Chapter Two: Hidden Knowledge
Ten years later
"Hey guys! Look at the freak!" laughed a tall boy as he punched another boy in the face, who fell to the ground with a large bruise on the side of his head.
Said other boy simply rubbed his head before trying to stand, until he was kicked in the stomach by another kid, who grinned and looked smugly down at him.
"Yeah, look at him! He can't even fight back! He's weak!" the other boy yelled as he kicked the injured kid in the stomach once again.
Ten year-old Issei Hyoudou didn't even make an attempt to block the bullies' strikes as he just laid on the ground and continued to let himself get beaten with no emotion etched into his face. His dark, purple-green eyes bared no traces of tears or pain as the older boys continued to kick his stomach and stomp on his limp and bruised form. Ever since he could remember, he had been bullied by the other kids all because he was quiet. He never really spoke much to any of the others unless they spoke to him first. And it was because it his constant quietness that he ended up getting bullied in the first place. Apparently some taller boys thought it would be fun make fun and pick on him because since he was so quiet, that he wouldn't do anything to defend himself.
And they were right, he didn't ever defend himself. No matter how many times he got pushed, shoved, hit, beaten, or kicked, he not once ever tried to fight back. Frankly he didn't see the point because he knew that it would only get him into more trouble. And trouble was basically what his entire life was like. The only place where he even felt remotely safe was his home, because his parents were the only people he knew that were even nice to him. At home, he felt warm, safe, and loved, but at school he was abused, called names, and made fun of simply because he was a quiet kid. He always felt cold, scared alone.
Those feelings, however, all disappeared about four years ago was he was molested by one of his teachers.
It was a day he literally felt like he was in hell. His teacher had told him to stay after class when all of the other kids had left so he could speak to him about the fights he had been getting into. At first he was happy to know that he had at least gotten some help from someone that wasn't his parents, not that he didn't appreciate their help or anything like that. He just wanted to have one person he could come to and rely on whenever he was sad.
The thought had slowly died in his head when he noticed the teacher had locked his classroom door and slowly walked towards him with a terrifying grin on his face while unbuttoning his shirt and trapping him in a corner. Then he attacked him and held his arms and legs down on the ground while unbuckling his pants. The next thing that happened was…
Well, let's just say that he was glad he couldn't remember what had happened next. The only thing he could remember was him lying in a hospital bed staring at the ceiling with hollow eyes with bruises and bandages covering his entire body and his mother crying her eyes out by his bedside, with his father at her side trying to comfort her while crying tears of his own.
Ever since that day, he was a complete shell of his former self. He no longer cared what the other kids did to him or how much they beat him. The only time he ever showed any emotion was at his home around his parents. And jot once did he ever try to make friends, because he simply just didn't care anymore.
His daily beating soon came to an end when the sound of the school bell rung throughout the playground, signaling the end of school. With a scoff, the leader of the bullies delivered one last kick to Issei's stomach.
"There goes our fun. See you next week freak" he said before he and the other bullies turned around and left in the opposite direction.
Issei simply just laid on the grass as all of the other students left the school. Neither one of them ever noticing the injured ten year-old who was left behind. Issei lied there on his side, clutching his bruised stomach while he stared at the ground with cold, emotionless, half-lidded eyes. Even though he didn't care anymore, he wished deep inside that all this pain would just go away. He wished that he could just stand up for himself and teach those kids a lesson for making his life a living hell. He wish he could just go back in time, find his teacher, and hurt him very badly for touching him. He didn't want to be weak, he wanted to be strong.
(And you can. If that is what you desire…) spoke a chilling, disembodied voice.
Issei suddenly bolted his head upright and winced in pain from the bruises. He frantically shook his head left and right, scanning his surroundings trying to locate the origin of the voice. After moments of continuous searching, Issei furrowed his brows in confusion when he couldn't find where the voice had come from. Strange. It sounded like it was right on top of him, yet there wasn't a single person in sight. Issei also noticed that he must have been out of it for quite some time because he felt little droplets of rain lightly tapping the top of his head. With a sigh, Issei shakily, yet painfully, got up onto his feet and limped his way towards his home. Thankfully he lived relatively close to the school so he only had to limp about a block or so.
