Entry for Resbang 2018.
Please, for the love of everything read this on AO3. Literally make a new tab or go to your browser if you're on mobile and read the story on a much better website. The version here has fucked up formatting (strikethrough does not work for me for some inane reason, as well as something else that is further down the story but can't reveal due to spoilers). This version will also not contain the lovelt art made by the wonderful hey-dairy-queen on tumblr. The only reason I am uploading the story on is because I upload my new stories on both platforms as one and this is where I got my start.
Strikethrough will be indicated xlxixkxexxtxhxixsx
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Nothing rational about this.
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Chapter 1: A Rationale
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Hello.
My name is Maka Albarn. These notes are made for my own personal use. But, just in case anything happens to me, I am writing this down as I attempt to decipher the Book of Eibon. Or more accurately, the copy of the Book of Eibon stored in the Academy's Archives. If anyone else is reading this, then I am probably dead, or Soul has stolen my diary (in which case GIVE IT BACK YOU IDIOT!)
I will be making these notes for the sake of archival. With the Kishin Asura sealed away, I believe that we are entering a new era of peace. xBxuxtxxtxhxexxdxrxexaxmxsx However, sometimes I recall our fight with the Kishin and I find myself plagued with questions. Asura kept referring to himself, Kid, and the late Lord Death as Great Old Ones of Order. At first, I thought it was an alternate title to Grim Reaper, like Shinigami or Charos. However, after the reveal of the Grim Reapers' lurking Madness, the Madness of Order, I got xsxuxsxpx curious. I am keeping this search a secret from everyone else, as I do not want to distract them with what may turn out to be a wild goose chase.
My hopes for my search are to shed more light into the mysterious title of the 'Great Old Ones of Order' along with the 'Madness of Order' inherent to Grim Reapers. I believe that my research will not only help me understand more about how the world works but also more about the Grim Reapers. More about what exactly happened to Asura to cause his Black Blood to engulf the Moon. And whether Asura could eventually escape. xaxnxdxxixfxxCxrxoxnxax
Point being, I believe we need more information about these things. I tried to ask Kid initially, but he remained tight-lipped and gave me vague answers. I think he does know a few things but is choosing not to tell me for whatever reason (not that I don't understand why he could be doing that but it's still frustrating).
So I began my search about the 'Great Old Ones of Order', which is why my room now resembles a mini-library. (Soul if you're STILL reading this I know you stole a book from the pile, give it back because I have to return it!) Disappointingly, my initial search for 'Great Old One of Order' came up empty.
But I did find a passage about 'Great Old Ones' in 'A Personal Account of Apocryphal Phenomena' by J. Brooks. It is an old book from the late 19th century, so it was a pain to read through, but I did find what I was looking for. Here is the passage below, modified to Modern English:
'Great Old Ones. Terrible, terrible things. Hidden away.
I first heard that phrase in a most inconceivable way. Following a doomed Expedition to the North Pole that never returned, an old friend of mine who was a well-respected Professor in Miskatonic University, and who was supposedly the owner of some ghastly tome though I could not confirm such rumours, wrote a very long rambling letter to the editor of the local Gazette before using everything he had to purchase arctic survival equipment and a ticket to the North Pole. I had met with him shortly before he departed on his ill-fated mockery of an Expedition, and I had the distinct impression that he had not been of right mind for a long time. My poor friend had been muttering on and on about Pagan Gods, Witches and Shapeshifters, ramblings which my mind is still reeling from. He ranted about so-called Great Old Ones, a class of beings that God Himself would 'look away from with disgust and fear'. He claimed that the doomed Expedition was not lost because of bad planning, misfortune, or anything so pedestrian, but because of a curiosity so terrible that it compelled them to search for things that were better left unearthed.
Now, my friend had always been an eccentric sort, having ventured into a small settlement in Nevada that had him grumbling about 'sneaky locals' and 'barely concealed secrets', but he is (well, was) one of the smartest people I have ever met. His sharp wit, deep intellect and excellent mentorship are what helped me reach a Professorial position. Whether his mind had succumbed into madness had been inconsequential; at that time, I had felt honour-bound to pick up where he had left off, from a small agenda he left me before he departed for his untimely demise.
That turned out to be one of the worst ideas of my life.
My search led me to dark profane paths spanning our humble globe, which I recount here. Places forsaken by God and too vile for the Devil. I infiltrated secret rituals of human sacrifice where bodies writhed in a mad dance. I saw them ambushed by what I hesitantly call people, but only because they dared to kill the vile abominations that rose from the aforementioned rituals. They all spoke of souls and power and death, the latter as an actual entity rather than a mere concept.
I am haunted by my nightmares. I see guillotines hanging over my neck. I see drooling faces that maybe once upon a time used to be human. I fear I may be committed, all because I dared ponder what lies under this world's thin layer of skin. Where I had hoped to find blood and sinew, all signs of an orderly existence, I found skull-faced abominations, each more horrible than the last.
And it was all for nothing. I am no less lost about my search for the so-called 'Great Old Ones'. But I do have a singular clue about where to start looking.
Search for the Book. The Book by a so-called Sorcerer, though they are rumoured to be something much worse. Find the Book.'
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So, aside from technically calling Kid and Lord Death 'beings that God Himself would look away from with disgust and fear', which I think they wouldn't approve of along with a lot of those other unsavoury descriptions, the most important parts of the passage are the last three sentences.
The Book of Eibon. Though the actual Book is nowhere to be found and I am not foolish enough to go looking for it, not now when everyone's just starting to recover from Asura, the DWMA's library does have a copy. How the copy came to be or whether its contents are accurate, I do not know. Still, it is the only place I can start looking.
Thanks to my status as a high-ranking Meister and Soul's position as a Deathscythe, I have full access to the Book. Last time I had merely skimmed it. To my disappointment, it had turned out to be useless for my research at the time, though I do not believe the same thing will happen now.
From what I already know of the Book, a lot of its pages are written in strange symbols which I do not understand. The majority of the Book's contents are indecipherable, in fact. However, there are bits and pieces that I gleaned that I could barely understand, though I am not sure if they were actually written in English, or if there is some Magic at play. Nevertheless, this is my attempt to write down and collate the parts of the Book that I can read.
So, this is my plan: I will attempt to write down the readable parts of the Book as accurately as I can. Any personal notes made by me will be denoted as MN (short for Maka's Notes). Considering the rumoured content in this Book, I believe it is best if I write down any irregularities that cannot be conveyed by simply copying down its contents.
Wish me luck.
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One of these days I'm gonna stop being a coward and write out a fully-fledged crossover between Soul Eater and the Cthulhu mythos. Today is not that day.
Reviews are appreciated.