Chapter 745

"So, when you realized the story might be spoiled, or that it was heading toward becoming a terrible movie, you stepped in and rewrote the script yourself."

By this point, Evenson had reached a firm conclusion. The Ancient One and Clea had wrapped up their business in R’lyeh far sooner than expected, and Clea had somehow acquired enough power in a remarkably short time to challenge Malekith. There was no way Nyarlathotep hadn’t been involved.

It made sense, in a twisted sort of way. After all, the Black Pharaoh was both the audience and the investor. When it came to deciding how a production should unfold, an investor’s opinion carried considerably more weight than a director’s or screenwriter’s.

Then again, an investor who bypassed the director and screenwriter to tamper with the script personally was precisely the sort of person who could ruin an otherwise promising film.

The Ancient One’s next words confirmed Evenson’s suspicions.

"So you went to R’lyeh alone, dealt with the threat posed by Cthulhu, and transferred some of the power he left behind into Clea, all to make the performance more interesting?"

Evenson’s eyelid twitched.

I knew it.

So Clea’s sudden leap in strength had come from the power of an Eldritch God. That explained quite a lot.

It also raised a rather alarming question.

Was the power of an Old One really something a mortal could absorb without consequences? Even if Clea could wield it, could she control it? And what would happen if the power eventually turned against her?

If there were hidden dangers lurking beneath this gift, the consequences could be catastrophic.

"I didn’t do anything of the sort."

Nyarlathotep waved a hand dismissively, as though the matter bored her.

"I went to R’lyeh because it was a convenient destination for long-range teleportation. As for Cthulhu..."

She gave a cold, mocking laugh.

"Once I arrived, this place became my theater. If Cthulhu wanted to remain here, he had better consider whether he was going to purchase a ticket like everyone else or deliberately sabotage the performance. Fortunately, that inferior creature had enough sense to leave quickly."

Evenson gradually pieced together what must have happened.

Cthulhu had once set his sights on Earth, intending to teleport there and feast to his heart’s content. Unfortunately for him, his arrival had coincided with an extremely unusual phenomenon.

The patch of space he had targeted was only accessible when the stars aligned.

And the stars had stopped aligning before his transit was complete.

It was the cosmic equivalent of having his internet connection cut in the middle of a download.

Cthulhu had managed to force only a small corner of his city and a few of his tentacles through before the connection was severed.

For ordinary mortals, an event like that might occur only once in a thousand years. For a being like Cthulhu, however, a thousand years was hardly an unreasonable wait.

Besides, the universe was vast. Earth wasn’t the only place to find a meal.

So Cthulhu had gone elsewhere to feed, leaving the matter of Earth largely forgotten for a long time.

Forgotten, but not abandoned.

Cthulhu wasn’t exactly the forgiving sort. He had never intended to leave those fragments of his body and power on Earth forever. At some point, he planned to reclaim them.

He might even have intended to use the remains as a beacon. If he grew tired of feeding elsewhere and remembered Earth, he could use that anchor to guide his full body straight into the planet rather than endure another painfully slow interstellar transfer.

There was only one problem.

Nyarlathotep had arrived.

Her presence meant that Earth was now under the attention of one of the Three Supreme Gods. In effect, she had declared the planet her territory.

Anyone else who wanted to interfere had better think twice.

And who would dare challenge one of the Three Supreme Gods over a mere fragment of Cthulhu’s power? Cthulhu could complain, protest, or make all the threats he wanted. None of that would change the situation.

When the stars aligned again, he seized the opportunity to retrieve what he had left behind. Yet the timing was unfortunate. His transfer was slow, and Nyarlathotep was teleporting directly into R’lyeh.

He simply didn’t have enough time to recover everything.

Rather than risk a confrontation, Cthulhu made the equivalent of cutting off his own arm to save his life. He severed his connection to Earth entirely, abandoning the remaining pieces of his body and power to their fate.

If they rotted away, so be it.

He wasn’t going to risk coming back for them.

And as luck would have it, the Ancient One and Clea had been in R’lyeh at exactly this time, training to control the power of the dark void.

Nyarlathotep, meanwhile, had a script to fix.

She had no intention of sitting through a production ruined by spoilers and predictable outcomes. Upon discovering the two sorceresses, she casually extracted a portion of the power Cthulhu had abandoned and transferred it to Clea.

Then she sent the pair to London, where they could intervene in the unfolding events and give the story a much more interesting direction.

Evenson had to admire the sheer nerve of it.

"Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant, Great Black Pharaoh!"

He turned toward Nyarlathotep with a smile so flattering it practically deserved its own award.

"As expected of someone of your stature. None of us could have devised such an ingenious solution, no matter how long we spent racking our brains."

His expression changed slightly, and he lowered his voice.