As Issei limped towards his house, he failed to notice a dark figure that was watching him from behind a nearby tree. The figure stroked its chin as it watched the retreating the child with fascination.
"So this is the child that contains all of that tremendous energy I sensed all those years ago." The figure spoke in a deep, gravel-like voice. "Hmm, he certainly is a curious little one. Perhaps I should keep my eye on him for a while. A pity he doesn't know of the power he holds within himself." The figure said before it disappeared from sight.
Hyoudou Residence, six hours later
"Here you go sweetie. This should get rid of the bruises and make your head feel better." Kazane Hyoudou said sitting on the side of her son's bed as she gently placed a warm towel on his forehead.
She nearly had a heart attack earlier this afternoon when she saw Issei limping inside the house with bruises on his arms and legs, as well as some on his head. She knew he had been bullied by the other boys every once and a while. And it made her heart break every time he came home bruised. Ever since the incident with his teacher four years ago, they had moved to a different town in hopes of finding a safer place where her son could be happy. But now it seems that trouble follows wherever they went because just a few weeks after they moved into their new neighborhood and enrolled Issei into his new school, he was bullied once again. And it made her want to cry her eyes out knowing that she couldn't do anything to protect her baby. And what's worse was that Issei didn't seem interested at all in making any friends. It looked as though he just wanted to stay alone no matter how many times she tried to convince him into making friends. What also made it worse was that they couldn't afford to move anywhere else. So with nothing left to do, they would have to remain here until they were able to come up with more money in able to move again.
"Thanks mom" Issei said to his mother quietly with a small sigh of relief after putting on the hot towel. He made himself comfortable in his bed and was about to fall asleep until his mother bent down and gave him a long, soft kiss on the cheek. After a moment, she removed her lips from his face and gave him a warm, loving smile before gently rubbing his other cheek with her hand.
"I love you Issei. So, so much. And don't let those other boys bother you. They just don't understand how special you are." She said with all the love in the world before giving him one last kiss on the cheek and walking towards the door. She turned around and gave her son a smile. "Goodnight Issei" she said before she shut the door.
Issei laid on his bed and stared at the closed door for a few moments before allowing a small smile make its way onto his lips and a few tears to drip down from his eyes. He made a small sniffling noise before he stared back up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. Ready to be drowned in eight hours worth of a peaceful sleep.
Within Issei's inner subconscious, three hours later
Issue woke up to notice that he was no longer in his bed within his room, but instead was now laying on a hard floor that was surrounded by cold water. The sky above him was pitch-black and he was able to make out traces of white fog that was floating within the darkness. Confused, and a little scared at where he was, Issei got to his feet to scan his surroundings, while taking note that the water mysteriously didn't make his clothes or skin wet as he got up. Everywhere he looked, he saw nothing but complete darkness and the wisps of white fog that floated aimlessly in the air.
In one last effort, Issei puffed out his chest was about to yell out to see if anyone was near until he heard a faint splash come from behind him. He quickly spun around and almost fell back on the ground in complete shock at what he saw.
Right in front of him was probably the largest door he had ever seen in his entire life that was surrounded by a large, black wall that seemed to expand in all different directions for miles. The door was about as tall as his house and was a dark green color. Carved right into the door was what appeared to be images of all sorts of different creatures and scary looking monsters he had never seen before. Some were large that had numerous appendages coming out of their bodies such as tentacles, claws, spikes, nails, teeth, and even eyeballs. Others were small that had no limbs whatsoever and instead were nothing but floating blobs whose bodies were covered with eyes and jaws. The one that stood put to him the most though was the one that was right in the middle of the door. It had two arms and legs like a normal person except its head looked like a large octopus and its fingers and toes were replaced with claws. It had a large body that was composed of scales along with two large bat wings jutting from behind its back.
Before Issei could even make a move to get a closer look, the door suddenly made a loud, hinged sound, as if the door was being unlocked. A large line then appeared all the way down the middle of the door, where it slowly began to open. Issei took a few steps back when the door was fully opened, revealing nothing but darkness and a gust of cold air that blew right past him, causing him to wrap his arms around his body and shake in his place. He then began to hear a single set of footsteps and saw that a single, human figure was making its way towards him and out of the opened door. Once the figure was clear enough from the darkness inside the door, Issei openly gaped at what he saw.
