happily gushing about the latest achievements of one of their believers to all who would listen) to the deadly important (Teleute was rather surprised to hear about the actual number of wars being fought across the omniverse, and equally concerned by, as an example, the number of Grey Goo situation with technological level high enough that even Great Old Ones had to request help from the likes of Yog-sothoth lest they and their world be defeated and consumed. Sure, as Eldritch Gods they'd come back, but only after hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years, and the same couldn't be said of their mortal followers.)
And that was how most of the meeting went: with countless gods psychically communicating while the light of distant stars could be seen from the seemingly endless void of space they were in, a space which itself was a single room in the greater building which served as the gathering point of the Eldritch Court.
It didn't take long for Teleute, with Al's help, to notice the Time distortion in the place, allowing the gods present to talk about the countless topics which needed to be raised in this meeting without actually requiring much time at all to pass for the rest of Existence.
It was nonetheless a testament to how many concerns the Eldritch Court had to handle that, with psychic communications and Time distortion, in a meeting where everyone had no concern for sleep, drinks of food or any other such mortal concerns, the full meeting would last for several days for the rest of Existence.
Though for the deities inside, Al informed her it wasn't rare for things to drag out for years, often decades, and in one memorable case a full million years went by before the meeting finally reached its end (and it involved the greatest number of honor duel to the death in the Eldritch Court history to even resolve it that "fast". It was apparently something that had happened before Aeon took the throne, after a rather bloody war between a very large number of Eldritch Gods, including not only Elder gods and Great Old Ones but even a few hundreds Outer God level deities. Azathoth herself had to intervene after what would become known as the Boötes void by humanity was caused by the greatest divine battle in the universe's history.)
Thankfully, this meeting was visibly much more peaceful than that historical moment, and eventually the meeting was finally concluded, after only 11 years of time spent.
"A pretty average time," declared Al. "Things have to be thankfully pretty quiet across the omniverse for it to last only that long."
Teleute almost snorted. A meeting of 11 years was fast. Sure, Teleute could do it without issue, as Death of the Endless she was used to working non-stop across her former multiverse so this was nothing, but even in her experience no one, not a single group of deities in her home multiverse had to meet for 11 years straight just to handle everything that needed to be talked about.
"Goes to show how seriously these guys take their duties…" she mused, and she couldn't help but respect them all for that- that kind of sheer dedication was hard to find in her home reality.
And speaking of which…
"They aren't leaving?" she remarked with surprise, as the gods sitting by the sides of Azathoth stayed where they were even as all others left.
"No. While the meeting with the full Eldritch Court is over, it always precedes another meeting between the Inner Court of Azathoth- those gods who you see sitting by her sides. And I'm afraid that that meeting is not open to any visitors." Al explained, tone apologetic.
"It's fine. I'm just surprised that they'll have another meeting after going through this one." Teleute replied, getting up from her admittedly sinfully comfortable seat to leave. Teleute wasn't an expert in comfort, but the seat that she had been in was without a doubt the most comfortable one in her entire multiversal life.
It was to the point that she had to wonder if Aeon could point her to whoever created the thing so that she could buy her own stuff from them…
Al shrugged at her words… or at least Teleute felt her do so in the back of her mind.
"I can't tell you much about it, I'm afraid. I've never had the honor to witness one- no one does, though some beings may be called at times to said meetings for one reason or another, usually because they have skills or knowledge useful for whatever matter the Inner Court is currently dealing with at the time."
Teleute nodded.
As she was about to leave, she couldn't help but ask a question, though.
"Say, was it me, or at one point there was a push by many Elder Gods and quite a few Great Old Ones asking- though it almost sounded like they were begging- for Old Man Henderson to be bound to Hastur's throneworld so that he could never leave it?" she said with amusement.
Al snorted. "Oh, that? Yeah, a bunch of them have been petitioning that for literally quadrillions of years by this point. It never works, but Eldritch gods are nothing if not patient… and stubborn."
She paused, then giggled. "Though in this case, I think the more fitting word would be desperate!" she finished with a laugh.