"There’s just one thing I’d like to ask, if you’ll forgive my impertinence. Were you satisfied with Clea’s performance?"

This was the real question.

Clea had been saddled with a fragment of Cthulhu’s power. To Cthulhu, it might have been an insignificant remnant. To a mortal, however, it was an almost incomprehensible burden.

How was Clea supposed to suppress it? How could she learn to control and use it without being harmed by it?

Evenson had no answers. He couldn’t begin to solve a problem of this magnitude himself.

The only sensible approach was to appeal to the person responsible and hope that, if Nyarlathotep had enjoyed the performance, she might be willing to take care of the consequences.

Unfortunately, the Black Pharaoh was hardly easy to manipulate.

"You want a reward for her?"

Nyarlathotep seemed amused by the suggestion.

"I’ve already placed the Elder Sign upon her. That makes her one of my contracted performers. Who would dare cause trouble for someone bearing my mark?"

"Magnificent! Truly magnificent!"

Evenson let out a quiet breath of relief.

That settled it. With the mark of one of the Three Supreme Gods upon her, Clea would be protected from anyone foolish enough to threaten her.

At least, that was one less disaster to worry about.

Nyarlathotep’s attention shifted to the Ancient One.

"You, mortal. Your power is reasonably impressive. And you spent quite some time contending with the remnants of Cthulhu’s body. That makes you a noteworthy character in this little production."

"Hahaha..."

The Ancient One could only laugh bitterly.

"I’m hardly noteworthy. Cthulhu left behind a few fragments of his body, and I treated them as a mortal threat. The only reason I survived was that he wasn’t paying much attention to what was happening here. Calling that a struggle would be generous."

Her smile faded.

"Looking back on my past actions, I can hardly believe how seriously I took them. Now I understand. I was nothing more than an actor performing for someone else’s amusement."

The Ancient One had once embraced her duties as the Sorcerer Supreme with fierce determination. She had worked tirelessly, driven by a profound sense of responsibility and pride in the purpose she served.

As the centuries passed, that same responsibility had become a burden. There had been moments when she grew weary of it, moments when she regretted the sacrifices it demanded.

Even so, whenever she looked back, she had believed those sacrifices were worthwhile.

Now she had discovered that, to certain beings, the mission that had consumed her life was little more than entertainment.

Her battles, her hardships, the countless times she had placed herself in danger to protect the world, all of it amounted to a performance on a cosmic stage.

And the audience had never been in any danger of taking it seriously.

The realization left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"An actor performing for someone’s amusement?"

Nyarlathotep tilted her head.

"You mortals really can be astonishingly arrogant. If I hadn’t come to watch this performance, you probably wouldn’t even qualify as an actor."

The Ancient One shook her head with a strained smile.

"Hahaha... Yes. I suppose you’re right."

Evenson frowned as he listened.

He understood why the Ancient One felt that way, but he couldn’t quite share her despair.

So what if they were actors?

The curtain was still open, wasn’t it? And so far, the ending hadn’t been particularly bad.

Besides, Nyarlathotep had watched from the sidelines without interfering too much. They should count themselves lucky.

If a being like her decided to climb onto the stage and take a personal interest in playing one or two of the roles, the entire production might become impossible to control.

Frankly, Evenson would rather not find out what that looked like.

"You seem dissatisfied with something."

Nyarlathotep turned toward the Ancient One, a curious smile spreading across her face.

"You think I haven’t shown you enough respect? Very well. Why don’t we be completely honest with each other? I’ll reveal my true form, and we can converse as equals. How does that sound?"

"No, no, absolutely not!"

Evenson hurried forward, waving both hands in protest.

"I think our conversation is going perfectly well as it is. There’s really no need for you to go to such trouble."

Her true form? And she wants us to communicate as equals?

Was she trying to get him killed?

He had no desire to look directly at the true form of one of the Three Supreme Gods. He liked being alive, thank you very much.

Nyarlathotep pointed at him approvingly.

"An intelligent man."

Then she turned back to the Ancient One.

"You see the problem? You cannot even look upon my true form or listen to my actual words. How, exactly, am I supposed to respect beings who cannot even withstand my presence?"

The Ancient One shook her head, still smiling bitterly.

Evenson, however, found himself agreeing with Nyarlathotep’s logic, uncomfortable as it was.

Respect was not something one could simply demand from others. It had to be earned, and the most reliable way to earn it was to prove that one deserved it.

If someone looked down on you, you could argue until your throat went raw. You could appeal to their better nature, hope they showed you a little kindness, and tell yourself that their politeness meant they respected you.

But if you couldn’t even meet their gaze, what did their courtesy really amount to?

Was it respect, or merely pity?