Standing in front of him was what appearing to be a human wearing a set of black armor mixed with gold. It had gold gauntlets, boots, as well as two shoulder pieces that took on a strange resemblance to dragon heads that protruded from out of his shoulders. He also wore a gold mask that looked somewhat like the large monster he had seen in the middle of the door. It had four small tentacles that curved downward on the bottom of the mask along with horn-like appendages that were slicked back near the top. In the middle of the mask was a pair of dark, slanted, baggy eye holes that were currently boring right into Issei's scared purple-green eyes.
The two merely stared at each other in complete silence for about a minute before the armored human raised its left hand in a calming gesture.
"You need not be frightened of me, child. I mean you no harm." The human spoke in a deep, echoing male voice.
This however, did not calm Issei's nerves as he continued to slightly shake from the cold, but also in fear. "W-Who are y-you?" he asked as he continued to shiver.
Seeing his shivering form, the human turned hallway towards the door while still staring at Issei. "Perhaps it would be best if we continued this elsewhere. Come. It will be warmer inside."
Issei still wasn't convinced as he continued to stay rooted to his spot. The human gave off a deep sigh before turning his back to Issei and facing towards the door. "I give you my word that no harm will come to you, child. The answers to everything that you seek lies inside. All you have to do is follow." And with that, he made his way back inside the darkness within the door.
Issei stood in his place contemplating on what to do. He somehow ended up in a dark and cold place that seemed to go on forever in every direction, and suddenly this armored man emerges from a large door and tells him to follow him, not knowing at all where the darkness inside the door could lead. But the man had also told him that it was where he would find the answers to what he was looking for. And so far, following him seemed to be his best bet. So, with great reluctance, Issei slowly began to walk forward towards the door where the cold and empty darkness grew with each step he took. Once he was inside, he turned to look back the other way and saw that the door had already closed shut. He looked back in front of him and was shocked to find the largest library he had even seen before. Rows upon rows of thousands of books littered each and every shelf that went down great hallways towards more sections of book shelves. Hanged on the walls were large paintings of various images of different planets, landscapes, more of the creatures that he had seen on the door, and even one of an entire galaxy.
"I see you are fascinated with the library."
Issei jerked his body in fright and looked to his left and saw that the armored human was leaning on one of the nearby book shelves with his arms crossed and his mask's eye holes staring at him. Issei took a few breathes to compose himself before speaking to the human.
"U-Um… yeah, it's… very big. Bigger than any library I've ever been to before." He said in a nervous voice before once again looking around the room and back at the human. "Um… if you don't mind me asking… what exactly is this place?" he asked
The armored figure simply stared at him for a while longer before uncrossing his arms and pushing himself off of the shelf. He walked over to stand next to Issei and moved his hand in the air in a waving motion, directing Issei's attention towards the entire library.
"This is the ancient library of Hermaeus Mora, the god of Knowledge and Memory. Each and every book that resides within this library contains ancient and forbidden knowledge of the entire universe. Everything that you would have thought to never exist can be found within this library. This place however, cannot be accessed by anyone except you."
To say that Issei was shocked would've been the understatement of his entire life. An entire library filled with unlimited, yet forbidden, information about the entire universe that was accessible to nobody else except for him? He didn't know whether to be happy or afraid.
"No one can get in it except for me?" he asked with wide eyes. "But why is it forbidden? And why am I the only one who can get in? I'm nobody special." He said as he looked down at the floor in sadness.
The human put an armored hand on Issei's shoulder, slightly scaring him a bit. "That is not true, young one. You are indeed a very special person. And you were given access to this library for a reason. The reason being, is that you have potential. And not just potential, but a great power within you that you have yet to discover. And that is why I am here. To help you unlock that power."
Issei stared up at the man with a complete gob smacked expression. He had some sort of hidden power that was locked within him this entire time and he never knew it? And this man was offering to help him? Before he could ask another question, the man spoke again.
"And as for the reason why it is forbidden is because any mortal who would so much as glance inside one of these books would've been rendered completely insane, and were forced to stay here for all eternity. But don't worry about that. As I have said before, no harm will come to you here. And as for why you are the only one who has access to the library, is because it lies within your head. And no, I do not mean you are imagining it. I am literally saying that is located deep within your head. In your mind."
Issei once again paralyzed with shock. This entire library filled with forbidden knowledge that would've derived anyone else insane, was inside of his head? "B-But how is that even possible!?" he shouted. "How is it that I had an entire god's library, along with a guy in armor and some mysterious power, stuck inside my head the whole time without ever knowing it!? It doesn't make any sense!"
The man once aging put his armored hand on Issei's shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. Once he saw that Issei had taken a couple of deep breaths, he continued speaking. "I know that you are confused, young one. And I will do my best to explain. Please follow me." He said before he started walking down a nearby hallway, with Issei following close behind him.
The two walked the through seemingly endless halls of the great library. Occasionally taking one or two turns into different hallways. It greatly amazed Issei at how large the inside of the library was. To him it felt like an endless maze that you could walk through forever, and every wall and corner that you saw would be made of dozens of books. To think that all of the books stored here contained endless information about everything within the universe that was forbidden to everyone except for him just made even more exciting for him.
After about ten minutes of nonstop walking through Issei's self-proclaimed "endless maze of books", the two stopped in front of one of the large book shelves, where the man walked forward a plucked out a book with a black cover from the shelf. He opened it and began turning numerous pages left and right until he stopped on a random page, turned to Issei and handed him the book, where he took it in his hands and was able to see a small picture of a hideous-looking monster that looked like a big blob made up of nothing but tentacles, eyeballs, and mouths. Issei looked back up at the man with a questioning glance and was about to ask him what the creature was until the man crossed his arm and spoke.
"The image of the creature you see there is an immense being, as well as a god known as Azathoth. He is a being of colossal size as well as a deity of power unlike anything that has ever existed and is said to originate from the center of the entire universe. He is also known as an Outer God, as well as a Great Old One. He is the direct ancestor of numerous Great Old Ones and is the sole creator of all the Elder Gods, as well as the numerous races that descend from the Elder Gods. He is so powerful that not even the Gods of the entire Earth could hope to defeat him. Even with their powers combined into one, it still wouldn't be anywhere near enough to match up to a quarter of Azathoth's power."
Issei stood frozen in his place with the book still held tightly within his grasp. He stared up at the man in slight fear before looking Baca down at the image of Azathoth. This creature was that powerful that it could easily defeat all of the Gods of Earth, who were said to also be unbelievably powerful from what he studied in school, like they were nothing?
"B-But I still don't understand how this answers any of my questions" said Issei as her nervously looked back up at the man in front of him.
"Remember when I said that you had a special power locked inside of you?" he asked Issei, who nodded in response. "Do you remember anything when you were first born?"
Issei looked surprised by the sudden question before sadly shaking his head. "Sorry. I don't remember anything at all."
"It was to be expected. But the reason why you have that special power in the first place is because Azathoth was the one who gave it to you the very moment you were born. Your locked power is actually a portion of his own power that he transferred over to you. And because that it came from Azathoth himself, that portion is actually more than enough to rival the power of the Gods of the Earth themselves. Maybe even greater. And the reason why he chose you to wield it was because he also saw great potential in you."
Issei look like he was about to faint. He was actually surprised he was still holding on to the book at this point. He didn't understand any of this anymore. A god from space had chosen him to wield his power, and put it inside his body when he wasn't even a day old?
He didn't know what to do. He dropped the book on to the floor and staggered backwards while hyperventilating. He felt as if the entire room was spinning and the walls were closing in. He was sweating bullets and tears were coming out of his eyes. He grabbed his head in a tight grip and frantically looked around the room in panic.
"B-But it still doesn't make any sense! Why me!? Why is it always me!? Why is it that some alien god chose me to keep his power when he could've just as easily chosen someone else to do it!? I can't do it! I can't do any of it! I'm always alone, I can't ever defend myself when the other kids beat me up, and four years ago I was…I was…AHH! I don't have anyone else! My parents are the only one I can trust! They're the only ones who love and support me! If I lost them… I-I don't know what I'd do!" he yelled into the air as his tears started streaming down his face.