And considering Nyarlathotep’s actual nature, the fact that she was willing to converse with them at all was already more generous than Evenson had any right to expect.

He wasn’t about to ask for more.

"Hmm?"

Nyarlathotep suddenly frowned.

The Aether was still coiled around her wrist, spiraling restlessly like a liquid ribbon. She raised her arm and examined it with growing irritation.

"How much longer is this little thing planning to stay with me?"

Evenson’s mind raced.

He immediately stepped forward, adopting the earnest tone of a man offering an extremely valuable gift to someone who had absolutely no need for one.

"As the old saying goes, the greatest treasures belong in the hands of those worthy of them. An Infinity Stone like this is surely best suited to an existence as extraordinary as yours. Besides, it has already recognized its master. Why not keep it with you? You could always hold on to it for your amusement."

To claim that Evenson felt no temptation toward the Infinity Stone would have been a blatant lie.

The Aether, with its ability to manipulate reality, was an almost impossibly valuable object. With it, turning stone into gold might become a trivial exercise.

But possessing a treasure like that was a dangerous proposition.

There was no shortage of powerful beings who would kill to obtain an Infinity Stone. Given all the trouble the Aether had already caused, Odin and Asgard would certainly not be pleased to see it fall into someone else’s hands.

And Evenson wasn’t entirely confident in Asgard’s ability to keep it safe.

After all, hadn’t this entire mess begun because Jane Foster had stumbled upon the Aether in the first place?

If Asgard tried to hide the stone again and someone with less honorable intentions discovered it, the resulting disaster could be even worse.

No. If there was one person Evenson trusted to keep the Infinity Stone out of trouble, it was Nyarlathotep.

She preferred watching events unfold to directly interfering in them. And even if she did decide to cause trouble, she hardly needed an Infinity Stone to do it.

If anyone could hold on to such a dangerous object without making it everyone else’s problem, surely it was her.

Nyarlathotep considered his proposal for a long moment.

Then she pursed her lips.

"No. The laws of reality aren’t my responsibility. If I keep this, I’ll be meddling in someone else’s domain."

She flicked the Aether off her wrist with a small, dismissive motion.

"Besides, I’m not interested in the metabolic waste of that enormous bubble."

The Aether hit the ground.

Evenson stared at it in disbelief.

What in the world was happening?

Was it really so difficult to give away a gift these days?

He’d practically wrapped the Infinity Stone in a bow and offered it to one of the most powerful beings in existence, and she’d rejected it without a second thought.

Unless...

Could keeping the Infinity Stone somehow trigger a sequence of events she’d find entertaining?

"What’s going through that little head of yours?"

Nyarlathotep’s voice interrupted his thoughts. She regarded him with an amused, knowing smile.

"Nothing!" Evenson immediately shook his head.

Then he remembered that she despised people who tried to anticipate her intentions and hurriedly changed the subject.

"When you mentioned that enormous bubble, were you referring to Yog-Sothoth, the All-Knowing and All-Seeing?"

"That’s the one."

Nyarlathotep shrugged.

"The All-Knowing and All-Seeing. The Gate of Truth. The Vortex of the Origin. All the laws governing countless universes exist because he established their foundations. Space, time, and everything else owe their existence to him."

She pointed at the Aether lying on the ground.

"And this little trinket? It’s merely residue left behind when a universe perished. One of his metabolic by-products."

Evenson was speechless.

Now that was what it meant to be a truly powerful being.

The Infinity Stones were objects countless civilizations would wage wars to obtain. Yet, in Nyarlathotep’s eyes, one of them amounted to little more than cosmic waste.

Even so, Evenson wasn’t ready to surrender.

"Perhaps, but the Three Supreme Gods stand as equals, don’t they? If you took the Infinity Stone and studied the power of Yog-Sothoth contained within it, couldn’t you eventually acquire the same omnipotence? Wouldn’t that allow you to surpass him? Surely there’s something to be gained from that."

Nyarlathotep gave him a look usually reserved for people who had just announced their plans to outsmart a black hole.

"Yog-Sothoth is the All-Knowing and All-Seeing. Do you honestly think he wouldn’t see this conversation? Or hear every word you’re saying?"

"Ah."

Evenson clamped his mouth shut.

He had absolutely nothing to say to that.

"Besides, who gave you the authority to judge beings like us?" Nyarlathotep asked, her expression hovering somewhere between amusement and mockery. "How laughable that you would use your tiny mortal perspective to speculate about our status and power."

Her smile widened, becoming increasingly unsettling.

"The three of us came into existence together. We possess the same standing and the same power. The fact that you perceive us as having different domains does not mean one of us is stronger than another."

She paused, her eyes gleaming.

"The difference is much simpler than that."

Nyarlathotep gestured casually toward the Aether.

"We simply have different interests."

...