It was true though. He had no friends and no other people that he could rely on except for his parents. They meant the world to him and if he ever had lost them, he'd probably go insane.
"Weren't you the one who said he wanted to be stronger?"
Issei brought his head out of his hands and saw the man staring at him with his arms crossed. "W-What?" he asked.
"Earlier today while you were laying on the ground beaten and bruised, didn't you say that you wanted to get stronger so you could teach those brats a lesson? To search for that pitiful excuse of a human being that you called a teacher and make him pay for molesting you all those years ago?"
Issei widened his teary eyes before blushing in embarrassment and quickly looking away. "W-Well, u-umm…yes?" he admitted.
"Well you're not going to be doing it anytime soon without training now, are you?"
"What are you talking ab-"
"I mean just as I speak, child. You have no fighting experience whatsoever. And there is no way you are going to win in a real fight without any sort of training. Fortunately for you, I just so happen to be a master in the art of combat and am offering to teach you a few things so you will be able to defend yourself in the future. But first…"
The armored man suddenly brought up one of his hands where it began to shine a bright gold color. Before Issei could ask what he was doing, a golden aura suddenly surrounded his entire body for a few seconds before it completely disappeared into thin air. He looked back up at the man and noticed that his hand was no longer glowing and was back to being crossed over his chest.
"Umm… what did you just do?" he asked him in confusion.
"Just a little gift that should help you out in the future. I now made it so that your skin will heal at a faster rate, along with making it more resistant to any injuries you may receive. You could get stabbed with a knife and it would only be the equivalent of a small paper cut."
Issei widened his eyes in complete shock at the information. Getting stabbed by a knife and only receiving a paper cut in return? I think I'm going to like these new powers he thought to himself.
Suddenly the entire library shook for a second before it completely stopped. Blinking his eyes in confusion, Issei looked at the man, who was looking up in the other direction.
"I believe the time has come for you to return to your body." He said as he uncrossed his arms and looked back at Issei.
"W-Wait! What about my training?" he frantically asked.
"I was getting to that. Hold out your left hand."
Confused at this sudden request, Issei slowly held out his left hand towards the man, who in turn, lifted his right hand over Issei's. They stayed like this for a few moments and Issei was about to ask what he was doing until his left hand suddenly started glowing a dark green color. Issei widened his eyes as his hand continued to glow and began to feel a strange feeling that was emanating throughout his entire body. Suddenly the glow on his hand faded and Issei looked to see a strange symbol that was now on top of his hand. It took the appearance of a simple drawer out version of the sun except the sun's rays were replaced with black tentacles that were twisting from left to right. The sphere that was in the middle of the tentacles was also colored black.
Confused with the strange symbol, Issei looked back up at the man for an answer before he started speaking.
"That mark is a representation of the Xalma Star, which is a black sun located within the galaxy of the Great Old Ones. Tomorrow we will practice using some of your new abilities that you have gained through Azathoth's power. Since the power is so large, we will need to unlock it in separate stages one at a time, so that you won't destroy your body by unleashing it all at once."
Before Issei could say anything else, his entire body started becoming transparent, as if he was slowly fading away.
"I'm sorry, young one. But now is the time for you to leave. And don't worry, we will speak to each other again very soon. Until then, farewell Issei Hyoudou."
Seeing that he was about to disappear, Issei suddenly asked the man one more question. "Wait! I never got your name!"
The man gave a slight pause before answering. "You may call me…Miraak."
With that said, Issei Hyoudou completely faded away from the library, leaving the newly named Miraak alone with his thoughts. It seems Azathoth was correct. He said to himself in his thoughts. You certainly are an interesting human, Issei Hyoudou.
Authors Note: That's right everybody! Miraak, the very first Dragonborn from the last Skyrim DLC will be joining Issei on his journey to greatness along with several other companions! But if you wanna find out who they are, then you'll just have to wait and see! I'm planning on making this story as long as possible so you'll have to wait a while before finding out. But until then, please keep reading and I hope you enjoy it!
